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FanDuel PGA: The Genesis Invitational selections

By Hans Geevers

PORTRUSH, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 18: Bubba Watson of the United States looks on during the first round of the 148th Open Championship held on the Dunluce Links at Royal Portrush Golf Club on July 18, 2019 in Portrush, United Kingdom. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
PORTRUSH, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 18: Bubba Watson of the United States looks on during the first round of the 148th Open Championship held on the Dunluce Links at Royal Portrush Golf Club on July 18, 2019 in Portrush, United Kingdom. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images) /
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This week, the PGA Tour presents the FanDuel/DFS community with the Genesis Invitational! Let’s take a look at this event from a fantasy golf perspective.

Before I dive into my FanDuel PGA player selections let’s take a look at the golf course the field will play and review the key statistics that I will be focusing on for this week’s tournament.

The Genesis Invitational will be contested at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, California. This golf course is a par 71 that measures 7,322 yards. This track has tight fairways and small green complexes. Due to fact that Riviera has such small greens, precision on second shots appears to be vital to scoring on this course.

It should be noted that this will be the first year that the Genesis will have invitational status. With this event now carrying the invitational designation the field will be limited to just 120 golfers. This is in direct contrast to most tournaments on the PGA Tour that have up to 156 golfers in the field.

This week’s limited field is highly relevant to the DFS community. Why? With the field being much smaller, golfers in your Fanduel lineup will have a statistically better chance to make the cut. Obviously, having all six of your golfers make the cut provides you a much better chance to take down a GPP (guaranteed prize pool) tournament. Keep that in mind as you compose your player pools this week.

The key statistics that I am focused on this week are strokes gained tee to green, strokes gained off the tee, strokes gained approach, strokes gained around the green and strokes gained putting .

Here are my FanDuel player selections for the 2020 Genesis Invitational!

Bubba Watson $11,200

Watson has always been a golfer that plays very well on specific golf courses that fit his game. For example, Bubba has historically played outstanding at Augusta National. Watson has won the Masters two times. I would not be surprised at all if he wins a few more green jackets before his career is over. My point is that the data clearly illustrates that Bubba performs on tracks he loves to play!

One of the courses that Watson has played well on for many years is Riviera Country Club. Let me be more specific in that regard. Here are Watson’s last six results at the Genesis Invitational: 2019-15th, 2018-win, 2017-W/D, 2016-win, 2015-14th, 2014-win. That’s three wins at the Genesis since 2014!

Now let’s shift our focus to Bubba Watson’s current form. Well, Bubba arrives in Los Angeles playing some outstanding golf. Watson has played two PGA Tour events in 2020. Bubba finished sixth at the Farmers Insurance Open in January and followed up that impressive result with a third place finish at the Waste Management Phoenix Open earlier this month. Additionally, Watson’s scoring average in his last eight tournament rounds on the PGA Tour is an impressive 68.5.

Mr. Watson certainly checks that box for me when it comes to key statistics. Watson currently ranks ninth in strokes gained off the tee (.694), 17th in strokes gained tee to green (1.149), 21st in strokes gained approach (.680) and 14th in strokes gained putting (.760) on the PGA Tour.

Patrick Cantlay $11,400

Cantlay has three consecutive top 11 finishes on the PGA Tour, including a fourth place result at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January. He also finished fourth at the 2018 Genesis Invitational.

Tony Finau $11,100

Finau finished second at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in his last start on the PGA Tour two weeks ago. He also has played well at the Genesis in the past. More specifically, Finau finished 15th at the 2019 Genesis Invitational.

Max Homa $9,300

Mr. Homa has three consecutive top 14 finishes on the PGA Tour, including a ninth place finish at the Farmers Insurance Open in January.

Carlos Ortiz $8,400

He currently ranks 26th in strokes gained tee to green (.979) and 21st in strokes gained around the green (.471) on the PGA Tour. Ortiz finished 25th at last week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Additionally, Ortiz finished ninth at the 2019 Genesis Invitational.

Patrick Rodgers $8,400

Rodgers has two top 16 finishes in his last three events, including a ninth place result at the Farmers Insurance Open last month. He also has three consecutive top 26 finishes at the Genesis Invitational, including a 15th place result at last year’s event.

Next. DraftKings PGA Genesis Invitational picks. dark

As always, good luck! Enjoy watching the 2020 Genesis Invitational!