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DraftKings Golf: Houston Open first round showdown picks

By Hans Geevers

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI - OCTOBER 03: Sergio Garcia of Spain plays his shot from the 13th tee during the third round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at The Country Club of Jackson on October 03, 2020 in Jackson, Mississippi. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI - OCTOBER 03: Sergio Garcia of Spain plays his shot from the 13th tee during the third round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at The Country Club of Jackson on October 03, 2020 in Jackson, Mississippi. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
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The Houston Open begins this Thursday! Let’s take a look at the Draftkings showdown contest for round one!

Before I discuss my Draftkings player selections I want to clearly state that this article is specifically focused on the first round showdown contest. The showdown contest is vastly different with regard to scoring than the traditional contest offered by Draftkings for DFS golf.

If you are not familiar with the rules for the showdown contest I recommend that you check out the Draftkings website for more details.

Here are my player picks for the first round showdown contest!

Tyrrell Hatton $10,000

The Englishman has three top seven finishes in his last five events (PGA and European Tours combined), including a win at the BMW PGA Championship. Hatton’s last three first round scores are: 66, 65, and 65. Those are the type of first round scores I want in my Draftkings showdown lineup!

Sergio Garcia $8,900

The 2017 Masters champion has been playing some quality golf as of late. Garcia has two top 21 finishes in his last three events on the PGA Tour, including a win at the Sanderson Farms Championship a month ago.

Sergio has played 12 rounds on the PGA Tour in the last month. Garcia’s average score in the 12 rounds just mentioned is 68.58.

Denny McCarthy $8,700

The Houston Open will be played at Memorial Park Golf Course. This track features bermudagrass greens. Based on that information, I decided to take a look at this week’s field to see who has performed well on tracks that have bermudagrass greens recently. I decided to look at the last eight rounds played. Did McCarthy’s name pop in that model? Yes it did.

In relation to this week’s current listed Houston Open field, in the last eight rounds played on courses that feature bermudagrass greens, Denny ranks second in Draftkings points scored, eighth in strokes gained putting, and sixth in strokes gained approach.

Si Woo Kim $8,100

The 25 year old Korean fired a third round 63 at the Shriners Hospitals For Children Open en route to an eventual eighth place result. Kim followed up his quality finish at the Shriners with a 17th place result at the CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek.

James Hahn $7,900

Over the last year, Hahn has been rather consistent with regard to coming out of the gate strong in golf tournaments. Since October of last year, Hahn has played 15 first rounds on the PGA Tour. In those 15 first rounds just mentioned, Hahn has an average first round score of 68.05.

Padraig Harrington $6,900

The three time major champion has three top 26 finishes in his last four events (PGA and European Tours combined), including a 14th place result at the Scottish Championship last month. It should be noted that Harrington has played well in his last two first rounds played. Padraig fired a first round 66 at the Scottish Championship and a first round 67 at the Bermuda Championship last week.

Brice Garnett $6,700

Garnet posted a final round 65 at last week’s Bermuda Championship on his way to a 21st place finish.

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If you have any questions feel free to contact me on twitter at @geeversgolf or via my youtube channel, Geevers Golf. As always, good luck!