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Coco Beach Golf & Country Club - Rio Grande, PUR
Par 72 - 7,506 Yards
It was Jason Day's tournament to win from the get go last weekend as he lead wire to wire at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. His 5th win in his last 12 starts definitely didn't come easy on Sunday as the top of the leaderboard was crowded for most of the day. Troy Merritt, paired with Day, was up and down all day but finished three strokes back in a tie for 3rd with Henrik Stenson who also couldn't quite get it together on Sunday. The closest anyone came to beating Day was Kevin Chappell who held the lead a few times throughout Sunday but ultimately fell on the 18th hole making a bogey. Check out the highlights from the final round below.
This week the players who did not qualify for the WGC-Dell Match Play will head to Rio Grande for the 2016 Puerto Rico Open. I want to make it clear that I am not, in any way, excited about this week's DFS event. All the top players are competing for the Match Play Championship leaving us with an ugly looking field in Puerto Rico. Nevertheless though, we will break it down and provide our top picks. Almost all of my exposure this week will be in GPP formats as there is really no such thing as safety in this field. On to the course.
Coco Beach Golf & CC is a Par 72, Tom Kite design that stretches 7,506 yards through the foothills of the El Yunque Rainforest. The course was re configured into two 18 hole courses in 2007 and joined the PGA Tour rotation in 2008. The biggest defense on the course is the wind and it reeked havoc last year. The winning score carded by Alex Cejka was -7 and was the lowest since 2008 where Greg Kraft won with a score of -13. Early reports I have found on multiple weather sites shows winds of 10+ MPH each day with gusts around 20-25 MPH. Expect another winning score between -5 and -12 which just makes selecting a lineup even harder.
Below are the main stats I am weighting on the cheatsheet this week. Up to 10 PGA Tour stats are used each week. The cheatsheet also provides last 5 years of tournament history and last 5 tournaments of current form. I have also added a tab showing the course layout and yardages as well as a breakdown of the Top 10 and key stats from last years event.
I will again this week be interacting through the comments section below and ready to answer any questions about Fantasy Golf or anything you wanna talk about. Join the conversation. And as always, I am available on Twitter @Jager_bombs9.
Graham DeLaet
Vegas Odds - 14/1
Draftkings - $11,000
Fantasy Aces - $5,750
I will kick off the picks with the highest price golfer this week. Besides daily fantasy, Delaet will be the other reason why I tune into this tournament this weekend. The time is coming for his first win and this could be the perfect opportunity as he is the top talent in the field. He ranks well in my stats model and excels everywhere except his scrambling and putting. He comes back to the Puerto Rico Open with some terrific course history finishing T24, T9, and T18 in his most recent trip in 2013. As with all picks in this article he makes a fantastic GPP play.
William McGirt
Vegas Odds - 25/1
Draftkings - $10,500
Fantasy Aces - $5,550
It hurts to list Dirt McGirt in my top tier picks, or any picks for that matter but crazy things will happen when you eliminate the top 64 players in the world. He ranks #1 in my stats model and has made the cut in both trips with a T14 and T29 in his last trip in 2014. Some might be off him this week after a terrible finish last weekend(74/75) after making the cut. In this field he has a shot at a Top 10 and possibly better? I really don't know but I will have some shares.
Also Consider - Patrick Rodgers, Chesson Hadley
Kyle Stanley
Vegas Odds - 50/1
Draftkings - $8,000
Fantasy Aces - $4,800
I don't recommend cash games this week but if you are playing them, Stanley is one of the safest there has been lately. He has made five straight and seven of his last eight cuts dating back to the Sony Open in January. He ranks well in my stats model highlighted by his Proximity overall(29), Proximity 150-175(21), and his Par 5 Scoring Average(63). He hasn't played here since 2011 when he picked up a 28th place finish.
Brendon De Jonge
Vegas Odds - 66/1
Draftkings - $7,300
Fantasy Aces - $4,600
Another dangerous pick that I feel I am paying too much for. This whole tournament is making me uncomfortable to be honest. If you are looking for a horse for the course, look no further than De Jonge. He has played here five times in his career and made the cut in each year(T3, T14, T48, T11, T10). Be careful though as he is coming into this week with horrible form, missing four straight cuts and six of his last seven. The issue has clearly been his Proximity which has led to a shortage in birdies and thus a shortage in cuts made. If he can possibly hit some greens this week and drop some birdies he should again make the cut at one of his favorite courses.
Jhonattan Vegas
Vegas Odds - 66/1
Draftkings - $7,400
Fantasy Aces - $4,500
Considering salary, this is my favorite pick of the week. No, not because his last name is Vegas and that is my favorite place. Ok well kinda but he is pretty good at golf as well. He ranks #2 in my stats model highlighted by a 18th rank in Ball Striking, 11th rank in GIR, 4th in Prox 175-200, 22nd in Par 5 Scoring, and 20th in Bogey Avoidance. He doesn't have a great track record here but I have a feeling he will be a Top 20 guy this week. I don't have that feeling about many guys in this field. Roll the Dice with Vegas this week.(see what I did there?)
Also Consider - John Merrick, Luke List
Thomas Aiken
Vegas Odds - 80/1
Draftkings - $6,500
Fantasy Aces - $4,350
This is purely a gut pick. Let's get that straight. Like most of the golfers in this field, you have probably never heard of them and if you have you never get to see them play unless you go to the tournaments and follow them around. When looking over my cheatsheet in the bottom tier the first thing that stood out to me was Aiken's ranking in three important stats. He ranks 3rd in Ball Striking, 2nd in good Drive %, and 16th in GIR. That is a pretty good combination to succeed almost anywhere. The issue for him has been his inconsistency in almost all other stats. Like I said this is a gut feeling but I think he can do some damage this week and be one of those under owned guys in tournaments.
Also Consider - Peter Malnati, Mark Hubbard
Want to see how these picks and more fit into lineups for the Puerto Rico Open? Chris is selling lineups only $5. He covers DraftKings, FantasyFeud & FantasyAces Cash Games & Tournaments. Fill out the form below or click here to purchase using PayPal. This is a separate service than our traditional monthly membership.
Puerto Rico Open
Chris Durell has been playing Daily Fantasy Sports for three years and fantasy in general for more than a decade. He is active player in college football, NFL, NBA and of course PGA. He lives in Saskatchewan, Canada with his wife and two daughters. You can follow him on Twitter at @jager_bombs9 for advice, strategy, answers to any PGA questions and how he copes with the winters up north.
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