Jordan Spieth of the United States plays a shot on the 16th fairway during the second round of the SMBC Singapore Open golf tournament at Sentosa Golf Club's Serapong Course on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, in Singapore. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
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Muirfield Village Golf Club - Dublin, OH
Par 72 - 7,392 Yards
Jordan Spieth picked up his second win of the season this past weekend at the Dean and Deluca Invitational boosting him up to 3rd in the FedEx Cup standings. Even though he has only had two finishes outside of 21st this season(missed cuts at the PLAYERS and Northern Trust), he has faced criticism and has looked frustrated on the golf course. He looks to have gained some confidence back in his game after a hot week of putting(9.089 SG:P) ranking second. It was his first win in his home state of Texas and should kick start the engine for the huge stretch of tournaments coming this summer. If you missed the tournament check out the amazing final round highlights below.
This week the PGA Tour travels to Dublin, Ohio to Jack's Place for the Memorial Tournament. Jack Nicklaus built Muirfield village back in 1974 and has seen it host some big tournaments over the years. It is the only venue to host the Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup and Presidents Cup and it also hosted a U.S. Amateur championship. The course is a 7,392 yard, Par 72 course that was designed to test all facets of a golfers game. No one player type has a distinct advantage over another. When looking at the field it is loaded with high end talent as all of the Top 5 players in the world(Day, Spieth, McIlroy, Watson, Fowler) and 20 of the Top 30 will be teeing it up.
When targeting players I will be looking at a few key stats, course history, but most importantly I will be looking at current form this week as there are some hard decisions to make between really good golfers. One of the key stats will be Birdie or Better %(correlates with fantasy scoring) and Par 5 Scoring as all four are under 567 yards and can be reach by most of the players in the field. Below is a list of all the key stats I am weighting on my cheatsheet this week.
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.
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High End Targets ($9,000+)
Jordan Spieth
Vegas Odds - 7/1
Draftkings - $12,300
Fantasy Aces - $6,300
He paid off for us in a big way last week and I am going to rid the train into Jack's Place. He did something we haven't seen in quite a while. Dominate with the putter. Even when he the tournament was down to a 3 putt for the win he drained a 35 footer just to make sure. The performance moved him from 32nd to 6th in Strokes Gained Putting. All three elite players(Day, Spieth, McIlroy) are coming off wins and picking one was like splitting hairs this week. Spieth got the nod due to his weighted stats and course history. He has played here three times with finishes of 63rd, 19th, and a 3rd place finish last season. He has gotten better with each year of experience at Muirfield so it's not crazy to think he could win the whole thing this year. If you completely torn between the top 3 golfers build a lineup with Day(most expensive) and then copy it two more times with Speith and McIlroy to get exposure to all three.
Hideki Matsuyama
Vegas Odds - 20/1
Draftkings - $10,600
Fantasy Aces - $5,800
After the Top three golfers, all in the $12K range, there is a fall off to Matsuyama coming in under $11K. He actually ranks #1 on my model this week as he fits the course statistically, has nice form and great course history. He won here two years ago and finished Top 5 last year in his only two trips to the Memorial. Outside of two withdraws(Honda Classic and HSBC Champions) and a missed cut(Farmers Ins Open) he is having a terrific season. He picked up a huge win at the Phoenix Open and has five total Top 10's and nine Top 25's. He is safe in all formats and with some nice low end value it is possible to fit him in a GPP lineup with one of the elite guys in the $12K range.
Matt Kuchar
Vegas Odds - 25/1
Draftkings - $9,900
Fantasy Aces - $5,850
I will be starting my cash games with Kuchar again this week after another outstanding performance at the Dean & Deluca Invitational last weekend. Not only has he been a high percentage cut maker this season, he is also picking up some high end finishes. He has picked up a Top 10 finish in three straight and four of his last five tournaments and now has six for the season. His finish of T26 here last year was his worst finish in his last eight trips to the Memorial. He won the event back in 2013 and has made 9/10 cuts in his career with five Top 10's. Roster Kuchar once again and enjoy those smiles all weekend long!
Also Consider - Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson
Kevin Kisner
Vegas Odds - 50/1
Draftkings - $8,600
Fantasy Aces - $5,350
It has been a rough stretch for Kisner coming into the summer after having a terrific fall season. He got back on track last week at the Dean & Deluca Invitational with a T10 after shooting under 70 in each of the final three rounds. It was his first Top 10 finish since January where he finished T5 at the Tournament of Champions. It is great timing for Kisner who comes back to the Memorial with confidence after finished 8th in last years event. He has the upside to outperform his salary and help you win a GPP this week.
Kevin Na
Vegas Odds - 50/1
Draftkings - $8,100
Fantasy Aces - $5,150
Like Kisner, Na got off to a very strong start in the fall season with three straight Top 3 finishes. The big difference is that Na didn't fade away when the calendar turned to 2016. He has been a bit inconsistent with three missed cuts but has five Top 25 finishes and ranks 37th in scoring average before the cut. He has been most inconsistent off the tee and when he gets that rolling he is most dangerous as he has been money on his approaches and around the green. He has made five of six cuts here at the Memorial including a runner up in 2014 and 13th place finish last season. He is a safe play in all formats in the low $8K price range.
Daniel Berger
Vegas Odds - 50/1
Draftkings - $7,800
Fantasy Aces - $5,300
It's Berger time! He is on a bit of a heat right now and makes a great option in any format. After missing back to back cuts at the Northern Trust and Honda Classic he has gone on to make seven straight cuts including three Top 10's and six Top 20 finishes. He ranks high in most of the stats I am targeting this week and I am really hoping that people see his missed cut in his first trip to the Memorial last season and scroll over his name. This tournament was the start of a seven tournament missed cut stretch where he seemed to just take the summer off before finishing the season strong. I don't see that happening this season as he is a bit more mature and has more experience on some of these courses, including Muirfield.
Also Consider - Charles Howell III, Francesco Molinari
William McGirt
Vegas Odds - 200/1
Draftkings - $6,500
Fantasy Aces - $4,500
He has been paying the bills on my cash lineups for weeks now(5 straight made cuts) and has seen a $500 drop in his salary. I will take that value to the bank once again and be heavy on McGirt in cash once again. He ranks high in almost every stat on my cheatsheet and ranks 26th in my model which is awesome considering he is 71st in salary on DraftKings. He has made two of three cuts here with finishes of 37th in 2013 and 40th last season.
Hudson Swafford
Vegas Odds - 250/1
Draftkings - $5,800
Fantasy Aces - $4,000
Digging even deeper this week I wanted to find a sub $6K guy to roster for some contrarian stars and scrubs lineups like I described in my Matsuyama write up. It is possible to fit a $12K and a $10K guy in a GPP lineup and Swafford is a guy who can help you get there. He ranks 27th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and 3rd in Total Driving. He also ranks Top 40 in GIR and Proximity and Top 45 in Par 4 and 5 scoring. He has made three straight cuts and in his first trip to the Memorial last season finished 63rd. He has upside to build on that finish this time around which would be great value at such a bargain price.
Also Consider - K.J. Choi, Freddie Jacobson
Want to see how these picks and more fit into lineups for the Memorial Tournament ? Chris is selling lineups only $5. He covers DraftKings & 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.
the Memorial Tournament
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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View Comments
I played these tips last week and one guy missed the cut by 1 stroke. He clearly choked on Day 2, otherwise I would have had a nice ticket. I still profited on the GPP with 5/6 making the cut and won a whole $1 for the week! However, I have also used these tips to cash 2 GPP's. This week I bought the cheatsheet as the NASCAR cheatsheet was very useful. Thanks!
Thank you for the kind words. I was a Chappell missing the cut away from some big cash as well as Spieth won and was my top pick. Let's crush it this week.
Going to be hard to avoid Reifers at $7,400. Guy has been great the last couple weeks.
Chris-
Enjoy following you on here and always take your picks into consideration with my own. I focus on fantasy golf on DKs more than any other sport and have hit nicely. Just want to say your golf column is becoming better and better each week, let's win some more this week!
@Schneider
Thank you so much for the kind words. I have been trying to improve my research and writing with every day that passes. I am passionate about sports and daily fantasy and love the connection with 1000's of new people.
Good luck this week!
My plays of the Memorial Rickie Fowler. Hideki(chalky high% owned) choi I started every LU with. Chappell. Charles Schwartzel. I'm thinking if they are masters material they are Gold here. Bubba and Phil could be in for a show
Loving those Hideki and Kevin K picks, Not.
Bringing back "Not", nice!
Sitting here Saturday afternoon and I'm LOVING me some Dirty McGirt!!!
Another shoutout to the DSFR guys! Won the Birdie contest over on Aces. Only used McGirt from your recommendations but he was obviously the key to victory! Can't thank you guys enough for the info you put out there. I'm your biggest fan!
DFSR. Sorry. My fingers got typing too fast I was so excited!!