Daily Fantasy PGA Picks for DraftKings - Rio Olympic Games

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Rio Olympic Games

Rio Olympic Course - Rio, Brazil

Par 71 - 7,103 Yards

After 112 years golf is finally back in the Olympic Games. The Canadians will be the defending champs as George Lyon took home the Gold Medal back in 1904. The USA took home Silver and Bronze. With the attention moved away from the players who are not participating(Rory, Spieth, Day, DJ, Scott) we are going to concentrate on the players who are in Rio this week. The 60 golfers who will tee it up on Thursday have a very unique opportunity to win an Olympic Medal for their respective countries. The tournament format, which Henrik Stenson just found out last week, is a regular 72 hole event over a four day period. The people in charge decided with this format as it was the easiest way to get the bid for golf to be approved in the shortest period of time to be able to build a course for the event. A stroke play event gives us DFS junkies a chance to get in on the action of the Olympics with some terrific contests on DraftKings. The tournament that leads the way this week is the $20 buyin, $1,000,000 Guarantee with a $100,000 prize to first place. The best part about this tournament over the Milli Makers is the very flat payout structure and much more limited entries.

The course was designed by Gil Hanse and his team starting back in late 2012/early 2013. The team faced numerous Environmental  challenges including not having the ability to import or export any sand. All 79 bunkers are made up of native sand(3 different types) found in the area of the course. They pushed very hard to preserve as much of the natural landscape as possible and it shows in the final design. Hanse beat out some monsters in the golf course design industry(Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus Jr., Arnold Palmer) with his vision he compared to the sand belt courses in Australia and his own design of Castle Stuart Links, the host of the Scottish Open. The Rio Olympic Course is a Par 71 setup that is short by PGA standards at 7,103 yards but keep in mind it was designed for both the Women's and Men's events. It will also be the very first public course in Brazil and will go a long way to helping grow the game.

When looking at the course from a fantasy perspective it is going to place much like a Links style course. There are no trees and the course is built not far off the South Atlantic Ocean where strong winds could definitely play a factor. Normal winds throughout the weekend are going to be 10-15 mph but don't be surprised to see some big gusts. The one way the Rio course is unique from other Links style courses is the lack of rough. In it's place is natural native areas of grass, small bushes and lots of sand. Hanse set the course up so for both long and short hitters as four of the Par 4's are under 412 yards while the other five reaching 479+ yards. I always feeling distance is an advantage if used correctly so I tend to concentrate more on Total Driving. The greens appear to be bigger in size so GIR won't be weighted near as high as Proximity. With the amount of sand on the course Sand Save % will also be a huge factor in this competition. At the end of all the projecting it will really come down to weather this week. If the wind stays the final score could be in the -15 range and if the wind plays a factor throughout the four days we could see a grinding -5 score take home the Gold. Follow me on Twitter as I will be sharing any weather related info leading up to lineup lock.

If you have any questions leading up to lineup lock Thursday morning you can reach me in a variety of ways. Leave a Q below in the comment section and I will get you an answer. You can hit me up in the new chatroom here at DFSR(It's crazy busy with MLB talk so try and private message me for specific PGA Q's). I will also be joining Doug on the Wednesday Podcast to discuss the tournament each week. Also on Wednesday, you can join me for a live Google Hangout over at Slurv.com. I am always available on Twitter as well(@jager_bombs9). Good luck this week!

High End Targets ($9,000+)

Rickie Fowler
Country - United States
Vegas Odds - 13/1
Draftkings - $10,900

While his teammates all played through the weekend at the Travelers Championship, Rickie traveled to Rio and hit his first practice round on Sunday. The extra preparation could pay off this week on a brand new course. With no courses history I will be relying heavily on stats this week and Rickie is right up there at the top. He ranks 7th in SG:Off the Tee, 6th in SG:Around the Green, 24th in Total Driving, 5th in Par 4 Scoring and 3rd in Bogey Avoidance. Rickie has a chance to bounce back after a disappointing major season with two missed cuts at the Masters and US Open, T46 at the OPEN, and T33 at the PGA Championship. He absolutely loves playing for his country and has seemed to have embraced the opportunity after some passed up the chance.

Martin Kaymer
Country - Germany
Vegas Odds - 15/1
Draftkings - $10,300

A factor that can't be gauged by a stat is national pride. If I had to rank it this week based on what I have seen or heard I would most definitely  have Kaymer #1 on the list. He has fully embraced the experience of the Olympics as a national competition and not an individual one. He was nearly brought to tears as he and his German teammates sang their anthem during the opening ceremonies and he was quoted as not getting much sleep with the anticipation of start of the tournament.  Oh ya and he is pretty good golfer as well, coming off a T7 at the PGA Championship and back in early July finished T13 at the Scottish Open held at a Gil Hanse designed Castle Stuart Golf Links. Kaymer is one of only 14 golfers to make the cut in all four majors and with such a large top tier this week could be overlooked.

Henrik Stenson
Country - Sweden
Vegas Odds - 7/1
Draftkings - $12,400

If you are looking for a golfer in form look no further. He is coming off a T7 at the PGA Championship and record setting win at the OPEN Championship. The week before that he also finished T12 at the Scottish Open and also won the BMW International Open back in June. He also ranks very high(2nd) in my weighted stats this week highlighted by a 3rd in SG:T2G, 2nd in SG:Approach, 6th in Total Driving, Top in both Par 4 and 5 Scoring and 4th in Birdie or Better %.

Also Consider - Rafa Cabrera-Bello

Mid Tier Targets ($7,000 - $8,900)

Graham DeLaet
Country - Canada
Vegas Odds - 51/1
Draftkings - $7,400

You didn't think I was going lead of the mid tier with anyone else did you? The Canadians are the defending Gold Medalists in golf and while that don't mean much as it was 112 years ago, it should give the Canadians some confidence. While Hearn may have the better recent form, DeLaet comes with more upside in my eyes and has three Top 10 finishes to Hearn's one. DeLaet ranks 6th in SG: Approach, 23rd in Total Driving, 9th in Par 4 Scoring and if the wind stays fairly calm I think his 14th rank in BoB% will come into play.

Joost Luiten
Country - Netherlandws
Vegas Odds - 51/1
Draftkings - $7,500

If you are planning on playing two of the top tier guys in your lineups you are going to need two or three guys in the $7K range this week to make it work. His full name is Willibrordus Adrianus Maria Luiten but Joost is just much easier to say. He comes in 66th in the World Golf Rankings and 13th in the Race to Dubai on the European Tour where he holds four career wins. He is average in distance but a very accurate player(74% GIR, 63% Driv Acc) and is very good from the sand(68% Sand Save % on Euro Tour).

Also Consider - Padraig Harrington

Low End Target (Min Price - $6,900)

Alex Cejka
Country - Germany
Vegas Odds - 126/1
Draftkings - $6,600

There are actually a few decent plays in the sub $7K range this week in the smaller 60 man field. Cejka is one of the few PGA Tour regulars who qualifies for stats and always stands out in that department. He ranks 13th in SG: Approach, 29th in SG: Around the Green, 35th in both Proximity and GIR. He also ranks Top 20 in Par 3, 4, and 5 Scoring and is 1st on Tour in Bogey Avoidance. No matter the weather I like Cejka's skills in the mid $6K range.

Also Consider - Nicolas Colsaerts

The Rio Olympic Games Update Thread

Want to see how these picks and more fit into lineups for the Rio Olympic Games? 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.

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.