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Crooked Stick Golf Club - Carmel, IN
Par 71 - 7,297 Yards
It appears Rory McIlroy has found the putting stroke. He lead the field in Putters per GIR and was 7th in Strokes Gained: Putting en route to his big win at the Deutsche Bank Championship this past Labour Day weekend. I'll admit I was terrified of his putting going into the week and all out faded him in my lineups. I paid dearly and it was just another instance proving that putting can come and go at the snap of your fingers. If you missed the final round highlights from the Deutsche Bank Championship I included a short video form PGA Tour Youtube below.
We are now down to two remaining tournaments and 70 golfers vying for the 10 million dollar prize and FedEx Cup title. This week the rotating course schedule for the BMW Championship takes us to Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana. The course is a 7,516 yard Par 72 that was designed by Pete Dye back in 1965. Crooked Stick last hosted the BMW Championship in 2012 when none other than last weeks winner Rory McIlroy prevailed. I will be weighing course history quite low this week and only looking at the 2012 results and stats fro those players on my cheatsheet. When faced with a Pete Dye course with no back to back holes running in the same direction I weigh Strokes Gained: Off theTee right near the top. Looking at 2012, Rory won with a score of -20 overall and was -9 on the Par 4's and -11 on Par 5's. Six players inside the Top 10 were double digits below par on the Par 5's and only one player was worse than -4 on the Par 4's for the week. I will weigh Par 5 scoring a bit more but both will be heavily weighted this week. There are only 69 players in this weeks field as Henrik Stenson will be sitting out to get a two week break before the Tour Championship. The weather for the week looks spotty right now with rain and winds from 10-15 mph for Thursday through Saturday. Be sure to check the forecasts leading up to lineup lock and check me out on Twitter where I will be updating on Wednesday night.
Below are the keys stats I am weighting this week:
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+)
Dustin Johnson
Vegas Odds - 9/1
Draftkings - $11,300
FantasyAces - $6,100
DJ is starting to trend in the right direction after an 18th at the Barlays and a T8 last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship. His finish could have been better or worse depending on how you look it. He shot 68, 66 in the opening rounds before a disappointing 75 on Sunday. Things could have went downhill on Monday but they didn't. Johnson rebounded with a terrific 66 on a day with tricky winds and few low scores. He ranks at the top of my stats model this week as he ranks 2nd in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 1st in overall Proximity, 1st in Par 4 Scoring, 10th in Par 5 Scoring and 2nd in Birdie or Better %. I also believe that with Rory's win last week and last time the BMW Championship was held at Crooked Stick that DJ will be 5-10% less owned making him the better GPP play this week. He is also the safest option at the top if you are starting your cash game with a high end golfer.
Adam Scott
Vegas Odds - 16/1
Draftkings - $10,200
FantasyAces - $5,750
After back to back rounds of 71 and 70 on Saturday and Sunday at the Deutsche Bank, Scott rebounded with an outstanding 65 on Monday to finish in 4th. It was his second straight 4th place finish in the playoffs and is nicely setting himself up to control his own destiny at the Tour Championship in two weeks. He sits 5th in the standings and has a great shot to improve on that here at Crooked Stick. He finished 6th back in 2012 and comes into this week with elite stats. He ranks 18th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 1st in Strokes Gained Approach, 7th in Proximity, 15th and 10th in Par 4 & 5 Scoring and 9th in Birdie or Better %.
Patrick Reed
Vegas Odds - 16/1
Draftkings - $9,700
FantasyAces - $5,700
While he isn't quite the amazing value he was at the Barclays when he started the playoffs at $8,800 on DraftKings, he is still a terrific value under $10K this week. He sits first in the standings after his win to open the playoffs and backed that up with a T5 last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship. He is playing with extreme confidence right now and no better time of year to peak. I am leaning more on form with Reed as his stats are not near those of some other golfers in his range. He ranks 63 in SG: OTT and 68th in SG: APP but ranks 10th in Par 5 Scoring and 4th in Scrambling. Due to the separation in stats from other golfers in the range I will be using Reed in GPP's only this week.
Also Consider - Jason Day
Bubba Watson
Vegas Odds - 40/1
Draftkings - $8,600
FantasyAces - $5,550
Value play of the week!! Bubba Watson, world #7 golfer, is priced in the mid $8K range this week. Usually when his salary reaches this point it is due to bad course history or terrible form. Yes, he missed the cut last week but he has been incredibly consistent this season missing just one cut in 17 events with a win at the Northern Trust and seven total Top 25 finishes. Statistically he is exactly what I am looking for ranked 3rd in SG: OTT, 26th in SG: APP, 4th in Distance, and 5th in Par 5 Scoring. Course history at Crooked Stick is limited to 2012 but Bubba finished 12th. I hoping people look at the missed cut and avoid him this week cause I will be overweight in tournies and he will anchor my cash game lineup.
Russell Knox
Vegas Odds - 66/1
Draftkings - $7,800
FantasyAces - $4,750
I am sticking with the Ryder Cup snub narrative this week with Knox. He started out slow last week with an opening round 73 but slowly grinded his way through the weekend shooting 67, 69, 67 to finish in a tie for 15th to remain in 7th in the FedEx Cup standings. He is an accuracy player who ranks 10th in Driving Accuracy, 4th in GIR, 11th in Proximity. He also scores well on the Par 4's ranking 15th and is excellent at avoiding the big numbers as he ranks 14th in Bogey Avoidance. With other big names around him in salary he should only be around 8-10% in tournaments. He is also an excellent cash game option.
Branden Grace
Vegas Odds - 50/1
Draftkings - $7,400
FantasyAces - $5,200
When comparing Vegas odds and salary ranks this week one name stood out to me in the mid range. Grace comes in as the 31st in salary and 17th in odds(courtesy of BetVictor). He is having a solid season on the PGA Tour picking up his first career win at the RBC Heritage and has made 13 of 17 cuts with six Top 10's and nine Top 25 finishes. Statistically he ranks 39th in SG: OTT due to a lack of accuracy at times but ranks 13th in SG: APP and 15th in Par 4 Scoring. He hasn't been in the best form as of late missing cuts at the Travelers and Barclays and finishing T41 last week so I would only recommend for tournaments where he will be extremely low owned.
Also Consider - Charl Schwartzel
Jason Dufner
Vegas Odds - 80/1
Draftkings - $6,900
FantasyAces - $4,650
The bottom tier is extremely strong this week due to the field being cut to 70 this week. There is a ton of value and my favorite is Dufner who ranks 44th in salary and 31st in odds. That is definitely not all I like about him as he ranks 47th in SG: OTT, 17th in SG: APP, 10th in Ball Striking, 15th in Par 4 Scoring, and 14th in Birdie or Better %. He played here in 2012, the last time Crooked Stick was used for the BMW, and finished in a tie for 28th. Add it all up and Dufner makes a great play in any format.
Also Consider - Hudson Swafford
Want to see how more analysis and information on building lineups for The BMW Championship? Chris has his targets and cheatsheet for only $5. He covers DraftKings & FantasyAces. Fill out the form below or Purchase Through PayPal.
BMW Championship
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
Went with Rory last week which worked out nicely except for having bubba with him. Rolling with DJ this week and back on the bubba train! Any love for koepka? Inconsistent but if he minimizes the damage he could score.
I think he makes a nice GPP play this week. Will be low owned due to current form but has the talent to win one of these. He ranks 14th in Strokes gained off the tee and 10th in Par 4 Scoring which are two strong stats I am looking at this week.