Daily Fantasy PGA Picks for DraftKings & FantasyAces  - Shriners Hospitals for Children Open

DFSR is proud to bring you Chris Durell. He'll be bringing weekly PGA picks, analysis and breakdowns to help you cash on DraftKings and FantasyAces. 

 

Shriners Hospitals for Children Open

TPC Summerlin - Las Vegas, Nevada

Par 71 - 7,255 Yards

After a runner up at the CIMB Classic, Hideki Matsuyama continued his torrid place to open the 2016-2017 season. He dominated the loaded field last weekend , winning by seven strokes, en route to his 3rd PGA Tour victory. He also became the first ever Asian born player to win a WGC event and in doing so moved up from 10th to 6th in the Official World Golf Rankings.

This week the PGA Tour heads to Sin City for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. TPC Summerlin was built into the desert terrain of Las Vegas back in 1991 and has been the annual home of this tournament since 2008. It is a 7,255 yard, Par 71 setup that is full of elevation changes and challenges golfers who are not accurate off the tee as there are a ton of native areas that can lead to penalty strokes. The greens are larger than normal and very undulating putting more emphasis on Proximity over Greens in Regulation. There are also over 100 bunkers which will have me weight Scrambling and Sand Save % a little higher this week. Last years winning score(-16) was lower than it usually is with an average winning score around -20 over the past 5+ years. With DraftKings scores expected to be higher than normal I will be heavily weighting Birdie or Better %, Par 4 and 5 Scoring. Le's dig in and take a look at some of the top plays 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 NFL talk so try and private message me for specific PGA Q's). I am also always available on Twitter(@jager_bombs9). Good luck this week!

 

 

High End Targets ($9,000+)

John Rahm
World Golf Ranking  (129)
Vegas Odds (34/1)
Draftkings ($9,800)
FantasyAces ($5,500)

He turned pro this past summer and ended up earning his PGA Tour card for this season. Even more impressive, he did this without a trip to Q school or the Web.com Tour and showed he can contend with the bog boys early and often. He started his impressive run with a T23 at the US Open in June and went on to record three more Top 25's the rest of the season including a runner up finish at the RBC Canadian Open. His statistical sample size is pretty small with 18 measured rounds last season and just one this season but you have to be impressed with what he has shown us early on. In 18 rounds last year he averaged over 1 Stroke Gained Tee to Green each round while gaining over 2 per round in the Safeway Open. The thing that held him back from finishing better T12 was the letdown in the putting game. He his the ball a mile and can make a ton of Birdies which sets up perfect this week as you are going to need lots of Birdies and Eagles to contend on Sunday. The best part about Rahm is the price that comes in under $10K this week.

 

 

Scott Piercy
World Golf Ranking (34)
Vegas Odds (34/1)
Draftkings ($9,700)
FantasyAces ($5,400)

Another terrific play as I continue to find myself fading the top tier this week in cash game formats. I think Moore and Koepka will be make the cut his week but at a premium price you need more than made cuts. Moore has won this event in the past but between him and Koepka they have each missed the cut here twice in the last five years. For my money I am dipping down in the sub $10K range to start the bulk of my lineups this week. After missing the cut at the PGA Championship at the end of July, Piercy finished strong making four straight cut and kicked off this season in style with back to back Top 10 finishes. He had a disappointing T63 in last week's HSBC Champions but should rebound in a more favorable field in Las Vegas.

 

 

Keegan Bradley
World Golf Ranking (105)
Vegas Odds (41/1)
Draftkings ($9,300)
FantasyAces ($5,000)

Keegan missed the cut here last year in his only trip to TPC Summerlin but I am not concerned as he is playing much better golf in the latter stages of the 2016 calendar year. After a missed cut at the US Open(11th missed cut of last season) he went on to make seven straight cuts to close out the year. He seemed to get more and more comfortable without anchoring the putter and and has only lost over 1 stroke putting in a tournament once since that US Open. The Shriners Open was also his first tourny of the year last season whereas this year he already has two tournaments under his belt and has been trending in the right direction. He finished the Safeway Open T22 and followed that up with a T6 at the CIMB Classic. I still can't fully trust his putting and cmobine that with a price over $9K and he is going to be a GPP play only for me this week and I don't think you will need much exposure to be overweight.

Also Consider - Kevin Na

 

 

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

Cody Gribble
World Golf Ranking (205)
Vegas Odds (51/1)
Draftkings ($8,400)
FantasyAces ($4,850)

After going through two full seasons on the Web.com Tour without a victory, Gribble has already earned his first PGA Tour win in just his second start.  After an opening round 73 to start the Sanderson Farms Championship last week, Gribble exploded the final three days shooting 21 under and winning by four strokes. The early season success comes on the back of some absolutely stellar putting. He sits 4th in SG:Putting having gained 1.81 strokes on the field per tournament. The drivers the ball around 300 yards on average and the only concern is the inaccuracy early in the season.  As long as he doesn't get into the native areas I think he will be alright as he is currently scrambling at a 75% rate. It's hard to trust any rookie in cash games early in the season but Gribble is definitely a high ceiling GPP play this week .

 

 

Alex Cejka
World Golf Ranking (134)
Vegas Odds (81)
Draftkings ($8,300)
FantasyAces ($4,950)

I am going to ignore the price this week as Cejka is normally a high $6K, low $7K priced player. The field is much weaker than normal so the price adjustment makes sense, especially with Cejka coming back top TPC Summerlin after a T2 last year and T18 the year before.  Looking at last season he had nine Top 25's with four of them coming before mid January so now is definitely the time to jump on board.  He doesn't hit the ball far off the tee but is deadly accurate ranking 22nd in Driving Accuracy, 39th in GIR, 20th in SG:APP, and 39th in SG: T2G last season and ranked 14th in Birdie average. Even at a mid $8K price I would consider Cejka in all formats.

 

 

Graham DeLaet
World Golf Ranking (166)
Vegas Odds (101/1)
Draftkings ($7,300)
FantasyAces ($4,500)

Back to my Canadian bias early in the new season. While I could never recommend him for cash games I will take a shot with him in a few GPP's this week. He doesn't come back to Vegas with much success missing his last two cuts here after picking up a T18 in his trip back in 2010. This should most definitely keep his ownership in the 1-2% range making it very easy to go over weight if you are constructing multiple lineups. He is one of the best Ball Strikers on tour ranking 17th last season and 9th through two tournaments this season. His Achilles heel  has been the putter and being bale to put a complete four rounds of golf together. He rode a hot putter to a T8 in last weekends Sanderson Farms Championship and if he ride that momentum he could grab another Top 10 this week.

 

Also Consider - Jamie Lovemark

 

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

Jason Bohn
World Golf Ranking (165)
Vegas Odds (101/1)
Draftkings ($6,200)
FantasyAces ($4,500)

If you are looking for GPP value, Jason Bohn is it this week. He comes back to TPC Summerlin with outstanding course history, making all seven cuts and finishing T2, T18, T2, T8 his last four trips to Las Vegas. Must be something in the water. He is priced in the low $6K's but Vegas themselves have him at 101/1 to win which is the same odds they have on Delaet for $1,100 more. I also believe his current form early this season(Cut, T70) will keep enough people off him to where he won't be the overwhelming chalk in the lower tier.

 

Also Consider - Trey Mullinax

 

 

 

Shriners Open Update Thread

Welcome back to #Vegas, golf fans, for the annual @ShrinersOpen @TPCSummerlinAgr! Doing good is always a hole in one! #TourismMatters pic.twitter.com/YebOKAh4ru

— LVCVA (@LVCVA) October 31, 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.