Daily Fantasy Golf Showdown Picks for DraftKings and FanDuel – Waste Management Phoenix Open

Chris will be bringing you weekly PGA picks, analysis, and breakdowns to help you cash on DraftKings and FanDuel. As every week in DFS PGA changes with the course setup, field of players and weather, Chris will be providing a range of different picks for cash games as well as upside plays for tournaments. Want more? He also provides a cheatsheet with stats, course history, current form, player write-ups for cash and GPP, a customizable model, and much more. You can get access to the sheet in the member's chatroom.

This week the PGA Tour visits TPC Scottsdale for the Waste Management Phoenix Open. I previewed the course and some key stats for the full tournament in my early week article and will now combine that research with some stats and info from the first two rounds and give you some players I am targeting for Round 3 and 4 Showdown contests. With no finish position points for Showdowns(except Round 4), I have adjusted my model to really emphasize Birdie or Better %. Once you grab a copy of sheet in chat make sure to also check out my tutorial video going over the stats I use, how you can customize your own model, and how to best utilize the tool.

When breaking down the top stats I use a combination of my own cheatsheet and the tools over at FantasyNational.com, including the live leaderboard. Let's get into the picks.

Showdown Picks

Xander Schauffele

After opening with three bogey's in his first five holes, Xander rebounded in a big way going bogey-free over his final 13 holes with a whopping seven birdies. After two rounds, he ranks 7th in SG: Ball Striking(4th OTT, 33rd APP) while only ranking 43rd in SG: Putting gaining about a .5 stroke per round less than his long term form in that area. He came into this event ranked high in my model thanks to some plus form to start the season(3 Top 10's in 4 events) and top course history with Top 20 finishes in each of the last two years. He is my top player to build around this weekend in Showdown and may be worth a live outright bet at 14-1.

Webb Simpson

Webb is #1 in my Round 3 model after re-adjusting the stats model a bit. He had a huge bounce-back in round two with a bogey-free round and eight birdies while hitting 78% of fairways and 89% of greens. The biggest difference from round one to two was the putting as he gained over two strokes today and lost over two strokes yesterday. Like Xander, he came into the week high in my model with a combination of top form and course history plus a stats model fit and nothing changes here. Pairing these two together in the mid $9K range might be my favorite route on Saturday.

Adam Hadwin

Hadwin hadn't played since November when he barely made the cut and then finished T68 at the RSM Classic. He has most definitely shaken off some rust this week sitting 7th in SG: Tee to Green and while he only has seven birdies, he also has an eagle and more upside could be on its way as he is currently losing over a stroke to the field putting while historically gaining over a stroke per round to the field with the flat stick. If he can get a few more putts to drop on Saturday while continuing to ball strike this well, he is easily a candidate to go low and crush value at his low $7,100 price tag.

Hudson Swafford

When looking at the strokes gained stats through two rounds(check out FNGC live leaderboard), Approach has been much higher correlated than Off the Tee and Swafford is a perfect example why. He has hit just 43%  of fairways through two rounds but has hit a whopping 86% of greens in regulation(leads the field). He has also been putting the lights out as well sitting 10th in SG: Putting. I am not expecting him to go low here either day but should be good for a solid 4+ birdie round which is nice value for the mid $6K price tag.