Daily Fantasy PGA Picks for DraftKings & FantasyAces  - WGC Bridgestone Invitational

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WGC Bridgestone Invitational

Firestone Country Club (South) - Akron, OH

Par 70 - 7,400 Yards

The Quicken Loans National wrapped up on Sunday afternoon with one of the best storylines of the season. Ex Navy man, Billy Hurley III, held on to his 54 hole lead throughout Sunday to pick up his first PGA Tour win at his home event in Maryland. We also got to witness a couple future Hall of Fame players push themselves up the leaderboard and contend for the win. Vijay Singh shot an amazing final round 65 to finish 2nd while Ernie Els tailed off a bit on Sunday shooting a 72 and finishing in 5th place. All in all it was another fantastic tournament. On to next week and another World Golf Championship event.

This week the PGA Tour travels to the home of Lebron James..... and Firestone Country Club for the 2016 WGC Bridgestone Invitational. The field for these events usually includes the Top 70 golfers in the World and invites. This year the field will only include 61 players due to some big names playing the 100th Open de France on the European Tour. There is no cut and all 61 players, barring withdraws, will play all four days. The Course is a Par 70 that stretches out to 7,400 yards and includes two Par 5's, four Par 3's, and 12 Par 4's making Par 4 scoring extremely important this week. The defending champion is Shane Lowry who won last year with a score of -11 which was the highest score since 2008 where Vijay Singh won with a score 10 under par. Tiger Woods holds the Bridgestone record with a winning score of 21 under par back in 2000 and most recently Adam Scott fired a 17 under par in 2011.

With tight, tree lined fairways and thick rough you are going to have to hit fairways consistently to be able to score at Firestone. The course is a beast at 7,400 on a Par 70 so distance is going to matter as well but not if the distance gets you in trouble. For the golfers who bomb the ball I will be looking closely at Total Driving as well as Good Drive %. For the shorter hitters I will be looking at accuracy, both from the tee and on the approach to the green. The greens are larger than average so GIR won't be as important this week but Proximity will be one of my top weighted stats for all players.When looking at the Strokes gained metrics I will be concentrating on Off the Tee and Approach and also a little weight on Around the Green as you will need to Scramble efficiently if you are missing the greens and as always putting is extremely important if you want to top the leaderboard on Sunday.

Below is a list of the key stats I am using in  my model on the cheatsheet this week:

 

• Strokes Gained: Off the Tee
• Strokes Gained: Approach
• Strokes Gained: Putting
• Total Driving
• Good Drive %
• Proximity
• Par 4 Scoring Average
• Scrambling

 

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High End Targets ($9,000+)

Jordan Spieth
Vegas Odds - 8/1
Draftkings - $11,300
Fantasy Aces - $6,050

At the top this week we have Jason Day at $12,100 and then DJ and Spieth in the $11K range. Out of the those three I am siding with Spieth who I project to be the lowest owned of the three. He has played here twice finishing 49th in 2014 & 10th in 2015 which could have been better had he hid a few more fairways(46%). Looking at this years stat rankings Spieth sits 20th in SG: Off the Tee, 4th in SG: Around the Green, and 8th in SG: Putting. All three of these guys are capable of winning but at a lower ownership(projected) and lower price I will side with Spieth.

 

 

Justin Rose
Vegas Odds - 33/1
Draftkings - $10,200
Fantasy Aces - $5,700

Looking at the $10K guys(Scott, Rose, Bubba) you have three golfers who all rank inside the Top 10 in SG: Tee to Green and Top 20 in Distance. In GPP's this week it comes down to ownership as there are more than a few golfers who have the upside to win and have decent to great course history. If you have not checked out FanShare sports yet you should give it a look as they take into account how many times a golfer gets mentioned in their message boards. For several weeks now the top discussed golfers on their site have turned out to be the highest owned for the week. Cue this week. Justin Rose is by far less discussed than Bubba or Scott making it an easy choice for me this week in this range. He is 17th in Total Driving and 8th in BoB% and comes back to Firestone with excellent course history. He has played here 11 times and recorded five Top 10's with four of them being Top 5 finishes.

 

Matt Kuchar
Vegas Odds - 28/1
Draftkings - $9,800
Fantasy Aces - $5,650

The $9K range is another rich range with seven options. Kuchar comes back to Firestone after a week off following the US Open where he disappointed with a 46th place finish. I am definitely not letting that affect my decision this week as Kuchar reeled off four straight Top 5 finishes going into the US Open and fits this course quite well. He is solid across the board ranking inside the Top 43 in all Strokes Gained metrics, 26th in Driving Accuracy and 21st in Good Drive % which helps him over come his lack of distance. He also ranks 7th in Par 4 scoring and 17th in BoB%. He ranks #1 in my model and will be a staple in my lineups this week.

 

Also Consider - Rickie Fowler 

 

Mid Tier Targets ($7,000 - $9,000)

Jason Dufner
Vegas Odds - 33/1
Draftkings - $8,500
Fantasy Aces - $4,900

Dufner comes back to Firestone having played here three times in the past. He has finishes of 7th(2012), 4th(2013) and 66th in 2014. He seems to have gotten back to the player he was in 2013 when he won the PGA Championship. He won the Career Builder(his first win since that PGA Champ) and has five Top 10's and eight Top 25's so far in 2016. He ranks 15th in SG: Approach, 29th in Total Driving, 7th in GIR, 27th in Proximity and 16th in BoB%. He ranks 5th in my overall model and at a mid $8K price range makes a fantastic value in any format.

 

 

Marc Leishman
Vegas Odds - 50/1
Draftkings - $8,100
Fantasy Aces - $4,700

I am jumping on board my good buddy Eric Patterson's bandwagon this week. He has been touting Leishman almost every week we chat on the Slurv and I have failed to cash in by not listening. Leishman has recorded four straight made cuts including three Top 20 finishes. He comes back to Firestone with three starts under his belt(45th, 3rd, 33rd) and his stats fit almost any course. Of the 25 total stats I have on the cheatsheet(not all are weighted and are there for reference), Leishman does not rank outside of the Top 100 in any of them. He is the only player in the field to do so. His stats are highlighted by a Top 20 rank in SG: Around the Green, 33rd in Total Driving, 41st in Good Drive % and 4th in Par 4 Scoring. He is another I trust in all formats.

 

 

Russell Knox
Vegas Odds - 50/1
Draftkings - $7,500
Fantasy Aces - $4,600

When looking to target accuracy in an event I always find myself checking the price on Russell Knox. He sits in the mid $7K range this week which makes him a top value for me this week. He ranks 10th in Driving Accuracy, 4th in Good Drive %, 5th in GIR, 18th in Proximity, and 2nd in Bogey Avoidance. When he doesn't hit fairways and greens he makes up for it as an elite scrambler(15th). This will be his first WGC Bridgestone Invitational and should have no problem carding a Top 20 here at Firestone.

 

 

Also Consider - Bill Haas

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

Kevin Kisner
Vegas Odds - 100/1
Draftkings - $6,800
Fantasy Aces - $4,450

Kisner is not a golfer I thought we would see under $7K after his amazing start to the season. Yes it was the wrap around portion of the season where he picked up his win(RSM Classic) but picked up a 2nd place finish at the first WGC event of the year, the HSBC Champions. He also went to the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii and finished 9th. He definitely has the game to compete in these loaded fields. He ranks 22nd in Driving Accuracy, 37th in Total Driving, 23rd in Par 4 Scoring and 14th in BoB% so his game seems to fit the course. He finished 37th here last year and should blow that out of the water this time around.

 

Also Consider - William McGirt

 

WGC Bridgestone Invitational Update Thread

 

Three U.S. Open champions.
Dustin. Spieth. Rose.
One group. #BridgestoneInv pic.twitter.com/b9BuaPgyQt

— WGC_Bridgestone (@WGC_Bridgestone) June 28, 2016

Want to see how these picks and more fit into lineups for the WGC Bridgestone Invitational? 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.