Welcome to the second Playoff edition of the Fantasy Six Pack, where we highlight six golfers to use in two popular fantasy golf platforms, DraftKings and FanDuel. On each, you must select six golfers for your lineup under a specific salary cap. (DraftKings: $50,000, FanDuel: $60,000). The playoffs bring some of the best golf of the year, and this year may be the best of all. Read a full playoff preview here. I’m a golf nut with a 1.3 handicap and a nose for analytics — according to Rotogrinders, I’m one of the top daily fantasy golf players and ranked inside the top 25 of all players! Find out the strategies that have helped me win over 50K just this year and more at tourlevelfantasy.com.
Recap of last week’s picks: 6/6! On a little streak now, as all seven of our golfers made the cut, with four of the seven finishing inside the top 25. Tour Level favorite Patrick Cantlay led the way with a T8. Tiger Woods and Sam Ryder were the low men of our recommendations; however, Ryder was almost the minimum price, so he returned some very good value! Jordan Spieth couldn’t avoid the big numbers yet again making a couple of doubles and another triple bogey, giving him no chance to win the tournament.
This week’s tournament: Dell Technologies Championship
Course: TPC Boston
Average Winning Score: -12
Average Cut: Even
Yardage: 7,350 yards
Par: 71
Skills emphasized: Strokes gained tee to green has been the most notable characteristic for winners over the past seven years here at TPC Boston. The course is a beautiful scenic New England course set in the forests of Massachusetts, Norton to be exact. Interestingly enough the SG: T2G, heavily favored the around the green portion, as scrambling was another stat that showed up more often than not. Add in a touch of magic with the putter (SG:P) and those three stats will dominate the leaderboards this week. For a more detailed look at the course, the tournament and how golfers are performing in those stats you can read our free course and tournament preview here.
Top-10 finishers last year
Justin Thomas
Jordan Spieth
Marc Leishman
Jon Rahm
Paul Casey
Phil Mickelson
Kevin Na
Patrick Reed
Pat Perez
Bill Haas
Favorite
Many of the top players in the world are here this week to compete in the Dell Technologies Championship. It makes picking a favorite a little tough, so we’ll do our best to shed some light on what the top players are priced at this week.
Justin Thomas (DraftKings: $11,400, FanDuel: $12,000) The scary part about the defending champion of this event, and the FedEx Cup, is that he didn’t even really have it last week and still finished 8th. His consistency is turning out to be rather incredible as he’s racked up three straight top 10s and four in his last five starts. He ranks first in the field in Strokes Gained Tee to Green over the last five starts, beating out the likes of Koepka (14/1 DraftKings: $11,000, FanDuel: $12,300) and DJ (12/1 DraftKings: $11,600, FanDuel: $12,500). His putter is also heating up, gaining over a half a stroke over those same five starts. If the putter remains warm, and dare I say gets hot, he could win by more than a couple on his way to defending the FedEx Cup.
Going Streaking: Players entering this week in great form
When you are a big fan of Tiger Woods (Odds: 16/1, DraftKings: $9,700, FanDuel: $11,500), and yes, Patrick Cantlay (Odds: 40/1, DraftKings: $9,000, FanDuel: $10,000), you want to just talk about them every week! While Cantlay earned the right to be back on this list after coming T8 last week, Tiger struggled with the putter last week and finished outside the top 25. Still, Woods’s form is as good as most in the field and should be treated as such. Of people who made the cut, Woods finished second to last in the field in SG:P losing almost five strokes on the green, if that changes he should be able to take advantage of his stellar T2G, which he ranked 7th in the field last week.
Tony Finau (25/1, DraftKings: $8,800, FanDuel: $10,700) I must admit I didn’t play him last week, and I am a bit sour about it. On a course that normally demands accuracy, as well as length off the tee, Finau was able to keep his ball in play all week, and also got warm with the putter. As he chases down a Ryder Cup Captain’s pick, he’ll need another big week as one of his counterparts vying for the same thing just won the tournament last week, Bryson DeChambeau (22/1, DraftKings: $8,700, FanDuel: $10,900). Tony came in second by having the best Tee to Green game last week gaining on average of 3 strokes per round, while maintaining true to form, as he lost strokes with his putter for the week, yet still finished second.
Tyrell Hatton (65/1, DraftKings: $7,700, FanDuel: $9,000) If only he could put four rounds together, or if he could play a couple of final rounds he’d have a chance at winning. This is now a couple starts in a row where his rather lackluster first three days holds him back from a big-time finish. So what is the catalyst this week? Well, the great thing about Ty is that he doesn’t hold anything back on social media, so you know exactly what is going on. He tweeted out a picture of him buying a new putter at Golf Galaxy on Saturday night, and on Sunday he led the field in strokes gained-putting, en route to a closing 64 jet-setting him up the leaderboard. At a reasonable price and maybe a renewed sense of confidence on the greens, Hatton could be a sneaky play with top 10 upside this week.
Cameron Smith (100/1, DraftKings: $7,000, FanDuel: $8,300) The winner of the Australian PGA Championship, Smith had a very good season on the PGA Tour as well. Smith hadn’t earned himself a top 10 in quite a while but popped last week and wound up finishing 5th. That marks three straight made cuts and four out of his last five, as the consistency seems to have returned here late in the season. Smith has never played in a Tour Championship and will need another couple good finishes in the next two weeks to make it there. He rode a hot putter to his big finish last week, gaining on average of about a stroke and a quarter (1.25) per round.
Someone who needs a mulligan or two:
Jon Rahm (30/1, DraftKings: $9,100, FanDuel: $11,000) When this train starts to head off track, there isn’t anything to stop it. Last week we saw Rahm get very annoyed on Thursday and Friday and wound up shooting his highest two-day total of the year. So, as much as he’d like a mulligan on last week, and likely the whole last month with his flat stick, Rahm is still an elite talent, who’s shown he can compete on this stage, and should be able to bounce right back into it with a good showing this week.
Where to play Fantasy Golf this week
DraftKings: Championship season has started, and DraftKings is offering a one of a kind promotion. Win one of 12 contests over the next month and be entered an exclusive contest that could win you a trip to the Masters in 2019! This week’s three contests are listed below:
$6 Buy-In Contest called the “Mini-Max” with a top prize of $100,000 and a guaranteed prize pool of $700,000
$888 Buy-In Contest called the “Mega Max” with a top prize of $150,000, and a guaranteed prize pool of $650,000
$44 Buy-in contest called the “Club Twirl” with a top prize of $100,000 and a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000
FanDuel: An increase in the weekly offerings this week as golf winds down for the season:
1. $15 Buy-in contest called the “Eagle” with a top prize of $50,000 and a guaranteed prize pool of $200,000
2. $444 Buy-In contest called the “Monster” with a top prize of $10,000 and a guaranteed prize pool of $40,000.
These are just some of the many contests between the two sites. For a full breakdown of all contests and offerings check out the links in my bio. Good luck this week, and Happy Watching!
Jason Rouslin is the founder of tourlevelfantasy.com. He has been playing golf for the last 20 years, betting on golf for the last five and writing about golf for the last two. Connect with him on Twitter @dfsgolfer23 or check him out on the @rotogrinders live golf show on Tuesdays @ 8 PM!
