Welcome to the third 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. We are down to just 70 golfers and two tournaments left in the season! In case it’s your first time reading, a little about me: 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. You can learn more about the strategies that have helped me win more than $50K this year at tourlevelfantasy.com.
Recap of last week’s picks:
Well, we didn’t get DeChambeau (although he was mentioned), but we recommended both Cameron Smith and Tony Finau, along with Tyrrell Hatton, each of whom cracked the top 12. If you played all the golfers from last week’s article, you would’ve made some cash in almost any contest. We’ll try to keep the fire burning for this week. Let’s get to it!
The Tournament: BMW Championship
Course: Aronimink GC
Average Winning Score: -12
Average Cut: N/A
Yardage: 7,300
Par: 70
Skills emphasized: This will be the first time the Tour has landed at Aronimink since 2011, when it hosted the AT&T National and Nick Watney won it. Justin Rose won that event in 2010, and each of them had similar stats: their off-the-tee games were superb, along with their putting, par 4 scoring and birdie or better percentage. We’ll focus on those.
The Favorite:
Bryson DeChambeau (Odds: 20/1, DraftKings $10,000, FanDuel $12,000) We may be one week too late with this pick, but how can we overlook the guy who’s riding back-to-back wins? Last week he burnished a hot putter while gaining about five strokes on the field, and he also played solidly everywhere else while gaining strokes in all measured categories. His second-best stat was strokes gained approaches, where he gained just over four strokes. And now, not surprisingly, he’s a captain’s pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. No matter where he finishes this week, he’ll head to East Lake in the pole position in the FedEx Cup standings. Will that slow him down this week? Fair question, but I think he deserves to be the favorite.
Going Streaking: Players entering this week in the great form
Jordan Spieth (Odds: 22/1, DraftKings $9,400, FanDuel $11,400) When you are as big a fan of Tiger Woods (Odds: 24/1, DraftKings $9,200, FanDuel $11,300), and Patrick Cantlay (Odds: 40/1, DraftKings $8,500, FanDuel $9,900) as I am, it’s tempting to talk about them every week. I’m happy to finally be able to talk about Spieth in a positive light, as he was inches away from a top 10 last week after lipping out an eagle putt on 18. He looked good from tee-to-green, where he gained about five strokes, and he also gained nearly a stroke with his putter. Woods on the other hand looked off with his irons last week, and the stats show that as he gained only .03 on his approaches, his worst performance in that category in quite some time. Cantlay’s week was derailed by his dreadful Thursday 73, but he shot three consecutive solid rounds after that, which excites me about the week ahead. He lost almost three strokes with his putter last week, something he’ll obviously need to figure out.
Hideki Matsuyama (Odds: 20/1, DraftKings $9,700, FanDuel $11,000) Like Spieth, Matsuyama seems close to returning to winning form. He shot a 30 on the front nine on Sunday, only to tail off a bit on the back to finish at 12 under for a T4 finish, his best in a while. He made a ton of putts – in fact, he made more feet of putts in a tournament than ever before. But I expect his ballstriking to follow suit this week. If we get that type of combination, he could find himself in the winner’s circle for the first time this year.
Abraham Ancer (Odds: 75/1, DraftKings $6,800, FanDuel $7,900) He entered Monday with the lead, but Ancer couldn’t close the door as DeChambeau was just too strong. Still, it was a huge finish for Ancer, who bogeyed the 18th to tie for seventh. He ranked eighth in tee-to-green and third off the tee. If both those stats continue, and his putter stays hot for four rounds instead of three, Ancer should be right back in contention.
Mulligans: A player who has struggled but should perform better this week
Chesson Hadley (Odds: 350/1, DraftKings $6,300, FanDuel $8,000) Hadley started this season hot, but has been non-existent for a couple of months now. His last top 10 was 10 weeks ago, and since then he hasn’t finished better than 45th, with three MCs. Well, there’s no cut this week. Maybe, just maybe, he’ll get back to his old ways and start making birdies again – he’s still hanging in the top 10 this season in birdie or better percentage.
Where to play this fantasy golf this week
DraftKings:
Win one of 12 contests over the next month and you can be entered into an exclusive contest that can win you a trip to the 2019 Masters. This week’s three contests are listed below:
1. $6 buy-In called “Tee To Green,” with a top prize of $100,000 and a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000.
2. $555 buy-In called “Signature Hole,” with a top prize of $100,000, and a guaranteed prize pool of $450,000.
3. $44 Buy-in called “Club Twirl,” with a top prize of $100,000 and a guaranteed prize pool of $300,000.
FanDuel:
1. $7.77 Buy-in called “Eagle,” with a top prize of $15,000 and a guaranteed prize pool of $76,000.
2. $333 Buy-In called “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!
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 Tuesday’s @ 8 PM!
