Welcome to the Fantasy Six Pack! If this is your first time joining us, here 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.) 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. Last week at the Safeway Open I put the information provided here, and the information found on my website, to work and earned 13th place in the big $555 contest, netting me a healthy four figures for the week.
Recap of last week’s picks
Four of our recommendations finished in the top 25, while two missed the cut. Well this week luckily, we don’t have to worry about that, as the CIMB is a no-cut event.
The Tournament: The CIMB Classic
Course: TPC Kuala Lumpur
Average Winning Score: -26
Average Cut: None
Yardage: 7100 yards
Par: 72
Skills emphasized: Sadly, the strokes gained tool doesn’t travel with the PGA Tour to the Asian swing. But, we did find that last year’s winner, Pat Perez, plus Justin Thomas for each of the two years before that, hit the most greens out of any golfer in the field. So, one could surmise that this is a second-shot golf course. We’ll be emphasizing GIR and strokes gained, approaches.
Last Year’s Top-5 Finishers
Pat Perez
Keegan Bradley
Sung Kang
Xander Schauffele
Hideki Matsuyama
With that, one to the field. Plenty of talented golfers made the trip this week, headlined by a two-time champion.
The Favorite:
Justin Thomas (Odds: 7/1, DraftKings $11,700, FanDuel $13,000) It’s no secret that Vegas and the two daily fantasy sites think JT will win this week. He has, after all, played this event three times and won twice. He’s the kind of player who has a chance every week he tees it up. Thomas recently played through a minor wrist issue, but I doubt he’d make this trip only to WD. He’s had a week off since playing like team USA’s MVP at the Ryder Cup, where he went 4-1.
Going Streaking: Players entering this week in the great form
Rafa Cabrera Bello (Odds: 33/1, DraftKings $9,300, FanDuel $11,100) The Spaniard was sadly left off the Ryder Cup team, but maybe that will leave an ill taste and a little extra motivation. He finished seventh two starts ago and notched a top-10 here last year, and he looks like a good guy to pair with JT. Oh, he’s also one of the best iron players in the world. I think he’s a good bet for another top 10.
Kevin Tway (Odds: 40/1, DraftKings $8,200, FanDuel $10,000) Tway has been featured in this article a couple of times, but sadly, not last week, before he went out and won his first career Tour title. Leading into it, Tway hadn’t missed a cut in more than 10 weeks and had another three top 25s in seven starts. He ranked eighth last week in approaches and hit more than 75% of his greens.
Sam Ryder (Odds: 80/1, DraftKings $7,400, FanDuel $8,700) On my list for his second straight start, Ryder has been riding a hot streak of ball striking, ranking second in approaches last week, and second in ballstriking. He also gained nearly one stroke per round with his putter. If those stats continue this week, he’ll be in line for another top 15.
John Caitlin (Odds: 300/1, DraftKings $6,400, FanDuel $7,000) A bonus pick from the Asian Tour, where golfers ranked in that Tour’s top 10 get an exemption into the CIMB. This 28-year-old from Gold River California, has been a pro since 2013 and has been on the Asian Tour since 2015. He’s bounced around a bit, but his breakthrough came earlier this year, when he won the Asian Pacific Classic. Since then Caitlin has added two more wins and five other top 10s without missing a single cut. This will be his first PGA Tour start.
Mulligans: A player who has struggled but expects to play better
Jon Curran (Odds: 300/1, DraftKings $6,300, FanDuel $7,000) Curran finished second at the 2016 Memorial, but has struggled since then. He hasn’t made a cut on the PGA Tour since the 2017 Waste Management. He did, however, shoot a 68 in round 1 in Napa last week, but followed with a 77 to miss the cut. Still, one round in the 60s shows progress. And again, no cut this week.
Where to play this fantasy Golf this week: (Note there will be overnight viewing, with tee times starting around 8:00 p.m. ET Wednesday night.)
DraftKings:
1. $6 buy-in called “Tee To Green,” with a top prize of $50,000 and a guaranteed prize pool of $200,000.
2. $555 buy-in called “Signature Hole,” with a top prize of $25,000, and a guaranteed prize pool of $125,000.
3. $44 buy-in called “Club Twirl,” with a top prize of $10,000 and a guaranteed prize pool of $75,000.
FanDuel:
1. $7 buy-in called “Eagle,” with a top prize of $5,000 and a guaranteed prize pool of $25,000.
2. $333 buy-in called “Monster,” with a top prize of $3,000 and a guaranteed prize pool of $7,500.
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!
