2020 Genesis Invitational Daily Fantasy Golf Picks and Fades for DraftKings

Congratulations, we have finally made it. Golf season is back. A real golf tournament, with a legit field and proper methods of following the tournament!

If you are like me you tried to get into the Asian swing or tournaments like the Desert Classic, but they just aren’t the real deal. Even if you like those fields when guys like Hudson Swafford or Lanto Griffen are $9500 or plus, the fact that half of these events dont have PGA Live or shot tracking on the PGA is a downright shame. Multiple courses in one event? Seven hour rounds with celebrities? All thankfully behind us as it is now officially golf season.

This week we are at the 2028 Olympic host, Riviera Country Club. This 120 player field is absolutely loaded with top talent. It is so refreshing this week to look down in the 7k range and see players like Paul Casey, Matt Kuchar, or Joaquin Niemann. Riviera is known to favor lefties and bombers, but the golfers will need to be a complete player this week to be holding the trophy come Sunday.

Key Stats:

SG: Approach
SG: Ball Striking
Driving Distance
SG: Par 4 450-500 yds
SG: P Poa

Picks

Tony Finau – $9,100

Tony Finau at an extremely reasonable $9,100 is our top play of the week. Tony most recently blew a two stroke lead at the WMPO, which may turn some people off of him, especially if you believe the “He can’t win” narrative. Forget about the two hole collapse and look at Tony’s results this season and you will see that he is raking right now. In his past 36 holes he ranks 3rd SG: Tee to Green, 7th in SG: Ball Striking, 8th in GIRs Gained, and 10th on Par 4s 450-500 (which there are 7 of this week.) against the field. With stats like these you would expect him to be top 5 priced and top 5 owned, but he is much lower in both categories. If that wasn’t enough to convince you, Riviera is known to have a lot comparisons to Augusta where Tony has finished 5th and 10th in his only two starts.

Bubba Watson -$9,600

When the Genesis open comes around each year, the golf industry has a common name for Riviera Golf Course; it’s called a “Bubba Track”. The course gives a distinct advantage to left handed golfers who hit monster fades off the tee, which is exactly the type of golfer Bubba Watson is. When the industry names a course after a golfer, it is usually a pretty safe DFS play. Riveria favors lefties Bubba has won this tournament every other year dating back to 2014 and comes in with some of his best form in recent years. The former Masters champ has two top ten finishes in his last two events, placing 3rd at WMPO and 6th the Farmers while gaining over 7 strokes tee to green in each event. Bubba will be chalky this week, but he is one of the safest plays to finish top 20 this week.

Collin Morikawa – $8,100

Morikawa has had one of the most impressive starts on tour in recent memory since joining mid way through last season. In his 18 starts on tour Collin has yet to miss a cut and is averaging an insane 3.4 strokes gained on approach per event. For comparison, elite ball strikers Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas have averaged 2.4 and 3.6 strokes gained on approach respectively and Collin is priced roughly 2k cheaper than both of them. Granted Collin has not played in many events with a field as talented as he will see this week, but his ball striking skills give him an extremely high floor this week.

Sungjae Im -$8,000

No one loves golf more than Sungjae Im because he has played in the 8 more tour events than any other golfer on tour, dating back to the start of last season. Im does not chase participation awards, he makes sure to get his money’s worth each week. The 21 yr old South Korean is the definition of a cut machine who hasn’t missed a cut dating back to last July. He has only one top ten finish in his last five events, but is still gaining a total of 6.1 strokes on the field. Riviera is a course that will challenge all aspects of a golfer’s game and Sungjae’s skill set should survive the cut sweats come Friday.

Paul Casey- $7,900

Expect a bounce back week from Paul Casey after having a horrendous Sunday round at Pebble Beach. Popeye is ranking high in our stats this week and his game fits this course. He is gaining over 1.5 strokes off the tee and approach on the field in his last 5 events. The question mark with Paul Casey is if he can sink some putts. If the putter gets hot, expect him to be in the mix.

Carlos Ortiz-$6,800

Carlos Ortiz, a sneaky low end guy to roster this week. He has a nice track record here at the Genesis, notching a 9th place finish last year. He also has finished 26th in 2016 and 20th in 2015, so he knows his way around this course. Ortiz is currently ranked 59th in driving distance, putting him in the mix on this bombers course. He is a quality low prized player who can help round up your team.

Fade

Justin Rose- 8,500

Every Rose has its thorns! There is no doubt he is an excellent golfer, but with such a star studded field and his current form Rose is the fade this week. Rose has not played his best golf as of late coming off a miss cut at the Farmers and losing strokes in last 5 events. Not only has he played poorly, he hasn’t played this course in a few years. The other golfers in this price range, that are better pivot plays this week.