This week the golfers head over to TPC Sawgrass for The PLAYERS Championship. This is considered at the fifth major, which will have the most ranked golfers in the world’s top 150 than any other tournament of the year. Not only is the field incredibly deep, but there are hazards all over this golf course making it one of the hardest events to predict. Last year, 4 out of the top 6 highest scorers on DraftKings last year were priced $7,100 or below ( Vegas, Fury, Sneds, and Eddie Pepps). Now this doesn’t mean you should be focusing all of your lineups with guys in this range, but ownership projections will be important when trying to gain an edge on the field.
Xander Schauffele- $9,400
We love the X-Man at this price point this week. Xander has had some recent struggles with the putter, but he looked to shake those off gaining 5.7 strokes putting last week on greens that will be similar to what he sees this week. The only reason he didn’t finish higher than 24th is because he lost strokes gained tee to green for the only his second time in his past thirteen events. We don’t think his poor T2G numbers will continue as he averages 4.2 strokes gained tee to green in his past five events and 4.7 in his last ten. If his putter stays hot watch out for Xander this week.
Bryson DeChambeau – $9,100
If you haven’t noticed yet, Bryson spent this off-season crunching more dumbbells than numbers. The new “beefed up” Scientist is playing some really good golf as of late and we are high on Bryson this week. He has placed 4th API, 2nd at WGC Mexico and 5th at the Genesis in his past three starts. This run of success has been driven by his from his incredible strokes gained off the tee. In his last five events he is gaining 6.6 strokes tee to green, 4.7 off the tee and 2.3 putting . It’s time to hop on the Bryson train now as rumors are swirling that he just got “randomly” selected into the PGA drug testing program.
Tommy Fleetwood- $9,000
We are not looking too much into last week’s poor performance for Tommy Fleetwood and are going to contribute it to getting caught up with the early start and wicked winds on Thursday. If you can look past last week, he was in contention to win the Honda and has been cruising on Euro tour. On top of his recent form, he has great course history here at TPC Sawgrass taking 5th and 7th the past two years on this course. Even with Tommy’s poor performance last week ,he is still averaging 3.2 strokes tee to green and 1.3 on approach on the field in his past five events.We hope getting Tommy back onto a track he likes will bring out the best in him.
Sungjae IM – $8,600
This South Korean playboy is arguably the hottest golfer on tour right now. We have been huge fans of Sungjae over the past year and all his potential is finally starting to blossom. He won the Honda two weeks ago and followed it up with a 3rd place finish last week at the API. Sungjae’s recent stats are ridiculous. He gained 10.5 tee to green last week and 12.3 strokes the week prior. We are going to ride the hot hand and play our boy Sungjae this week.
Joel Dahmen-$6,600
Joel might be a chalky play for the lower 6,000 range, but it is chalk we are willing to eat. Similar to IM, Dahmen is playing great golf. He has placed 5th the past two weeks and 14th at the AT&T Pro-Am the week prior. In his past five weeks he is averaging 4.2 strokes gained tee to green. Since we are staying in Florida and on Bermuda grass, no reason Dahmen will not continue his recent success.
Jhonattan Vegas- $6,300
Most of the time when dipping down to this level you are just throwing Hail Mary’s and hopping to get a guy with some win equity . With that being said, we thinking Johnny V is one of those guys. He placed 27th at the Honda a few weeks ago, and has great course history here at Sawgrass finishing third here last year and making the cut in 4 of his last 5 starts at the event. His usual great OTT game has been strong lately as he is gaining the 3rd most strokes in the field over his past 24 rounds. If his putter gets hot, we might all be celebrating with some Vegas Bombs come Sunday.
Fade:
Jason Day- $8,400
I am a gambling man and this is a gambling site, but I will not take the gamble on Jason Day. Day comes into the week fresh from a WD due to an injured back, which has been a consistent issue the past few years. He missed the cut at the Genesis, and although he has the course history here taking 8th and 5th the past two years, his back problems are enough for us to fade him this week.
Rickie Fowler – $8,900
If you plan on watching the Players this week get ready to see Rickie in about a million great commercials due to his sponsorship with Grant Thornton. While most people regard GT as the best accounting firm in the industry, Rickie’s recent play has not matched his sponsor. In his last 24 rounds Rickie ranks 124th in approach, 99th in opportunities, and 52nd off the tee. If you look back further it hasn’t been just recent play as he ranks 80th in strokes gained tee to green in his past 36 rounds. Rickie has great history at the Players and we hope he can turn it around soon, but don’t expect to see it this week.
