You may have played fantasy football before – remember picking your team back in August? – but Paddy Power Fantasy gives you a chance to play fantasy sports every week, and across a whole load of other sports. Now is a great time to start, especially with Paddy Power’s FREE £1,000 daily fantasy golf contest for the RBC Heritage this week.
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Golf is a great fantasy sport to follow because tournaments span four days and allow ample time to prepare each week. Whether you’re brand new to the PGA or daily fantasy sports in general, we have you covered.
Just pick six players under the salary cap, sit back and enjoy a (hopefully profitable) weekend. Full details of points scoring are over on Paddy Power Fantasy.
Who should you have on your team this week though? Well, here are the key stats worth bearing in mind when putting together your course-bound crew:
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There isn’t an abundance of wind in the forecast this week, and Harbour Town is a course that emphasises accuracy over distance, just like we saw last week at Colonial last week. That being said, we also saw plenty of golfers overpower Colonial for the most part. Last week, the top-12 distance gainers made the cut (half of whom were top-15).
Similarly, 13 of 14 fairway gainers made the cut, and five were top-10 finishers. The top-10 in good drive rate all made the cut, and five of them were top-10, including the winner, Daniel Berger. I think that’s the key this week. Distance is good. Accuracy is good.
One or the other is crucial.
Stats cited below come from FantasyNational and include the past 50 rounds on the PGA Tour unless noted. Ranks are among the field.
With that in mind, here’s our guide to some value selections:
Best of the Best
Bryson DeChambeau (£11,900) – The field is loaded, so there are no shortage of elite picks at the top of the field. In fact, I’d be fine with any of the top-12 golfers in terms of their Paddy Power Fantasy salary. That’s wild. Anyway, DeChambeau looks lethal right now, and he gained 12.1 strokes from his ball-striking last week (off the tee and approach). Nobody else was above 8.6. He has elite tee-to-green performances at Harbour Town despite two missed cuts from bad putting.
Webb Simpson (£11,400) – Simpson is coming off a missed cut but is a way better Bermuda putter than a bentgrass putter, and he lost 2.9 strokes putting last week on bentgrass. His ball-striking wasn’t lights out (1.6 strokes gained off the tee but 0.8 lost with approach shots), yet Webb has finished top-16 in three straight years at this event. The long-term form checks out, so we can get him at lower popularity than usual.
Others to Consider:
Literally anyone priced at £10,900 or above.
Rory McIlroy (£12,200 | 11/1) – Don’t worry about the Sunday 74. Still elite tee-to-green numbers and unmatched fantasy consistency.
Jon Rahm (£11,700 | 18/1) – Ranked seventh last week in strokes gained: tee to green but missed the cut due to a bad putter. Bounceback candidate.
Hideki Matsuyama (£11,000 | 25/1) – Coming back for the first time here but a strong fantasy pick at the salary.
Sungjae Im (£10,900 | 28/1) – 10th last week with positive strokes gained in every area.
Mid-Range Options
Viktor Hovland (£9,900) – One of the best tee-to-green performances in the return last week belonged to Hovland despite losing fairways to the field — something uncommon for Hovland (who is 22nd in accuracy over the past 50 rounds). A lack of Bermuda putting (16 measured rounds) is problematic, yet he’s still in play in a balanced, make-the-cut build, which is what I’m looking for this week.
Scottie Scheffler (£9,600) – Scheffler is a good driver (25th in distance, 54th in accuracy, 30th in good drive rate) but an abysmal Bermuda putter. He lost 6.4 strokes with the short game (around the green and putting) last week but gained 5.2 strokes with his ball-striking. We’ve seen some high-end upside from Scheffler when the short game hasn’t completely abandoned him.
Others to Consider:
Jason Kokrak (£9,900 | 66/1) – One of the best ball-strikers in the world gets his least negative putting surface; third last week.
Kevin Kisner (£9,800 | 40/1) – Positive strokes tee to green in all three areas last week with three top-11 finishes here the past five years.
Billy Horschel (£9,400 | 70/1) – Back on best putting surface after gaining tee to green despite losing in approach last week (38th-place finish).
INZAI, JAPAN – OCTOBER 27: Billy Horschel of the United States hits his tee shot on the 3rd hole during the third round of the Zozo Championship at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club on October 27, 2019 in Inzai, Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
Low-Priced Picks
Harold Varner (£9,000) – It’s not chasing a good performance last week with Varner; it’s trusting great tee-to-green stats over a large sample. Varner is 11th in the field in strokes gained: tee to green over the past 50 rounds. Last week, only three golfers fared better in approach play: Gary Woodland (finished 9th), Justin Thomas (finished 10th), and Collin Morikawa (finished second). Varner is bad on Bermuda greens, but if you’re digging down in this range, trust the ball-strikers — not the putters.
Corey Conners (£9,000) – Conners finished 19th last week, tied with Varner, and did so by gaining 4.6 good drives (a fairway hit or a green in regulation after missing a fairway). He actually tied with Bryson DeChambeau in that stat. Conners also added distance against the big-hitting field last week. Conners, never a good putter, is best on Bermuda (still a negative putter — let’s get that clear). Diving deep in a field this good isn’t recommended often, and we have plenty of picks in the high £8,000 range to rotate in.
Others to Consider:
Harris English (£8,900 | 90/1) – Neutral tee-to-green numbers last week but an S-tier Bermuda putter.
Luke List (£8,900 | 100/1) – Won on the Korn Ferry Tour last week and was 3rd here in 2018 but a very risk/reward play.
Adam Hadwin (£8,700 | 90/1) – Can get by with accuracy here and a good bet to make the cut.
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*All odds correct at time of publication
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