You may have played fantasy football before, but Paddy Power Fantasy is different because if your team is sh*te you’re not stuck with them for the season – it’s only for a week!
And you can play daily fantasy across a load of other sports – including pitch-and-pu… I mean golf.
Even better, this week you can enter a £1,000 contest for The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village in Ohio for absolutely FREE! Sensational stuff.
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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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We saw this course last week, and according to datagolf.com, 41.3% of the scoring was explained by approach play, easily the highest rate of any of the four strokes gained stats. Meanwhile, strokes gained: off the tee contributed to only 11.0% of the scoring.
With how thick the rough got last week, we’re going to need accuracy and iron play to be pretty pristine. I’m keeping my key stats pretty much the same as I had last week. Tee-to-green performance through approach is just the most predictive way to play DFS PGA.
Stats cited below come from FantasyNational and include the past 50 rounds on the PGA Tour unless noted. Ranks are among the field.
Here’s who I will be targeting this week:
Best of the Best
Rory McIlroy ($11,800) – McIlroy is probably going to be forgotten about a bit more than he should, what with Justin Thomas’ near win, Bryson DeChambeau’s everything, and Tiger Woods’ existence. Sure, McIlroy’s been just okay since the hiatus (32nd, 41st, 11th), but he’s still probably the best statistical player on the planet, even with the lukewarm return. He’s had two weeks off to get everything right. He’s just a super high-floor play, and that matters in DFS.
Daniel Berger ($10,200) – Berger isn’t someone I’ve been in on lately, and that’s been bad news bears for me (Walter Matthau). He’s finished top-10 in six straight events, and he’s actually done it by gaining approach strokes in five of them. Yeah, the putter has been hot, but the tee-to-green game overall is good. He’s probably valued right, but a balanced lineup is a really promising choice this week, and Berger under $10,500 helps us get there.
Others to Consider:
Justin Thomas ($11,900) – Nearly won last week and could disappoint, but stats are on point; second-best approach player in 2020.
Viktor Hovland ($11,100) – He’s led the field in strokes gained: tee to green three straight weeks. That’s insane.
Xander Schauffele ($10,800) – Schauffele T14 last week with hot putting but good iron play as well. Cheap enough for a balanced lineup.
Mid-Range Options
Joaquin Niemann ($9,700) – Niemann finished 31st here last week while ranking 18th in approach and really only struggling around the greens. He’s reversed course and shown to a viable putter on bentgrass greens, gaining 0.4 last week here. Niemann’s great tee-to-green game puts him on course for a made cut, and the ball-striking (he virtually never loses approach strokes) gives him some upside.
Sungjae Im ($9,500) – Im’s current form is pretty spotty, and that’s why his price is low both on PPF this week. Im won the Honda Classic and was third at the Arnold Palmer at the turn of February into March. Since the return, he had a 10th at the Charles Schwab before the wheels fell off: cut at the RBC Heritage, 58th at the Travelers, 53rd at the Rocket Mortgage, and 63rd last week at the Workday Charity Open. He’s failed to gain approach strokes in any of the past four but gained off the tee in three of them. We’ve seen Im snap out of cold iron streaks with good finishes already in his career.
Others to Consider:
Abraham Ancer ($9,900) – Buzz has worn off but a good price for someone top-17 in off the tee and approach play.
Paul Casey ($9,600) – Finished T32 at Travelers, gaining in all three tee-to-green areas in his only start. Long-term form is good for the price.
Adam Hadwin ($9,200) – T35 last week, boosted by putting but 24th in long-term approach play.
Low-Priced Picks
Harris English ($9,000) – English has been top-20 in five of six events, the exception being a missed cut at the Charles Schwab. He’s only 62nd in long-term approach play but has gained there in three of the past four before testing positive for COVID-19. There are still holes in his game, but at $9,000, he really stands out in this field.
Sebastian Munoz ($7,300) – Wow. Munoz missed the cut last week and is being thrown to the bottom of the pool. He ranked 29th in overall strokes gained: tee to green through two rounds — compared to everyone else’s full four rounds. Per-round, Munoz was the ninth-best tee-to-green player last week. He just lost 4.4 strokes putting to miss the cut. There’s no safety below $9,000, so why not save a lot of salary and risk it with Munoz?
Others to Consider:
Harold Varner ($8,500) – Top-23 off the tee and with approach play but cut last week, losing in every area.
Jim Furyk ($7,800) – Cut last week due to disaster around the green. Gained in all three other areas.
Carlos Ortiz ($7,500) – An also-consider last week, Ortiz finished T61 and has gained in approach in four straight.
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*All odds correct at time of publication
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