RADIO
Joe Nicely previews the 2020 fantasy golf season for PGA DFS, breaking down the top 50 PGA Tour players. Today he looks at the #31-40 ranked golfers (OWGR).
Hello RotoBallers and PGA DFS fans! While we're currently smack dab in the middle of winter, the PGA Tour will be cranking back up before you know it. With the "Hawaii Swing" kicking off in January, we'll take the next couple of weeks to preview some of the top ranked golfers that we'll be seeing a lot of in PGA DFS tournaments in the upcoming year.
For the purposes of this preview we'll be discussing the OWGR's Top 50 ranked players. We'll tackle 10 players in each part of the preview with golfers 31 through 40 the topic of this edition. You can check out the first part of the series highlighting golfers 41 through 50 here. Thanks for joining me here at RotoBaller! Let's dive in!
You can find out who the smart money is on every week of the PGA Tour season by checking out Spencer Aguiar's PGA DFS: Vegas Report right here at RotoBaller!
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OWGR #40: Rafa Cabrera Bello
2019 Player Notes: Made 17 of 19 cuts on the PGA Tour with two Top-10 finishes.
It looked like a breakout season was coming for Rafa when he started out the calendar year with four straight top-25 finishes on the PGA Tour, including a T3 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Unfortunately, things unraveled for Cabrera-Bello as the season progressed and he failed to crack the top-50 in three of the year's four major championships.
I'm always willing to give the Spaniard a look when I feel he's underpriced and/or overlooked, but a 'Chalky Rafa' is almost always a fade for me, as he remains frustratingly inconsistent.
#39: Sergio Garcia
2019 Player Notes: Made 11 of 15 cuts on the PGA Tour with five Top-10 finishes. Ranked 24th in SG: T2G & 114th in SG: Putting.
Continues to be an elite ball striker, but struggles mightily both on and around the greens. Started 2019 on fire, but mental outbursts and declining play ultimately made the season a huge disappointment. Was TERRIBLE in the majors, going M/C-M/C-T52-T67 in the year's biggest tournaments.
Many had hoped that his Masters win a few years ago would kickstart a late-career resurgence for Sergio, but that definitely has NOT been the case, as his game seems to have went in the opposite direction since his lone major triumph at Augusta. All that said, Garcia's ball striking is hard to ignore from a DFS perspective and makes him at least worth considering in GPPs on a regular basis...but he's not a player that I feel comfortable putting a lot of trust in.
#38: Abraham Ancer
2019 Player Notes: Made 20 of 27 cuts with four Top-10 finishes. Top-25 finishes at PGA Championship & PLAYERS. Ranked 10th in SG: Off the Tee & Driving Accuracy Percentage. Member of International President's Cup team.
2019 proved to be another step in the right direction for the 28-year-old Ancer, who logged strong finishes in some big events and qualified for the TOUR Championship. The Mexico native is incredibly accurate off the tee, but his game is very erratic in other areas. He finished 10th on the Tour in SG: OTT, but failed to crack the top-100 in SG: Approach, Around, or Putting. Ancer without a doubt possesses some upside - especially when we consider where he's usually priced in stronger fields - but his volatility puts him in the "GPP Only" category for me.
#37: Jason Day
2019 Player Notes: Made 15 of 21 cuts with six Top-10s and one WD. Finished the season ranked 13th in SG: OTT & 30th in SG: Putting.
It was a very "Jason Day" season for Jason Day, as it was marked with injury struggles and frustration. Day got off to a strong start by logging back-to-back top-five finishes on the West Coast Swing before heading to the Arnold Palmer Invitational where he promptly withdrew and went to Disney World, leaving his DFS backers high and dry yet again. That was Day's only mid-tournament WD of the season, but his typical ailments kept his schedule rather limited throughout the season.
The Aussie appeared ready to rededicate himself when he put Stevie Williams on his bag, but the relationship rapidly deteriorated and the two parted ways before the season ended. What can I say about Day that hasn't already been said? We all know he's an elite talent that has the ability to win tournaments and compete for major championships, but we're often playing a guessing game - both about his health and form - when considering him for DFS lineups.
#36: Chez Reavie
2019 Player Notes: Won Travelers Championship, made 22 of 28 cuts with five Top-10 finishes. T3 U.S. Open & T14 PGA Championship. Ranked first on PGA Tour in Driving Accuracy Percentage.
Very nice season for Chez Reavie, highlighted by his first PGA Tour win in over a decade at the Traveler's Championship. Kicked off 2019 in his typical strong fashion, logging a top-five finish at both the Sony and the Waste Management. Very strong stretch of golf from April to June that culminated with a T3 at the U.S. Open and the Travelers win the following week.
Sharp play coincided with layouts that require accuracy off the tee, an area where Reavie was the best in golf over 2019. Keep an eye on him at the beginning of 2020 as he has traditionally beasted in Hawaii, California, and Arizona. You can also regularly consider him on short, tight courses where accuracy is at a premium. Great ball striker that struggles with his short game from time to time.
#35: Kevin Kisner
2019 Player Notes: Won WGC-Dell Match Play, made 22 of 25 cuts with four Top-10 finishes.
The Kiz was lit in 2019! Picked up a win at the WGC-Dell Match Play with a typical bulldog-like performance. Played consistent golf throughout the year, only missing three cuts in 2019. We know what we're getting with Kisner: tremendous driving accuracy (15th in Driving Accuracy Percentage) and great putting (20th in SG: Putting).
His game doesn't translate well to every course, particularly most lengthy major-championship layouts (though he has played well in the Open Championship recently), but Kisner is often a solid DFS play at "regular tier" Tour stops. Continues to classify more as a "cash game" play for me due to his consistency and lack of true tournament-winning upside.
#34: Sungjae Im
2019 Player Notes: 2019 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. Made 26 of 35 cuts with seven Top-10 finishes. Qualified for TOUR Championship and member of International President's Cup team. Ranked fourth in Birdie Average & sixth in SG: Putting.
Sungjae Im truly feels like a player that's on his way to stardom. After dominating the Korn Ferry Tour in 2018, Im had no problem adapting to the big leagues, winning Rookie of the Year en route to qualifying for the TOUR Championship. Quickly earning a "Hardest Working Man in Golf" reputation, as he made a ridiculous 35 starts in his first year on the Tour. Im logged an impressive seven Top-10s and played in his first President's Cup.
It's easy to forget, but he's just 21-years-old. Possesses explosive scoring ability as evidenced by his standing of fourth in Birdie Average on the PGA Tour. His ball striking has a tendency to come and go, but he's long off the tee (averaged 315.9 yards in Driving Distance) and an excellent putter (sixth on Tour in SG: Putting). Im has an extremely bright future ahead of him and has the type of game to bag multiple wins in 2020.
#33: Billy Horschel
2019 Player Notes: Made 24 of 26 cuts with four Top-10s. 16th in SG: Putting and 114th in SG: Driving Distance.
Billy Ho is a notoriously streaky player and ran hot for the better part of 2019. Relied on strong putting for most of the year and finished 16th in SG: Putting. Remarkably consistent cut maker (24/26) despite ranking outside the top-50 in Strokes Gained: Driving, Approach, Around, and T2G in 2019.
He's one of the players I'm earmarking for a noticeable step back in 2020 because there's really nothing statistically that justifies what a good season he had other than putting...which has been known to come and go for him.
#32: Tyrell Hatton
2019 Player Notes: Won Turkish Airlines Open (Euro Tour). Made 14 of 17 cuts with three Top-10s. T6 in Open Championship
The Englishman is similar to the aforementioned Billy Horschel in that there's not a lot that seems to stand out statistically at first glance, but ended the year ranked 34th on the PGA Tour in SG: T2G. Still spends time on the Euro Tour which resulted in just 17 starts in PGA Tour events.
Looked solid en route to a T6 at the Open Championship and is a player that I'll sometimes target on links-type layouts. I never seem to be able to pin him down from a DFS perspective, which often makes him just a "Multi-Entry GPP" play for me personally.
#31: Shugo Imahira
2019 Player Notes: Won Bridgestone Open & Dunlop Phoenix. Led Japan Tour in Money Rankings & Scoring Average in 2019. Missed cut in all four majors.
An up-and-comer that some are billing as the "Next Hideki Matsuyama", Shugo has been dominant for the past couple of seasons on the Japan Golf Tour (This is so weird that I felt like I had to include it here...the Japan Golf Tour's website lists Shugo's Blood Type as AB!). He once again led that Tour's money rankings and was number-one in scoring average.
His world ranking earned him entry into all four majors in 2019, but he failed to make the cut in all of them...though he did make the cut in three PGA Tour-level events last year. He's a player we can keep an eye on in WGC and majors as an ultra-cheap GPP dart throw. He's talented, but his game hasn't translated to the next level yet.
