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Welcome back RotoBallers! Webb Simpson (-18) ran away with the Players Championship by strokes to capture his first win since October of 2013.
This week I will be providing you with my DraftKings lineup picks for the AT&T Byron Nelson. My goal as always is to help put together your optimal daily fantasy golf lineups. If anyone has lineup questions before the start of the tournament Thursday morning, feel free to contact me via Twitter @SethFinkTV.
Editor's Note: Our friends at Fantasy National have built some incredible DFS Golf lineup tools including a Lineup Optimizer, Stat Engine, Ownership Projections and Course Breakdowns. They are by far the best daily fantasy Golf tools in the industry. Seriously. You can read all about them here and see screenshots.
AT&T Byron Nelson
The PGA Tour heads to Texas for a two-week stint. This will be the first year this tournament will be played at Trinity Forest in Dallas, Texas. The par-71, nearly 7,400-yard course, "is night and day from any other venue on tour. A windswept, nearly treeless expanse of dunes, waving prairie grass, and fast, undulating turf, the new place has every attribute of a links except cawing sea birds and an ocean."
There are four par-3's, 10 par 4's, and three par 5's. The greens are Bermuda and the fairways are wide.
With this being the first time Trinity Forest has hosted a tournament, there are no stats to really get a gage of. But there are quotes from a member and the course designer.
Jordan Spieth, a member of Trinity Forest, said there are, "A lot of big grandstands. It’s like an American links. You’ve kind of got to play it from the air, not really a bounce the ball up kind of links, but it is still a links-looking golf course. So it’s weird, it’s unique... “It’s not very difficult off the tee. It’s about where you position the tee ball—which half of the fairway—to be able to hold the greens on approach shots."
The course was designed by Bill Moore and Ben Crenshaw. Coore liked it to a famous U.S. Open site, "It’s incredible how many parts of it look like (Pinehurst) No. 2. There are a lot of lessons to be learned as we looked at Pinehurst."
I'll be looking at SG:TOT and SG:APP on courses more than 7,400 yards, SG:P and SG:ATG on Bermuda greens , performances on Texas courses, and Links specialists. It's also important to take note of players who play well in the wind. Those Texas wind gusts could be strong.
With the results, I keyed on the following.
Fantasy Golf Lineup Picks for DraftKings (PGA DFS)
High-Priced Players
There are only three players this week priced above $10,000; Jordan Spieth ($11,900), Matt Kuchar ($10,700), and Sergio Garcia ($10,100).
Spieth is the player primed for this tournament. You'll want him in every single one of your lineups. Like I said above, he's a member at this golf course so knows all the ins-and-outs of it. He's the top performer on links-style courses and Texas courses. Over the past 36 rounds, he's first in strokes-gained total and strokes-gained approach, strokes-gained around-the-green, and second in putting on Bermuda greens. Spieth battled at The Players last weekend to make the cut, but then shot a third-round 65. He's also the clear betting favorite at 5.5-1, the next shortest price is Matt Kuchar at 14-1.
Kuchar, he's seventh in strokes gained on links-style courses since 2014. Spieth also compared this course to Royal Birkdale, where the British Open was last year (Spieth won that) and Kuchar finished second. He has not missed a cut since April of last year.
Garcia is a strong links player, but has not played well of late. He finished 70th at the players and was cut at his two events prior.
Spieth is the only player worthy of the price of the high-priced player group this week.
Middle-Priced Players
Jimmy Walker ($9,500) - He's a native Texan who's off back-to-back top-5's including a runner-up at the Players last week. He's fourth in SG:TOT, fifth in APP, and third in putting.
Branden Grace ($9,400) - His ball flight is so low that its perfectly suited for a links-course and avoiding the wind. Grace hasn't missed a cut since August of last year.
Marc Leishman ($9,100) - Another solid wind player who's top-10 in SG:TOT, approach, and putting.
Beau Hossler ($9,000) - Stats aren't good, but has played this course several times. He hasn't had a great outing since his runner-up at the Houston Open, but experience here trumps everything else.
Graeme McDowell ($7,900) - I'll take him solely for the fact he's from Northern Ireland and is used to playing on links courses. He's also made his last three cuts.
Ryan Palmer ($7,800) - A Texan who players well on Texas courses. Go figure. He's off a T-23 last week, his best start since the Farmers Insurace in February.
Matt Jones ($7,600) - Solid stats all around, but has not recorded a top-20 all year. He is 15th on strokes gained on links-style performances.
Low-Priced Players
Kevin Na ($7,200) - Can't stand him after he whined about the long-grass at U.S. Open last year. Nevertheless, he has very good stats for this course. He recorded a T-46 last week and has been very shaky all season.
Hunter Mahan ($6,900) - He resides in Texas and has played this course several times. His stats are bad. but has made his last three cuts.
Martin Flores ($6,800) - He's been cut at four of his past five tournaments, but his numbers are solid.
Best of luck RotoBallers!
Be sure to look out for another article coming next week on the Forth Worth Invitational!
Golf DFS News and Player Outlooks
Custom Stat Model - DFS Golf Advanced Tools
Here are the players I wrote about and their correlating stats with my custom stat model:
Premium DFS Golf Tools and Lineup Optimizer
Our friends at Fantasy National have created some game-changing DFS Golf tools, and you can read all about them here. They are hands-down the best daily fantasy Golf tools in the industry.
