RADIO
Seth I. Finkelstein writes about his newfound twitter beef with Ryan Palmer and makes his DraftKings PGA DFS lineup picks for ATA&T Byron Nelson.
South Korean Si Woo Kim became the youngest player ever, 21-years-old, to win THE PLAYERS Championship (10-under). While most players blew up on Sunday, Kim shot a bogey-free final round 69. Ian Poulter and Louis Oosthuizen finished second (-7). If you had Kim winning this thing, then give yourself a pat on the back. Kim's best finish this year prior to THE PLAYERS was T22 at the Texas Open three weeks ago. I have no clue how anyone could've predicted this.
I'll be looking to stay atop the PGA Expert leaderboard while providing you with my DraftKings PGA DFS lineup picks for the AT&T Byron Nelson. My goal as always is to help put together your optimal daily fantasy golf lineups. Additionally, if anyone has lineup questions before the start of the tournament Thursday morning, feel free to contact me via Twitter @Seth_Fink.
I usually write about last week's pick in the Reviewing Last Week's Pick section, but this deserves its own section this week. Ryan Palmer ($7,600) was cut. He's the only player I chose that missed the cut, and it would've been a nice accomplishment had all my column picks made it through to the weekend, so I let him know.
He ended up responding to me and someone was clearly upset after his screw-up on the 18th hole.
I sure did enjoy that sun on Saturday morning, Ryan!
Palmer wasn't done with me after that tweet though.
Yeah, he's kind of right there. I do have nothing to do after finishing final exams and waiting for college graduation.
Palmer's fans also went after me all weekend. Not sure if they were trying to get a like or reply from Palmer or actually meant it. It was pretty amusing nonetheless.
Eh, I'm not sure about that one, Cecil L. Price. My golf game has greatly improved as of late, so I probably would shoot between a 110 and 125.
Ah, so very clever Chris Massey.
And I saved the best tweet for last...
Hilarious. I loved that one.
Now onto the rest of last week's picks.
Reviewing Last Week's Pick
Rory McIlroy ($11,200)- T-35, 2-over. He played this tournament with a bad back hovering around even-par throughout the tournament, which was in itself a great accomplishment. The fact that he was able to play with an injury and play well on a difficult course shows how great he is. McIlroy underwent an MRI Monday which showed he has a "low-grade response" to a rib injury he hurt earlier in the year.
Hideki Matsuyama ($9,700)- T-22, even. Matsuyama was never really in contention.
Kevin Chappell ($8,500)- T-35, 2-over.
Adam Scott ($8,400)- T-6, 5-under. Scotty was 6-under in the 1st round, but double-bogeyed the 17th island green and the 18th. He finished the round at 2-under, and couldn't really recover.
Paul Casey ($8,300)- T-22, even.
Matt Kuchar ($7,900)- MDF (made cut did not finish). 9-over Shot a disastrous nine on the par-4 14th in the third round, en-route to a 9-over third round. Tournaments like this sometimes have secondary cuts.
Ryan Palmer ($7,600)- Cut. 4-over. Covered expansively above.
Martin Kaymer ($7,300)- T-69, 6-over. At least he continued his streak of making the cut, which is spanning over a year now.
Adam Hadwin ($6,800)- T-30, 1-over.
Graeme McDowell ($6,700)- T-69, 9-over. Was 8-over in the final round.
AT&T Byron Nelson
The AT&T Byron Nelson kicks off a little two-week Texas swing. This will be the 35th and final time the AT&T Byron Nelson is played at TPC Four Seasons at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas. The tournament will be moving to Trinity Forest Golf Club in south Dallas next year and for the foreseeable future. The par-4's are pretty long including the mammoth 528-yard third hole. The course plays to a par-70. Sergio Garcia is the defending champion.
Recent history points towards driving distance, par-4 scoring average, and strokes-gained around-the-green as the important stats to handicap this tournament.
Fantasy Golf Lineup Picks for DraftKings (PGA DFS)
High-Cost Players
Last week the high-priced players were nowhere to be seen come Sunday afternoon, but come this Sunday, the first page of the leaderboard will have all the big names up there.
If you're a weekly reader of my column, you'll know I hate choosing the highest-priced player. This week it's, yet again, Dustin Johnson, $12,500. His stats are perfect for this course, 1st in DD, T2 in Par-4 SA, and 38th in SG:AtG. He's played this tournament seven times; 63, 4, 7, 20, 7, 8, 12 (12 being the most recent, last year). Johnson looks like he's completely over his back injury, so it will be extremely hard to not have him in at least one lineup.
Jordan Spieth ($10,800) hasn't had a good year or a good track record at this tournament. His best finish was 16th back in 2010, which also happened to be his tour debut. I'd throw him in a lineup as a flier. I have a gut feeling the Dallas native will play well in front of his hometown fans.
I really like Tony Finau ($9,200) this week. I assume he will be low-owned because he's not so well known. He's T9 in DD, T7 in Par-4 SA, and 64th in SG:AtG. He's played this tournament only twice– the last two years– and finished 10th and 12th. He was cut at the THE PLAYERS last week, and the Zurich Classic two weeks ago, but does have two top-five finishes this year, Texas Open and Valspar Championship. I'll go out on a limb and pick him as my winner.
Middle-Cost Players
Charley Hoffman ($8,500)
Hoffman has had great success at this tournament over his career. He's played the Byron Nelson 10 times and finished in the top-10 four times, including an 8-2-12 finish his last three outings. He hasn't been cut at this event since 2011. His stats aren't so great, T81 DD, T45 Par-4 SA, and T159 SG: AtG. I'll take course history over stats in Hoffman's case.
Ryan Palmer ($8,200)
I'll put aside our social media beef and go with Palmer again. Before double-bogeying the 18th and missing the cut last week, Palmer was going to make the cut. He finished 11th at the RBC Heritage, 6th at the Texas Open, and 4th at the Zurich Classic. He's 32nd in DD, T147 in Par-4 SA, and T105 in SG:AtG. Although being cut last year at the Byron Nelson, he's had overall good success with three top-10's including a runner-up in 2011. He will rebound after last week's fiasco.
Ollie Schniederjans ($7,700)
He hasn't played in two weeks since finishing 39th at the Zurich Classic, but was also 18th at the Texas Open and 3rd at the RBC Heritage in prior weeks. He will be making his Byron Nelson debut and while his stats are iffy, T33 in DD, T81 in Par 4 scoring average, and 124 in SG: AtG, Schniederjans has taken big strides this season and I expect that to continue this week.
Low-Cost Players
Danny Lee ($7,100)
A little too cheap of a price, although he was cut at THE PLAYERS, and Texas Open. He's played the Byron Nelson five times, and has finished, 13, 19, cut, 34, and 18th last year. His stats are not even worth noting because they're in the 90s and mid-100's for the tournament, but Lee is a good poised player. I like him at this price.
Keegan Bradley ($6,900)
The 2011 champ and 2013 runner-up at the Byron Nelson is flying below-the-radar. He finished 60th at THE PLAYERS last week, and has yet to crack the top-10 in any tournament this year. He's T48 in DD, T22 in Par-4 SA, and T150 in SG:AtG.
Best of luck!
