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Top DraftKings lineup picks for for the Waste Management Phoenx Open. Fantasy PGA expert advice, DFS lineup sleepers and DraftKings starts.
Welcome back RotoBallers! Justin Rose (-21) captured the Farmers Insurance Open by two strokes over Adam Scott. Rosey shot 60's in all four rounds strengthening his lead as world number one.
In this article, I will be providing you with my DraftKings PGA DFS lineup picks for the Waste Management Phoenix Open. 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.
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Phoenix Open - PGS DFS Overview
The PGA Tour heads further south to the desert. TPC Scottsdale is par-71 measuring between 7,200 to 7,400 yards in length. It features four Par-3's, 11 Par-4's, and three Par-5's. All the par-4's are at least 400 yards.
This is one of my favorite tournaments. I've written the same thing the past three years, and will do it again because it still holds true. "Golf is a gentleman's game. Fans applaud and are mostly very polite and respectful. The Waste Management Phoenix Open is the complete opposite. It is the rowdiest golf tournament. Most of the fans are very drunk. They dress up in all different costumes, and shout at the players. It's made for TV."
That rowdiest comes out at the marquee hole; the 16th. What other golf tournament can fans throw beers on the course and cheer like hooligans?
The greens are Bermuda grass and firm. An odd thing to note is the greens are overseeded, which means bad putters putt well here. And yes, I did find a stat of best players on overseeded greens. The top-five are Hideki Matsuyama, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Henrik Stenson, and Daniel Berger, Justin Rose are tied for fifth.
Let's take a look at the stats.
| Stat | TPC Scottsdale | Tour Average |
| Driving Distance | 296 | 283 |
| Driving Accuracy | 58% | 61% |
| GIR Percentage | 67% | 65% |
| Scrambling Percentage | 60% | 58% |
| Three-Putt Percentage | 53% | 56% |
Past winners have been Gary Woodland, Matsuyama back-to-back, Brooks Koepka, Kevin Stadler, Phil Mickelson, Kyle Stanley, Phil Mickelson, Mark Wilson, and Hunter Mahan.
The average cut line the last seven years has been +0.14.
The past five tournaments, Matsuyama has the most strokes gained with 51.99, Brendan Steele, 40.03, Martin Laird, 37.03, Rickie Fowler, 32.33, and Bubba Watson, 32.81.
In Vegas, as of Tuesday on sportsbook.ag, Jon Rahm is the favorite at 8-1 followed by Justin Thomas, 10-1, and Matsuyama, 13-1.
I will not be using my custom stat model for a little while until there are more recent stats to use. I'm not going to base my model around four rounds of players like Tiger and Fowler. However, I will be basing picks this week around players who can make birdies, and are strong in fairways gained, and strong putters on fast greens.
Fantasy Golf Lineup Picks for DraftKings (PGA DFS)
High-Priced DFS Players
There are four players this week priced above $10,000; Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama, and Xander Schauffele.
Rahm ($11,500) - He's been playing great golf after a sixth-place finish two weeks ago at the Desert Classic and a T-5 last week. He can split fairways and make birdies, but he can't finish yet. Last year he ranked 114th in final-round scoring. It looked like he would overcome his final-round struggles after a 68 at the Desert Classic, but on Sunday, reverted to old ways shooting a 72. That 72 was up against the world's best while the Desert Classic was against easier competition. He's going to finish top-10 this week, but he'll need a top-three finish to justify his price. Can't pay up for him until he can prove he can go low in the final round.
Thomas ($11,000) - JT took the last two weeks off after a T-16 at the Sony Open. He finished T-17 here in 2015, cut the next two years, and then another T-17 finish last year. He's usually a slow starter who gets in a groove in July/August. We're ways away from then though.
Matsuyama ($10,700) - He's off a T-3 finish and now comes to a place he's dominated. He did withdraw last year, but the four years prior was T-4, T-2, win, and win. So long as he doesn't withdraw, he'll be top-five again.
Schauffele ($10,100) - I'm a huge fan of him, but nothing says he should be in the $10K range. A T-25 last week and a T-17 last year at this tournament don't justify his price. On top of all that, the X-Man struggled to split the fairway last week and was 41st in birdies gained.
Middle-Priced DFS Players
Rickie Fowler ($9,400) - I love getting a top-flight player at a great discount. While he struggled last week with a T-66, he has had great form here; runner-up in 2016, T-4 in '17, and T-11 last year.
Daniel Berger ($8,200) - While he was cut last week, he has a good history here; two top-10's in last four years and a T-11. Berger putts well on overseeded greens. He's going to be low-owned as well so another reason to take a chance with him.
Martin Laird ($7,600) - Third-most strokes gained at this event in last five years. In that same time span, he's had three top-10's and a T-19. In the last eight rounds, he's fourth in strokes gained: putting.
Talor Gooch ($7,500) - This is one of the hottest players on the planet. He surprised many with a fourth-place finish at the Desert Classic and then backed it up last week with a T-3. While this will be his Phoenix Open debut, it's too hard to pass up a player who's been rolling like he's been.
Kevin Na ($7,200) - Na is whiny who can't handle long rough, but has made five consecutive cuts here with two top-20's. This will be his first tournament of the season and normally that would worry me, but with such a solid track record at TPC Scottsdale, I expect him to finish in the 20's.
Low-Priced DFS Players
Trey Mullinax ($6,700) - All you want with players this cheap is to make the cut and score some points. He's improved the last three weeks (T-57, T-34, and T-25).
John Huh ($6,500) - He made the cut two weeks ago and followed that up last week with a T-25. He's made three consecutive cuts at this tourney including a T-6 in '16.
Best of luck RotoBallers and be sure to look out for my column previewing the Phoenix Open!
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