RADIO
Hello, PGA DFS family, and welcome back to Horse For The Course! Thanks so much for joining me for the 2023 Dell Technologies Match Play! Up-and-comer Taylor Moore snagged the first PGA Tour victory of his career last week at the Valspar Championship. Moore was nails down the stretch at a tough Copperhead layout, holding off a group that included Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, and Adam Schenk.
After an exciting week at the Valspar, we leave Florida behind and head to Austin, Texas for the Dell Technologies Match Play, the only non-stroke play event on the PGA Tour schedule, and as of now, what appears to be the final edition of this unique event.
Horse For The Course is an article that highlights players in this week's field with elite course history and is part of our free PGA DFS content here at RotoBaller. For my favorite DFS plays of the week check out my Core Four article here at RotoBaller every Wednesday. It's part of our amazing PGA Premium package that includes an all-new PGA Research Station, Lineup Builder & Optimizer, and some of the best articles in the PGA DFS industry! You can sign up now using Promo Code: NICE for an extra discount at checkout!
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2023 Dell Technologies Match Play
After an exciting Florida Swing, we now head to Austin, Texas for the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event. It's the only match-play event on the PGA Tour schedule and a break from the normal stroke-play tournaments that we see on a weekly basis. The Match Play seems to inspire either love or hate from golf fans, but has been embraced by DraftKings as a viable DFS event.
With many shake-ups coming to the PGA Tour's schedule next year, one of the most notable changes is that this event will no longer be played in 2024. I'll spare you guys my argument as to why the match-play format needs to remain a part of professional golf and simply say that I hope this event's removal from the schedule is only temporary.
Obviously, this week creates some hurdles in PGA DFS formats. My most important piece of advice is to simply "give yourselves a chance"...meaning study the brackets carefully and don't roster players that could face each other in the early rounds of the competition. While it's not likely, you want to keep your DFS lineups alive for a chance of having all four of the players in the Semifinals. For that reason, this week's HFTC will feature one golfer from each "region" of the bracket, as well as a couple of "bracket buster " selections with impressive match play experience!
You can also find out who the smart money is on by checking out Spencer Aguiar's PGA DFS: Vegas Report every week. And be sure to read all of our other top-notch weekly PGA DFS articles to help you win big!
The Course: Austin Country Club
Par 71 - 7,108 Yards, Greens: Bermuda w/ Poa overseed, Designed By: Pete Dye
For the second time in three weeks, we head to a Pete Dye-designed course. Austin Country Club has settled in nicely as the home of the only match-play event on the PGA Tour schedule. It has all the usual trappings of a Dye track with emphasis placed on approach shots, water heavily in play on the back nine, and plenty of holes with great risk/reward options that have made this a terrific venue for this format.
The front and back nines are rather different, with the front focusing on natural elevations and the back bringing Lake Austin into play. In typical Dye fashion, both short and long hitters have fared well here...though I'd still give distance a bit of a bump this week. The Par-5's are gettable and a driveable Par-4 offers some juicy, late-match drama.
Check out RotoBaller's PGA Premium Course Breakdown by Josh Bennett for an in-depth breakdown of this week's golf course!
Recent Dell Match Play Winners
- 2022: Scottie Scheffler
- 2021: Billy Horschel
- 2020: Canceled due to COVID-19
- 2019: Kevin Kisner
- 2018: Bubba Watson
Event Notes
- Group play starts Wednesday, so get those DFS lineups in early!
- The 64-player field will be divided into 16 four-player groups, with golfers playing one match against every other player in their group.
- Those that advance from group play will play against opponents in a more traditional 18-hole match play format, with winners of each match advancing through bracket play.
The Horses
Region 1 (Groups 1, 8, 9, & 16)
Scottie Scheffler
- Career Singles Match Play Record (Including Dell Match Play, Ryder Cup, & President's Cup): 11-3-2; 2022 Dell Match Play Champion; 2021 Dell Match Play Runner-Up
- DraftKings Price: $11,100
This week's HFTC is kinda the same as always, but also kinda totally different. I'll be breaking the selections into "regions" - which is specific to the match play format - but will be making these decisions based on a player's career match play record. First up is "Region 1" (upper left corner of your bracket) which contains Groups 1, 8, 9, & 16.
It's not as if we need much prodding to play Scottie Scheffler, a player that now won six times in just over a year's time, which includes two victories already in 2023. In addition to his already-dominant form, Scheffler also happens to be a match-play beast that won this event last year and reached the finals in 2021.
His match play record since turning professional is a sterling 11-3-2 and, oh by the way, this event is held at Austin Country Club, a layout that Scheffler is extremely familiar with thanks to his college days with the University of Texas Longhorns.
Listen, it's match play, which means anything can happen, but Scheffler is currently firing on all cylinders and must be considered the prohibitive favorite to emerge from this portion of the bracket.
Region 2 (Groups 2, 7, 10, & 15)
Rickie Fowler
- Career Singles Match Play Record (Including Dell Match Play, Ryder Cup, & President's Cup): 12-8-5
- DraftKings Price: $8,200
It is easy to fall into the trap of picking the chalky favorites in this event. Of course, it does indeed make tons of sense that Jon Rahm will advance from this Region. However, like the NCAA Basketball Tournament, upsets can and do happen, which means we need to be ready to capitalize when the higher seeds go down.
With that strategy in mind, I'm landing on Rickie Fowler in the, admittedly, brutal Region 2 that you can find on the upper-right side of the bracket sheet. While Rahm is undoubtedly the headliner, these groups are dotted with talented golfers with lots of match-play experience, including Rickie Fowler.
A player that's experiencing a career resurgence in 2023 thanks in part to his decision to reunite with his former coach, Butch Harmon, Fowler's swing looks sufficiently overhauled and the results are starting to reflect his progress. The fan favorite has now recorded top-20 finishes in three of his last four starts and gained an average of 3.4 strokes T2G over his last five tournaments. Austin CC profiles as a nice fit for Fowler and with his arrow finally pointing up, he's an interesting spoiler that possesses loads of career match-play experience.
Region 3 (Groups 3, 6, 11, & 14)
Tyrrell Hatton
- Career Singles Match Play Record (Including Dell Match Play, Ryder Cup, & DP World Tour): 12-10-2
- DraftKings Price: $9,000
Rory McIlroy certainly looms large in this "Region", but him aside, at first glance this appears to be perhaps the most wide-open of the four.
Tyrrell Hatton is a well-traveled veteran with loads of match-play experience. In addition to this event - in which he's advanced from Group play in three of his last four trips to Austin Country Club - the Englishman also boasts Ryder Cup experience, as well as appearances in the Paul Lawrie Match Play event in Europe and the 2018 Eurasia Cup.
He comes in white-hot, fresh off a runner-up finish at The Players Championship and a T4 at the API across his last two starts. Hatton grades our fourth in this star-studded field in SG: T2G over the last eight rounds.
The hot-blooded vet opens this week's proceedings in a bubble with Russell Henley, Lucas Hebert, and Ben Griffin; all fine players, but certainly not golfers that are playing at Hatton's level currently. Though a potential Round of 16 matchup with McIlroy looms, Hatton is a player to keep an eye on this week.
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Region 4 (Groups 4, 5, 12, & 13)
Patrick Cantlay
- Career Singles Match Play Record (Including Dell Match Play, Ryder Cup, & President's Cup): 9-4-2
- DraftKings Price: $10,700
Patrick Cantlay appears to have the passion of an accountant plowing through tax forms while playing golf, but don't let his calm demeanor fool you, he's been a silent killer in match-play formats, amassing a 9-4-2 record. Cantlay has gone undefeated in his last three singles matches across Ryder and President's Cup appearances.
The Californian has been solid, if unspectacular, at Austin CC specifically, though he heads into this year's edition with perhaps the best form he's ever had ahead of the Dell. Cantlay scored back-to-back top-four finishes at the Genesis and API before a nice T19 outing at The Players.
His ball-striking has been off-the-charts, as he grades out first in this elite field in SG: OTT (L12) and second in SG: T2G (L12). Cantlay's group (Brian Harman, K.H. Lee, & Nick Taylor) looks rather pedestrian, as does his list of potential Round of 16 opponents.
Bracket Busters
Matt Kuchar - Group 8
The cagey veteran has an extensive - and impressive - match play record across his prolific career. Kuchar won the then-WGC Match Play in 2013, was a runner-up on this Austin track in 2019, and scored a third-place result just two years ago.
Kevin Kisner - Group 5
The form has been woefully bad in 2023, but the match play format - and Austin CC - brings something out of Kisner, who won this event in 2019 and has reached the finals of the Dell Match Play two additional times since it's been held on this Pete Dye layout.
Cameron Young - Group 15
Elite talent that's really only rivaled by golf's elite class. While he has game for days, Young has relatively little match play experience or success at the pro level, as he went 1-2 in his debut in this event last year and dropped his President's Cup singles match last fall.
Min Woo Lee - Group 11
Turned heads recently at The Players Championship, where he ultimately settled for a T6 result. Lee seems to play his best golf on the biggest stages. In addition to his run at TPC Sawgrass, he scored a T14 in last year's Masters, as well as T27 or better finishes in both the U.S. and British Opens in 2022. The Australian has plenty of match play experience and won the 2016 U.S. Junior Amateur. Lee went 1-1-1 in his Dell Match Play debut last year.
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