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Joe Nicely digs into his PGA DFS Core Four for the Sony Open, an article that provides DraftKings daily fantasy golf lineup selections.
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Hello RotoBallers and thanks for joining me for the Sony Open! In this article you will find my four favorite overall DraftKings DFS lineup plays for this week's PGA tournament.
The 'Core Four' will usually be spread across different DraftKings price points, but every week in PGA DFS is different and this article will reflect that by trying to give you an overall outlook of how the slate is shaping up.
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Sony Open Notes
There's a couple of different directions you can go with roster construction for the Sony. There's a lot to like up top, with Justin Thomas and Webb Simpson feeling like no-brainers, but spending up for either means making some sacrifices throughout the rest of your lineup. There's a lot to like in the mid-upper tier, but it also feels like we're sacrificing some upside with several players in that price range. This is expected to be the windiest Sony Open that we've seen in years, which is something I've tried to keep in mind this week.
You can also find out who the smart money is on by checking out Spencer Aguiar's PGA DFS: Vegas Report every week.
Webb Simpson - DraftKings: $11,100
I love both Justin Thomas and Webb at the top of the board, but it is rather difficult to spend up this week. In lineups that I do go up top, I'll lean toward Simpson. He's $900 cheaper than JT, which is not an insignificant difference this week. We're probably sacrificing a bit of win equity by siding with Webb over Thomas, as he doesn't actually win tournaments nearly as often, but he's been ridiculously-consistent at Waialae Country Club, with a T4 and three T13s in four Sony starts since 2015 and it almost feels like you can go ahead and pencil him in for a top-10 finish this week.
Webb's looked sharp in limited starts this fall, scoring a T7, a runner-up, and a T10 in addition to seeing action at the President's Cup. He's solid in every aspect of the game and enters this week ranked fifth in the Sony field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green over his last 24 rounds.
Sungjae Im - DraftKings: $9,600
It feels like 2020 will be a big year for Sungjae Im and wins on the PGA Tour seem to be a natural progression for the 21-year-old. He was dominant in his lone year on the Korn Ferry Tour and had no trouble adapting to the big leagues last season, as he captured PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honors. Im has been very sharp in six Swing Season starts and looked like the best player on the International team during the recent President's Cup.
He logged a T16 in his Sony Open debut last season and seems to be a natural fit at Waialae. Sungjae is solid tee to green and is an excellent putter. You could make the argument that he should be priced at around $10k based on his recent results, so I feel like we're getting a tiny bit of a discount with him here. If you aren't able to spend all the way up for Webb or JT, he's a great place to start your roster construction.
Brian Harman - DraftKings: $8,200
With the expected wind at Waialae this week, I'm very interested in Brandt Snedeker at $8.6k, but my favorite play in this range is dropping down to Brian Harman at $8.2k. I look for both Chez Reavie and JT Poston to be very popular this week, and I think we can grab Harman flying-under-the-radar a bit at a price tag that's sandwiched between those two.
He missed the cut at last year's Sony while in a slump, but he had been rock-solid on this layout prior to that, running off four-straight top-20 finishes between 2015 and 2018. Harman recorded a T14 in his most recent start at the RSM and he's played well throughout the fall, averaging 2.5 Strokes Gained: T2G over his last five tournaments.
Ryan Palmer - DraftKings: $7,500
I'm landing on Ryan Palmer late in the week, but with the strong winds in the forecast, my interest is piqued in the Texas boy. Palmer won this tournament back in 2010 and is an excellent wind player in large part due to his Texas roots.
He heads to Hawaii in good form, with his worst finish of the fall - a T37 at the Shriners - coming back in October. Palmer lost strokes with his irons last week at the Sentry, which does give me a bit of pause, but it's a mixed bag in the mid-to-low $7k range this week and he brings sneaky upside to the table at this price point.
