10 Sleepers to Watch for the PGA DFS Fall Season

As we have talked about often, the fall season is a very good time to play DFS golf for a couple of reasons. First of all, most of the attention in the fantasy sports industry is on football. Those who have been following the Web.com Tour know about many of the new players entering the PGA tour and who has good current form coming into the fall events. This gives us an even bigger edge than we normally have over the field. Another reason is we have tons of DFS football players new to golf trying it for the first time. This gives us an edge, because we know the proper strategy and roster composition to be successful and profitable playing DFS golf. This article is meant to point out some players that will be under most people’s radar in the DFS world. Some of these guys are new and some have been off and on the PGA Tour, but maybe have excellent current form coming in. We have been following closely the Web.com Tour all season and the playoffs are a particularly good indicator of early success in the fall season. Be sure to look at the results at the end of the PGA season and Web.com playoffs to see who is trending in the right direction. Note the players listed below as they have stood out to us as possible great value, especially early on in the fall season. Keep in mind that the Web.com Tour success does not always translate to PGA Tour success, so loading up on these guys in cash games, would not be the best strategy. Mixing them in and monitoring their play early in the fall season will be a great approach and will give us exposure to those low-owned players that are necessary to win large GPPs.

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Emiliano Grillo- For the brief amount of time that we saw Grillo last season, he sure made us sit up and take notice. His results on the PGA Tour were four made cuts in five events played with three Top 25s and two Top 10s, including a 2nd at the Puerto Rico Open. In addition he made four appearances on the Web.com Tour, which included a 2nd, 9th, and a win in the championship event. The majority of his play last year was on the European Tour where he had highlights of a T5 at the Qatar Masters, T11 at Shenzhen International, T3 at Volvo China Open, and 6th at the Open de Espana. He is currently ranked 95th in the world and some people know of his talent, but the masses are definitely not wise to him yet. Be sure to target him in all fall events that he plays while he remains anonymous and under-priced.

 

Jamie Lovemark- 2015 was a great season for Lovemark as he played almost exclusively on the Web.com tour where he made 17 cuts in 21 events, which included seven Top 10s. Even more important for us is how he has played lately with nine Top 25s in his last twelve events. In the Web.com payoffs he had finishes of T35, T2, and T6. Lovemark had two PGA Tour appearances in 2015 finishing T31 at The Honda Classic and T18 at the U.S Open. He is long off the tee averaging 315 yards, which ranked him 7th on the web.com tour. He also ranked 51st in greens in regulation, 19th in putting average, and 3rd in birdie average. In 2014 Lovemark played the majority of his season on the PGA Tour and had respectable results making 13 cuts in 20 events, but in watching him in 2015 it appears something has clicked in his game. There is no doubt he will not be on anybody’s radar for the 2016 season and in DFS, could be valuable and out-produce his price.

 

Lucas Glover- Far from a young player, Glover has been on the PGA Tour since 2001. He has mixed results throughout his career, with his highlight obviously being his U.S Open win in 2009. The 2015 season was not a particularly a good season for Glover making only 15 cuts in 26 events played with zero Top 10s. It is his play over the past month and a half that has gotten our attention. A T18 finish at the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour and then finishes of T22, T25, T9, and T12 in the Web.com playoffs shows us that he has really solid form. He is not a guy that we think will come out and contend for wins on the PGA Tour this season, however as a guy who is generally one of the lowest priced on DFS sites, he might be a nice opportunity to present value early on this fall season while he is playing great golf.

 

Chez Reavie- Another guy who has been around a while, but definitely not a household name. Reavie played 19 events on the PGA Tour in 2015 and made 11 cuts, but had only three Top 25s and -0- Top 10s. Reavie tends to play well in stretches as we have seen multiple times throughout his career and last year he had all three of his Top 25s in a three tournament stretch between mid-June and the first week in July. Why Reavie is interesting to us right now is because he is on one of those nice stretches right now taking T10, 1st, T20, and 2nd in the Web.com Playoffs. For a guy who is always priced in the bottom quartile in DFS and for sure un-owned, he presents an opportunity to grab a guy that is very capable of making cuts, plus if he remains on his hot streak he also provides some upside. Pay particular attention to him in the Frys.com event because he has made the cut in this event in each of his last four appearance.

 

Roberto Castro- This is another completely under the radar type guy who is going to be extremely cheap in DFS and make a lot of cuts. In 2014 on the PGA Tour he made 11 cuts in 16 events played, including the last five events that he played in. Check out his results in the last three Web.com Playoff events. T9, T2, and T10. We normally would not consider him a high ceiling guy, but those are some impressive finishes in fields that will include much of the same names that we see in most of the fall events. Castro is a good tee-to-green player, ranking 40th in driving accuracy, 99th in greens in regulation, and 37th in strokes gained tee-to-green. Castro is a guy that fills out a quality stars and scrubs type lineup, because there is a good chance he will make the cut and free up some salary cap dollars for you.

 

Austin Cook- Here is a guy who will be known by avid DFS golf guys because of his 2015 performances on the PGA Tour, which included 6 made cuts in 7 events with five Top 25s and two Top 10s. Still, we would venture to guess that most people playing, especially this fall will not be all that familiar with this gem. He did not play that well in the Web.com playoffs with a missed cut, T21, T56, and T43. His talent and the fact he might be overlooked make him enough to present value. Pay attention to how he plays early in the fall to see if his Web.com playoff results were an aberration and that he will regain the success he had in the 2015 PGA Tour season.

 

Patton Kizzire- He had a great regular season on the Web.com Tour, but faltered a bit in the playoffs missing the cut in one event and withdrawing from another. He was however able to rebound in the championship, finishing T5. He made 17 cuts in 22 events played, but showed great upside with 11 Top 10s, which included two runner-ups and two wins. He played at the McGladrey last fall and took T54 and he missed the cut at the Barbasol. Kizzire’s statistics on the Web.com Tour are very impressive ranking 16th in ball striking, 8th in greens in regulation, 1st in putting average, 1st in birdie average, 1st in scoring average, and 2nd in Par 4 scoring. Nobody is going to know who in the world Kizzire is, and if he can show some of the form he did on the Web.com Tour, he might help to propel some GPPs for you.

 

Patrick Rodgers- We actually saw quite a bit of Rodgers on the PGA Tour, as he played in 17 events. In those events he made 12 cuts with two Top 10s, his marquee one being his runner-up finish at Wells Fargo. He wasn’t able to put together any efforts that rivaled that, but he did show flashes of his talent in early rounds of tournaments including the Quicken Loans. Rodgers did play on the Web.com tour early in the year where he had four top 30s, but a win at the Colombia Championship. He is a long ball hitter and actually ranked 9th in driving distance on the PGA Tour as well as ranking in the top quartile in greens in regulation. He is only 24 years old and with almost a full season of experience on the PGA Tour, we think he will begin to be a factor on Sundays this year.

 

Rhein Gibson- An Australian player who played his entire 2015 season on the Web.com Tour. There he made only 11 cuts in 25 events. He did however finish with a flurry in the playoffs with consecutive finishes of T21, T9, and T4 in the championship. He had three other Top 10s in 2015, so he has some upside. Gibson played in the 2014 Open Championship and actually made the cut. He is a very good putter, ranking 13th in putting on the Web.com Tour. Keep an eye on Gibson, especially in early events and see if he can carry his momentum into them.

 

Martin Piller- Finishing second in the Web.com Tour regular season standing, Piller had a dreadful stretch between late August and late September missing four consecutive cuts, which included playoff events. He was able to post an ok T30 finish in the championship finishing. During a month long stretch on the Web.com Tour last year he had a T9, T3, and two wins, so we know he has some skills. He played in one PGA Tour event, Barbasol Championship where he finished T19. Overall he is a boom or bust type player and would most likely be a GPP option. In 22 events played on the Web.com he missed half the cuts, but had five Top 10s, including those two wins.

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Jeff Bergerson is a co-founder of Fantasy Golf Insider.com, fantasy golf expert and has been following and writing about fantasy golf for over six years. He is a member of multiple season long fantasy golf leagues as well as an avid daily fantasy golf player. His screename is jtbergerson. He has won over $150,000 playing fantasy golf on Draftkings.com, FantasyAces, DraftDay, and Fantasy Feud. Feel free to contact Jeff at jeff@fantasygolfinsider.com or visit Fantasy Golf Insider.Com

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