Fantasy Golf Tournament Preview- DP World Challenge (European Tour Package)

OVERVIEW

The final week in the Race to Dubai Championship is finally here. Last week’s winner, Branden Grace, came through with a final round 67 to take the championship away from another one of our favorites last week (Victor Dubuisson) and Scott Jameison. This week we head to the Greg Norman designed Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai where the greens are large and the fairways are easy to hit. The course is long, so naturally we’ll be targeting bombers off the tee, though some short hitters have fared well here in the past (Matthew Fitzpatrick last year, Lee Westwood in 2009). With Rory and Henrik being multiple time winners here, it’s pretty obvious the course favors those who can hit it close on approaches, so of course guys who bomb it AND strike it from the fairway should have a leg up on the field who only possesses one of those skills. The obvious pricing discrepancies between vegas odds and DK pricing right off the bat are Dubuisson (higher), RCB (lower), and Kjeldsen (higher). Meaning you should expect RCB to get a substantial amount of ownership this week, so you may need to leverage this information when making multiple GPP lineups, or go all in/full fade on him. Dubuisson and Kjeldsen seem overpriced which means they should have lower ownership, opening an opportunity to get in form players at low ownership. Although I didn’t dip deep into the $7k range in this article, primarily because I don’t like much of what it offers, you’re going to need some of these players to jam in your studs. I’ve listed my favorite plays in that range below without any analysis, because like I said, I’m not big on any of them.

TOURNAMENT BACKGROUND
o The Course
• Earth Course
• Par: 72
• Yardage: 7,675 yards
• Greens: Bermuda (fast greens)
o Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
o Past Champions:
• 2016: Matthew Fitzpatrick -17 over Tyrrell Hatton
• 2015: Rory McIlroy -21 over Andy Sullivan
• 2014: Henrik Stenson -16 over Victor Dubuisson, Rory McIlroy & Justin Rose
• 2013: Henrik Stenson -25 over Ian Poulter
• 2012: Rory McIlroy -23 over Justin Rose

KEY STATS TO TARGET
o Strong Emphasis – Greens in Regulation, Driving Distance, Ball Striking
o Important – Current Form, Scrambling, Putting Average, Course History

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