Fantasy Golf Tournament Preview- U.S Open

OVERVIEW

Wow, I can’t believe we’re already talking about the 3^rd major of the year, time flies! This year has been great for majors, Tiger winning The Masters, Brooks claiming back-to-back PGA Championships at Bethpage a few weeks ago and now we’ve got an opportunity to see if he can win back-to-back-to-back US Opens! I really like his chances this week, but I don’t think I’m willing to pay up for him in my one lineup (I’ve gone back to honing in my best plays in one lineup and it’s working much better than the MME experiment that I’ve been working on since January). Pebble Beach hosts the US Open for the first time since 2010 when Graeme McDowell beat Gregory Havret (and the site of DJ’s first implosion in a major). We know the layout, we know the signature holes and thanks to Patrick Cantlay’s social media account, we know how thick it is around the greens. Wayward tee shots should be penalized, but probably not as badly as wayward approaches. I know the USGA talked about tightening the fairways, but if they did a drastic tightening, I’d think we’d be getting bombarded with updates via Twitter from the players who are already there practicing. I’m sure a few holes have seen some renovation, but the majority of the course should play the same as it did in 2010 (not the yearly AT&T pro-am where the rough is down so the “celebrities” don’t hold up play even more than they already do). I think scrambling is just as important as ball striking this week so if you’re a “models” type, I’d bump the scrambling up a bit more than usual. For OAD games, I’m looking at Brooks (if you haven’t used him yet), Tiger, Fleetwood, Finau and Bryson. If you need a deep shot who can return a Top 10 or better I’d give Sneds or Oostie a look.

 TOURNAMENT BACKGROUND

• The Course
• Pebble Beach Golf Links
• Par 71
• 7,000 yards
• Poa greens
• Location: Pebble Beach, CA
• Corollary Courses/Performances: Torrey Pines (Farmers & US Open), Firestone (WGC Bridgestone)
• Past Champions:
• 2018: Brooks Koepka +1 over Tommy Fleetwood [Shinnecock Hills]
• 2017: Brooks Koepka -16 over Hideki Matsuyama & Brian Harman [Erin Hills]
• 2016: Dustin Johnson -4 over Jim Furyk, Shane Lowry & Scott Piercy [Oakmont]
• 2015: Jordan Spieth -5 over Dustin Johnson & Louis Oosthuizen [Chambers Bay]
• 2014: Martin Kaymer -9 over Erik Compton & Rickie Fowler [Pinehurst No. 2]

 KEY STATS TO TARGET

• Strong Emphasis – SG: APP, Par 5 Scoring, Birdies or Better, Scrambling
• Important – P4 Scoring 400-500 yards, APP 150-200 yards (I’d also look at rough proximity from the same metrics)

Sign up for an FGI account today to see the rest of this post.