Jeff’s Hardcore Core- FedEx St Jude Classic

Another really strong week from the Hardcore Core as 13 of the 15 core made the cut and although it was a lesser field, still we will take that every day of the week. The only missed cuts were Matsuyama and Olesen. We got some really great performances including: Kuchar (T4), Reed (T8), Schwartzel (T11), Reifers (T20), and Streb (T20). If you chose to fade the top owned guys, like I did in some GPPs, you were mostly happy. A fade of Hideki was terrific as he was the top owned guy in GPPs across Draftkings and missed the cut. Also, a fade of Spieth and Day worked wonderfully as well. Ultimately no fade really killed you as Kuchar and Rory finished the best, but you could have easily won money without them on your roster. Actually none of the winners in the $4, $33, or $333 GPPs on Draftkings had Kuchar on their roster and the $333 did not have either Kuchar or Rory. This really goes to show the power of strategically fading certain players, especially when they are among the highest priced, because there are very few places they can finish that will really hurt you and make it impossible for you to win a GPP. I elected to go with Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, and Bubba Watson in a few GPPs despite the fact that they were not in my Hardcore Core and it only worked out with DJ. Both Fowler and Bubba came up with disappointing performances. I stand by my move despite the fact that it did not work this time. My thought process was that I felt they would be among the lowest owned in the top tier, based on what I had heard throughout the industry, and they were (Fowler was the lowest owned guy of the Top 8 in the $4 GPP at 13%). Now, what I did know was that he would lay a complete egg. Fowler had not been playing well in his last couple of appearances, but he is the type of guy who does not need great form to take over a tournament. If you want to stick to just playing the Hardcore Core, I have no problem with that as you will do very well. I just attempt bold moves in some GPPs (like the 100,000+ fields), because I feel like they will pay-off large from time to time.

This week we have the FedEx St Jude Classic, which is the final tournament before the U.S Open, which is why we will not see many of the top players in the world and have a rather thin field overall. We go back to a 150 player field, which will make getting 6/6 through the cut that much more difficult. With there being only a few marquee names, there is going to be some real concentrated ownership, so be aware of who those players are and pull the trigger on a strategic fade, if you feel like it is warranted. You can get an idea of ownership by using our ownership prediction model. As always best of luck to all of you Team FGI!

The Hardcore Core- FedEx St Jude Classic

[cointent_lockedcontent view_type=”condensed buyButtonOff”]

Dustin Johnson
Phil Mickelson
Brooks Koepka
Gary Woodland
Kyle Reifers
David Hearn
Brendan Steele
Chad Campbell
Retief Goosen
David Toms
Jason Bohn
Bud Cauley
Tim Wilkinson
Patrick Rodgers
Camillo Villegas

[/cointent_lockedcontent]