The Albatross – FanDuel Golf Preview – Desert Classic
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The Desert Classic kicks off the West Coast Swing as the PGA Tour heads to La Quinta, California. Three courses will be used at this week’s event and the cut will be made after the third round. Golfers will also have a pro-am partner joining their group for the first three rounds. Since the 2016 overhaul of this event, the Stadium Course, the Nicklaus Tournament Course and the nearby La Quinta CC all share host duties, with the final round being played at the Stadium Course. There usually is a lot of scoring in this event, so predicting a winner will be difficult. However, golfers who had most of their game working in Hawaii should have what it takes to keep up in this birdie-fest.
The Stadium Course will take up 36 holes of the Desert Classic, so that will be the primary course to put emphasis on. It is a Pete Dye designed course played as a stock par 72 measuring at 7,113 yards and reminds many of another Pete Dye design, TPC Sawgrass. This is mainly because of the island green on the par 3 17th Hole which typically leads to fantastic finishes. Golfers with a well-rounded game that have also shown previous success on Pete Dye designed courses will most likely be the ones threatening to win.
Desert Classic weather: The latest weather forecast for La Quinta, California can be found here.
The Key Stats for the Desert Classic provided by our friends at Fantasy Golf Metrics are:
SGT2G: 20%
SGP: 20%
PROX: 10%
P150-175: 5%
SPROX: 10%
PAR5: 10%
BOB%: 25%
Desert Classic WDs as of 1/15/2019: Joel Dahmen and Graeme McDowell
Justin Rose leads the Desert Classic field in salaries with a $12,100 price tag. There is really no reason to spend top dollar for him this week. Specifically, Rose is making his first start of the year and the last time he played in this event he missed the cut. When you also consider that he will be using new clubs for the first time, the world number one is an easy fade. The defending champion, Jon Rahm, slots in next at $11,900 and is the top fantasy option after a T8 finish at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Lastly, there is Patrick Cantlay and Charles Howell that round out the $11k salary tier and both should be in line for a quality fantasy performance at the Desert Classic.
Recommended golfers for the Desert Classic for both Cash games and GPPs:
Jon Rahm – $11,900: Jon Rahm is coming off a T8 finish at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and a few weeks before that he won the Hero World Challenge. He will once again be a serious threat to win the Desert Classic. Rahm should absolutely destroy the LaQuinta CC during his opening round and get off to a comfortable start. He has already shown the ability to handle the Stadium Course and with the laid-back nature of this pro-am event, his temperament should be held in check. Rahm is your plug-n-play FanDuel golfer this week.
Charles Howell – $11,100: Charles Howell took full advantage of his entry into the Sentry Tournament of Champions and finished T14 at the Plantation Course at Kapalua. He then followed that up last week with a T8 finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii. CHIII has not missed a cut in this event since 2007 with three recent top 20 finishes. The stars might be aligning for another possible win for Chucky Three Sticks at the Desert Classic.
Also consider:
Patrick Cantlay – $11,300
Andrew Putnam – $10,500: Andrew Putnam competed in both events in Hawaii and will riding a hot putter into the Desert Classic this week. He finished solo 2nd at the Sony Open in Hawaii and the week before that at the Sentry Tournament of Champions he finished T14. When you also consider his T4 finish at the WGC-HSBC Champions in late October, Putnam has been on quite a roll. He finished T17 in this event last year, so he has the game to rack up birdies across the three courses. Putnam is one of the better options on FanDuel this week for the Desert Classic in the mid $10k salary range.
Aaron Wise – $10,100: Aaron Wise is birdie-or-better machine that is also coming into the Desert Classic after a respectable showing in Hawaii. He competed in the Sentry Tournament of Champions for the first time, and finished T27 in a stacked field. Wise is a talented golfer that now has a PGA Tour win under his belt, so this week at the Desert Classic his confidence should be high. He finished T17 and T34 in his two previous starts in this event, so he obviously has the fire power to compete. Wise is another solid option in the $10k salary range.
Also consider:
Adam Hadwin – $10,700
Ryan Palmer – $10,200
Chez Reavie – $9,800: Chez Reavie got off to a strong start during the fall portion of the 2018-19 PGA Tour season, and he picked up right where he left off after finishing T3 at the Sony Open in Hawaii last week. His approach game was firing on all cylinders, highlighted by three hole outs for eagle at the Waialae Country Club. The current course rotation for this event was first utilized in 2016, and since then Reavie is 3-for-3 with two top 20 finishes. His game particularly sets up well for the TPC Stadium Course, where 36 holes will be played. Expect Reavie to continue his solid iron play and if he can get his putter going, he may very well see himself in contention for the second consecutive week.
Scott Piercy – $9,500: Scott Piercy enjoyed his time in Hawaii with a T19 finish at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and T33 finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Piercy showed top 10 upside at this event last year and will be looking to get off to a strong start at the LaQuinta CC. The mid-$9k range over on FanDuel is a solid tier to load up with your DFS lineups, and Piercy is one of the golfers you will want some exposure to.
Patton Kizzire – $9,400: Patton Kizzire made the short trip from Maui to Honolulu last week for a title defense at the Sony Open in Hawaii that resulted in a top 15 finish. He should feel good about his game right now after finishing T8 the week before at the Sentry Tournament of Champions where many of the world’s top golfers competed. Kizzire has made the cut in this event the past three years and hopefully with his game in great shape, he is able to put together another quality fantasy performance. At $9,400, his salary has not gone up enough on FanDuel and is a safe bet to be playing the final round once again at the Stadium Course.
Also consider:
Bud Cauley – $9,900
Abraham Ancer – $9,900
Richy Werenski – $9,600
Peter Uihlein – $9,000
Hudson Swafford – $8,200: Hudson Swafford is a previous winner of this event and is showing signs of that outstanding form for this year’s edition of the Desert Classic. He knocked off the little rust he had last week at the Sony Open in Hawaii and finished T3 and is looking for a bounce back this season after a disappointing 2018 season. Swafford will surely feel comfortable playing on the courses that netted him his only PGA Tour victory. $8,200 is simply too cheap for Swafford and difficult to pass up on FanDuel. He makes for a great bookend in a lineup that features a top tier golfer like Jon Rahm this week.
Also consider:
Sungjae Im – $8,800
Corey Conners – $8,700
“FanDuel $7k Special” for the Desert Classic: Harris English – $7,500
“FanDuel Fade” for the Desert Classic:
Note: This golfer is my personal fade this week however I would not put anyone off that wanted some exposure to him in GPPs.
Justin Rose – $12,100
First start of the year? First appearance in this event since a MC in 2010? New clubs? No thanks. There will be plenty of times to play Justin Rose this year in DFS, but this is not one of them.
Good luck.
-Erik Dantoft
@edantoft on Twitter
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