The Daily Spin – DraftKings Daily Fantasy Golf Preview – Desert Classic

We have reached the west coast portion of the tour season and while this particular week is not my favorite event, I do have to admit that this is my favorite stretch of the golf season outside of the majors. Next week, the tour moves on to San Diego where we will have an amazing field at Torrey Pines. I imagine that even more players than normal will be planning stops there the next two years as the US Open is scheduled to be played there in 2021. The following week is the Phoenix Waste Management Open over Super Bowl weekend which has turned into the biggest party stop of the year on tour for players and fans alike as the stadium hole on 16 attracts the largest crowd of the year and the event seems to set new attendance records every year. The last two stops in California take place at Pebble Beach (also home to the US Open this summer) and then Riviera for the Genesis Open, a longer, more challenging course that also usually attracts a strong field.

Of course, the biggest news that we are all waiting for each day is to see where Tiger will tee it up for the first time and then to see how he plans out his schedule this spring leading up to the Masters in April. I was pumped today to see the news that Rory McIlroy announced his intention to play next week at the Farmers Insurance Open for the first time and my thought is that tomorrow or Thursday, we will get an announcement from Tiger letting the world know that he will also be starting his season at Torrey, although it is still not a certainty. My thought is that we will definitely see Tiger play at least 2-3 events during the west coast swing. I would make sense for him to play at Torrey, skip the Waste Management Open and then play at Riviera although perhaps a trip to Pebble Beach to tune up for the US Open this summer might be under consideration since Tiger has not played there since 2012. Whatever the case may be, his return to relevance has helped to recharge the broader landscape of professional golf and brought back many casual eyeballs that had tuned out during his recovery time away from the tour after several stops and starts.

These first few weeks of each calendar year are very much like preseason football for me. The TOC gives us a little taste, the Sony is the dress rehearsal and then the Desert Classic is like the final week where the stars are mostly resting and we are getting a good look at the rookies coming onto the tour for the first time and also the old, journeyman veterans who are trying to pile up some early FedEx Cup points so that by the time the Wyndham rolls around before the playoffs, they are not under as much pressure when it comes to keeping their tour card for another year.

The Desert Classic has undergone more name changes than Prince during its run over the last 60 years. Just since we started the site, it went from the Humana, to the CareerBuilder and now to the Desert Classic. It has also been played on a number of different courses throughout its existence. Yes friends, this is a circus style event with three different courses to deal with for the week. Each player will tee it up once at each of the three courses and everyone left standing after the three round cut will play at the Stadium Course for the second time on Sunday. The rules are also a little bit funky. It is a ProAm set up so it will be nearly unwatchable the first three rounds as we catch random shots from rich businessmen/women and pseudo celebrities. I cannot imagine having to perform at a high level with some random playing partner along for the ride who is probably really exciting to chat it up and may not always quite follow the rules of etiquette that the players are used to observing for each other. As DFS fans, it is also a little frustrating in that Shot Tracker is only available for the Stadium Course so for those of us who are used to scrolling nervously over our golfers during every shot on cut day to see exactly where every shot is taken from, you’ll have to be patient this week.

The cut this week is also a different than what we are used to dealing with. Let’s call this week, the Insta-MDF cut. The rule is that the event will play down to the Top-70 players and ties for the cut on Saturday, which is normal enough, but if MORE THAN 78 players make it through the cut, then the cut will immediately be shifted down to the Top-60 players and ties. Remember, that 78 number is always always always MORE THAN, not equal to 78. Say it with me: MORE THAN 78. This should save us all a few tweets this week and throughout the season as we sweat out the potential of an MDF during the rest of the season. Don’t worry, there will be a few other events with oddball cut rules later on this season so we will get to revisit this a couple of times.

It is important to go over the cut rules here as you will want to cater your lineup builds around the way these rules set up during the year. With three rounds guaranteed for all players, you can afford to be more aggressive this week since losing one round is not nearly as punitive as two on a normal week. Obviously, getting 6 to Sunday is always going to be necessary to claim a massive field GPP, but it does give us some leeway with cash lineups and given that the field is on the soft side on easier layouts, we should be less worried about needing world class players and more focused on players in good form and those who regularly play well this time of year. I like to look for all of the So Cal natives, those who make their homes in the area (So Cal, Vegas, Arizona) and those that played their college golf in the area (San Diego St & Arizona St would be the most prominent that come to mind). The event takes place in Palm Desert California so take a look at events that have been played on desert style courses. The WM Open comes to mind (TPC Scottsdale) as well as the Shriners (TPC Summerlin). I would also take a look at Pete Dye courses like Harbour Town, TPC Sawgrass and TPC River Highlands as he designed the Stadium Course where the leaders will play a second time to finish on Sunday. The other two courses are easy enough so that you need golfers that can score early and often, but the Stadium Course offers a tougher test. I’ll let you dive into Adam’s course preview on The First Tee for a deeper look at the individual course setups for the week.

Needless to say, golfers are going to need to score often this week to make the cut and to be contend. The four Par 5 holes on PGA West and La Quinta are where players are going to need to rack up a lot of birdies and maybe an eagle or two in order to keep pace with a cut line that can reach -7 or -8, a likely scenario with the winds expected to be a non-factor this week.

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