The Daily Spin – DraftKings Daily Fantasy Golf Preview – The PGA Championship

Well the summer certainly is flying by this season. No sooner have we caught our collective breath from the last major and then the next one is right around the corner. Typically, growing up, the summer always seemed like a quiet time of the year where all I could do was count down the days until football season was upon us. Yet now, with the excitement of daily fantasy golf reaching a near fever pitch almost every Thursday morning and then building up steadily throughout the weekend, there is scarcely even time to notice that football is in the off-season. Alright, you got me there. It’s never going to be easy going through that terrible withdrawal that begins that first Sunday after the Super Bowl, but I sure am excited to see the progress and growth of golf this season as it continues to attract new fans and fantasy players.

This brings us to the PGA Championship at Whistling Straights in Kohler, Wisconsin. If you have never been to Kohler, I suggest checking it out at some point. I attend a conference out there every year in May and have the privilege of staying at The American Club which is one of the most beautiful old hotels in the midwest. I recommend checking out The Winery Bar in the European-style wine cellar where they have one of the finest scotch collections available if you can find someone foolish enough at whatever event you attend to pick up the tab for the night. And since it is Kohler, Wisconsin, everything in the bathrooms comes from the nearby Kohler plant, including the shower heads that spray you from about six different directions.

But enough with the travel guide drivel. It’s a beautiful place, and an amazing course. You will hear all throughout the week how it resembles Chambers Bay. I suppose that it is true that each is a long, links style course, but beyond that, I think that Whistling Straights is an absolutely beautiful course with some gorgeous site lines along Lake Michigan. You will still see a lot of hills and bunkers and read the word undulating more times than you heard it in all your years growing up, but it is also green and beautiful while still remaining absolutely treacherous for anyone that fails to find the fairways or greens throughout the weekend. It will play longer than most courses, but I do not really think it is the monster in terms of length that some are describing. It is set to play somewhere just beyond 7500 yards and is a Par 72. It’s longer than the average, but with four Par 5 holes and four Par 3 holes, the distance should not be overwhelming.

A quick look over the field reveals a lot of players that are familiar with the course so it is not nearly the mystery that Chambers Bay posed to players and fantasy owners alike. The last time this event was played here was back in 2010 when Martin Kaymer beat out Bubba Watson in a playoff. Other notable players who performed well at the event include: Zach Johnson (T3), Rory McIlroy (T3), Jason Dufner (T5), Dustin Johnson (T5), Camilo Villegas (T8), Matt Kuchar (T10), Jason Day (T10), Phil Mickelson (T12), Paul Casey (T12), Charl Schwartzel (T18), JB Holmes (T24), Jim Furyk (T24), Tiger Woods (T24), and Adam Scott (T39) among others.

Also of note, Vijay Singh won the event back when it took place here back in 2004 and also did manage to make the cut and finish T39 in 2010. Other comparable courses to examine in your research this week are: Kiawah Island, home of the 2012 PGA Championship (won by Rory McIlroy), Chambers Bay, and the other links style courses where The Open is played each year. Whistling Straights was designed by Pete Dye, so there are a number of courses where the PGA stops each season to take a look at, although I would weight these much less than the others as they are not the same style as the others mentioned above. I bring it up only due to the fact that certain features around Dye courses attempt to create an illusion for players so that choosing the right angle or placement for a shot is not immediately obvious. Cerebral players tend to handle his courses better than others and experience in having seen some of the tricks he has set up make veterans a little more valuable than normal.

The fairways here are narrower than Chambers Bay so accuracy is going to be a little more important than at the US Open. The course contains large, undulating (there’s that word again) greens, deep pot bunkers, grass topped dunes, and winds that comes swirling off the lake. This last part is important to note. Currently, the winds on Thursday are set to pick up by the middle of the afternoon to above 15 mph. Keep this in your crosscheck tomorrow night or early Thursday morning as you make your final rosters selections. While making wholesale roster changes over a couple of hours of slightly higher than normal winds will not be something that I contemplate, if conditions deteriorate, it will be important to know who handles the wind well and who struggles with it. Reports that I have read put the number of bunkers at anywhere between 500 and over 1000. Whatever the final number is, it’s a lot of bunkers and they are literally littering the course at every possible stop. Take a look at a few images of the course and you will see these bunkers covering hilly terrain up and down many of the fairways.

This leads us into the statistics that I evaluated this week for selecting our players. There is not simple formula, but the breakdown of the course really is not so complicated. The tee shot is really key here. Unlike Chambers Bay where golfers could bash it long off the tee into wide fairways and then face more severe challenges, here players will need to do their best to be more accurate off the tee to stay out of trouble. Total Driving is yet again a great starting point for our research. For players who do hit the ball long, there are going to be opportunities to attack several of the Par 5 holes in two shots and potentially even reach a couple of the Par 4 holes in one shot. These players tend to be a little less accurate so they are going to need to capitalize on their opportunities as they will also be dealing with trouble more often than others.

For the shorter, more accurate hitters, they need to play their game and minimize their mistakes and make up their lack of distance with excellent putting. Hitting greens is important this week, but the greens are huge so it is a good stat to look at this week, but realize that just hitting greens in and of itself is not going to necessarily lead to success for players. Finally, scrambling and sand saves are both important numbers for us this week as players are going to find themselves in some ugly messes along the way. Those players that can work their way out of trouble and minimize the damage of a misplaced tee shot are going to be in contention on Sunday. In summary, the stats to look at this week: Total Driving, Strokes Gained Tee to Green, Greens in Regulation, Scrambling, Sand Saves, Strokes Gained Putting, Approaches from over 200 yards and Par 4 and 5 scoring.

Before we dig into the players this week, I want to preface my recommendations by letting your know that much of the thought went into choosing players for a pool that could be used to build rosters for the Millionaire Maker this week. What is the difference between building a Millionaire Maker roster and a regular GPP roster? The biggest difference is that you are going to need to have the winner on your roster in order to win the event. If you build a team with six players and your cannot conceive of how any of those players could win the event…erase that roster and start over again because you are going to waste your money if you do not have the winner on your team. Yes, it is conceivable that you could win without having the winner on your team, but the odds seem very, very minimal.

What I want you to do when you build your Millionaire Make roster or rosters this week is to take a stand on who you think is going to win the event and the load up on that player. When I say load up, I want your to place a considerable overweight buy on that player. If you think that this is Jason Day’s event to breakthrough and win his first major, do not be afraid to own him in 50% or more of your lineups. If you build ten lineups and only put Day onto two, you then have to hope you were fortunate enough to go 6/6 with one of those two lineups, which is far from a sure thing. Considering how the prize money pays out and how heavily weighted the top finishers get paid, it’s worth taking the extra risk.

The nice part of this week is that the pricing is soft enough so that you can stack two top players on your teams without putting yourself in a really bad position on salary for the other spots on your roster. Gear your strategy towards maximizing your chances to win one of the big prizes. If you are simply looking to cash in a GPP, there are plenty of better events to play in where you can utilize a lot more strategy in terms of your roster selection than the Millionaire Maker. The same can be said for those mid level salary players and sleepers. When you find that player you believe in, have the courage to follow your convictions and load up. If you believe that Jason Day, Brooks Koepka and Robert Streb will show up and play really well, use that core again and again and mix and match your peripheral players around them again and again. If you play too many players spread over too many rosters, you are probably going to lose 60-80% of your investment. While having a core player blow the cut in my strategy will probably also trigger a big loss, when you hit it right it, you will not be dependent on one roster having to play perfectly for you to make a big move. This is why when the high end players do well, you will often see them having many teams near the top and not just one prayer that they threw up hoping for success. Some of this may apply a little more to those building a couple dozen lineups for the Millionaire Maker, but it is important to consider each week for the $3 GPP as well when attempting to win the top prize of $100,000.

Lastly, do not forget about all of the other contest being offered this week. Cash games can be enormously profitable in weeks like this when novice players are jumping into the action for the first time or making a rare appearance. With the pricing as soft as it is in the middle, go ahead and be boring with your rosters. I spent much of my afternoon helping subscribers modify their cash game rosters to take some of the risk away and make sure that they did not try to get too cute in stacking star players and taking unnecessary risk on sleepers. If you have a question in your head about a certain player this week, you are probably taking too much risk.

As always, please feel free to contact me on Twitter all day and into the evening on Wednesday with any lineup or strategy questions. I love interacting with readers and anything I will do whatever I can to try to help you to be victorious each week. If you find yourself in the running for the million dollars this weekend, please let us know. Jeff and I will be out at Whistling Straights this weekend so we will be following the action up close. If any of you live in the area or will be attending the event, please let us know so that we can grab a drink and talk some golf. It should be a great event and we are going to do our best to try to make it to more events around the country over the next year and would love to meet as many of your as possible. Next month, as you all know, we will be participating in the Fantasy Golf World Championship out in Boston so if anyone wants to buy me a glass of scotch, feel free to get in touch!

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This week, I am going to do things a little bit differently. This fields is so talented and so deep that it would be a bit of a disservice to only talk about 15-16 players. I know that in doing so, I would receive countless questions about those players that I left out of the writeup and would leave you wondering if certain players were worthwhile plays or should be avoided. There are high quality players this week that I still had to leave out of the mix this week simply to make sure that I put together a good enough mix of blue chips, value plays and scrubs. So, to accommodate this incredible field, I am expanding my coverage this week to 25 players. Yes, I will lose a bit of sleep tonight (this morning), due to the extra effort, but for you, our devoted subscribers, I am willing to make the tough sacrifices in order to ensure your success and also your enjoyment of the content that I provide.

However, I do not want you to look at this as a cop out. There are a few sites that writeup half the field every week and then pat themselves on the back when some low ranked pick has success. That is a bit disingenuous in my opinion and does not really help fantasy players in any discernible manner. It does not make a lot of sense to me to tout my 35th ranked pick who plays well when my 2nd ranked player missed the cut. You are counting on me to hit my top picks hard as those are the ones that you are actually going to be owning large shares of this week. To make it clear on which players I prefer the most, I created a list of ten core players and fifteen peripheral players this week so you will know exactly which players I am emphasizing you use for creating your rosters this week. As this is a bit out of the norm, please feel free to shoot me feedback. This will not happen all that often, but in a field this deep, I think a more lengthy dissertation is needed in order to address the questions of who is worthy of a roster spot as so many more players than normal really do have a chance to make a move up the leaderboard this weekend.

CORE PLAYERS

Jordan Spieth ($12,500) – Little needs to be said for selecting Spieth this week. He is a big time player that shines when the lights are the brightest. He is reasonable off the tee, but really shines with his irons and short game and is not afraid of big putts when under pressure. He has won five times this year on tour and will be locked in again this week. It may take him a day or two to work his way up the leaderboard, but by Sunday, he will be in one of the last groups to play. He is my top pick this week and the player that I will be overweighting the most on my Millionaire Maker rosters this week.

Key Stats – TD – 42, SGTG – 2, GIR – 55, Scramb – 7, Sand Saves – 27, SGP – 7, Appr > 200 yds – 8, Par 4 Scoring – 1, Par 5 scoring – 20

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T10, The Open – T4, John Deere Classic – 1st, US Open 1st

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – NA

Jason Day ($10,800) – Were it not for a bout with Vertigo back at The US Open, Day may have been able to shed the title of best player on tour without a win at a major. He’s a heavy hitter off the tee, very good with long approach shots, scrambles and plays out of the sand well, and he can putt. He is a close second for me this week to Spieth. Day’s only downfall is that he is not terribly accurate off the tee, but I think that with everything other tool that he brings to this course, he will be in contention this weekend.

Key Stats – TD – 83, SGTG – 26, GIR – 32, Scramb – 5, Sand Saves – 14, SGP – 14, Appr > 200 yds – 26, Par 4 Scoring – 4, Par 5 scoring – 20

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T12, Canadian Open – 1st, The Open – 4th, US Open 9th

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – T10

Justin Rose ($10,000) – A couple of things really stand out for me with Justin Rose this week. The first thing worth noting is the amazing run that Rose is on since The Masters back in April. He has six Top 6 finishes and a win at the Zurich Classic and outside of a misstep at The Players Championship, he has been in the mix every week. At his price, he is still cheap enough to pair with Day or Spieth and have enough salary left over to build a playable team. The other interesting detail to note is that Rose missed the cut here in both 2004 and 2010. The reason that is interesting is that it is going to scare away a few folks from buying shares of Rose despite his strong play over the last few months. Rest assured, Rose has improved his game by leaps and bounds since 2010. His putting stats have not been stellar this year, but much of that can be chalked up to a rough start to the season. The rest of his game sets up very well and he should keep his string of positive finishes in tact.

Key Stats – TD – 4, SGTG – 7, GIR – 13, Scramb – 105, Sand Saves – 5, SGP – 14, Appr > 200 yds – 26, Par 4 Scoring – 50, Par 5 scoring – 6

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – 3rd, Quicken Loans National – 4th, The Open – 6th, US Open 27th

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – MC, 2004 – MC

Bubba Watson ($9,900) – As I mentioned earlier, we are looking to roster players that have a shot at winning this week. With Bubba, I am willing to accept all the risk that comes with putting him on my rosters. The reason for this is that Bubba plays to win and has taken his game to another level this year. He did struggle at Chambers Bay and at St Andrews, but is familiar with Whistling Straights and took 2nd here in 2010. He also played well at Kiawah Island in 2012, finishing in 11th so clearly he has some comfort level with this style of Pete Dye course. His accuracy is a bit of a concern, but his tee to green game is superb this season. Bubba has really improved his game in terms of his putting and scrambling ability this season and at his price, he is worth a little extra risk. Also of note, Bubba is teeing off early on Thursday so any winds that pick up late that morning and into the afternoon should have minimal effect on Bubba or his somewhat fragile disposition.

Key Stats – TD – 37, SGTG – 1, GIR – 39, Scramb – 35, Sand Saves – 119, SGP – 26, Appr > 200 yds – 16, Par 4 Scoring – 26, Par 5 scoring – 1

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – 2nd, Canadian Open – 2nd, The Open – MC, Greenbrier – T13

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – 2nd

Henrik Stenson ($9,700) – Of all the top ranked players in the field this week, I predict that Stenson will be the one that is most overlooked. He started the season hot, contracted a virus around The Masters, and struggled to recover to full strength over the next couple of months. I have been waiting to see a spark from Stenson and I think we got it last week with a 6th place finish at The WGC Bridgestone. Stenson’s stats line up better than anyone else in the field. He provides the best combination of distance and accuracy and his tee to green game is sharp. Outside of not being a great sand player, he hits all other categories really well and considering his ability to hit accurately and also to hit greens, that may not be a huge factor.

Key Stats – TD – 1, SGTG – 5, GIR – 1, Scramb – 62, Sand Saves – 129, SGP – 13, Appr > 200 yds – 12, Par 4 Scoring – 19, Par 5 scoring – 49

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T6, BMW International – 2nd The Open – 40th, US Open 27th

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – MC

Hideki Matsuyama ($8,000) – Hideki has been consistent this year, although I have to say I have been a little bit disappointed with the lack of Top 10 finishes in big events this year. His 37th place finish should present owners with a nice opportunity this week. He played well on Sunday, shooting -4 on the round so it was not a total meltdown. Most owners tuned out by that point so they will just remember that he blew up on Friday and Saturday. His price and statistics continue to make him an attractive play as he is easy to get into a lineup and has the potential to finish in the Top 10 in any given event, especially if he can get his putter going.

Key Stats – TD – 7, SGTG – 4, GIR – 18, Scramb – 19, Sand Saves – 107, SGP – 113, Appr > 200 yds – 83, Par 4 Scoring – 2, Par 5 scoring – 24

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T37, The Open – T18, US Open T18, The Memorial – 5th

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – NA

Brooks Koepka ($7,800) – At some point, DraftKings will get the memo that Brooks Koepka is a pretty good player and needs to be priced appropriately. Until that time comes, he will remain a staple of my writeups. There are some players out there that are so good and so consistent, that they actually hit a point where they become a buy almost regardless of ownership levels. With how few cuts Koepka misses, owners get burned a lot more often than not by fading Koepka. Last week, in looking over most winning rosters on GPP teams, the name that popped up in most lineups again and again was Brooks Koepka. Outside of the fact that Koepka has some accuracy issues off the tee and can be a bit volatile, both good and bad, he sets up nicely for the course and represents perhaps the best value on the board for the week. He has taken very little time to adapt to these challenging courses and I do not anticipate any issues this week either.

Key Stats – TD – 42, SGTG – 34, GIR – 19, Scramb – 150, Sand Saves – 58, SGP – 5, Appr > 200 yds – 71, Par 4 Scoring – 15, Par 5 scoring – 3

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T6, Canadian Open – T18, The Open – 10th, US Open 18th

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – NA

Branden Grace ($7,300) – Moving down the list in price, Brandon Grace pop out as a tremendous play this week. A veteran of links style courses from his years of play over in Europe, Grace has a win this season at the Alfred Dunhill Championship (a links style event with two rounds played at St Andrews), finished in 4th at the US Open and 20th at The Open. His stats on the PGA Tour page are not going to look very impressive, but that should prove to be a nice deception for players who do not take into account that his ten US events this season have been on some of the most challenging courses on the PGA Tour. What we do know is that Grace has two wins this season in Europe and has handled himself well on similar courses to Whistling Straights. He is having a breakout year and at age 27, is just beginning to hit his prime.

Key Stats – TD – 33, SGTG – 110, GIR – 144, Scramb – 22, Sand Saves – 142, SGP – 26, Appr > 200 yds – 156, Par 4 Scoring – 56, Par 5 scoring – 186

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T17, The Open – 20th, Scottish Open – T17, Travelers – MC, US Open 9th

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – NA

Danny Willett ($7,200) – Fantasy owners were largely unimpressed with Willett in his first six outings this season in PGA Tour events. He started strong with a T12 at the WGC-Cadillac event, but mostly fell flat, missing the cut here in the three of his next five events. However, if we take a look at his results on the European Tour, the results tell a different story. He has two wins this season and six Top 10 finishes on the season including a recent win at the Omega European Masters a week after finishing 6th at The Open. Also of note, he has Top 10 finishes this season at The Irish Open and the Alfred Dunhill Championship, two links style courses. He had one bad round at the US Open, but other than that, he has been one of the hottest players in the world over the last few months.

Key Stats – NA – Has been driving the ball close to 300 yards on the US Tour with reasonable accuracy. His tee to green game has been very good and he hits a lot of grean, but his putting has been slightly below average.

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T17, European Omega Masters – 1st, The Open – 6th, Alstom – MC

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – MC

Robert Streb ($6,800) – One of the most undervalued players on the board this week in terms of his price versus the Vegas odds, Robert Streb has had a three part season. He raced out to a strong start, then hit the skids as the tour hit the Florida portion of the season. However, starting with The Player’s Championship, Streb has made nine straight cuts including six Top 20 finishes and 3 Top 10s along the way. He will be making his debut at this event, but has acquitted himself reasonably well in the last two majors this season. He is not the most accurate player off the tee, but has a great tee to green game, hits a lot of greens and can putt well. A lot of people will own him this week, but that is not without merit. For an event like the Millionaire Maker, you are going to need players that have a lot of upside and at $6,800, Streb represents the best best potential upside in his price range.

Key Stats – TD – 49, SGTG – 29, GIR – 11, Scramb – 78, Sand Saves – 84, SGP – 25, Appr > 200 yds – 108, Par 4 Scoring – 9, Par 5 scoring – 69

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – 5th, The Open – T18, John Deere Classic – T14, Greenbrier – T2, US Open – T42

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – NA

That wraps up our core group of players this week. Those are my favorite plays that I will be building all of my rosters around this week. The next set of players represents the peripheral players this week. These are guys who will be in 5%-15% of my lineups this week to rotate into lineups. There will be a couple of guys that make my lineups outside of this group, but not enough to gain entry into the writeup.

PERIPHERAL PLAYERS

Adam Scott ($10,200) – Scott has been tough to decipher this year. The early move to change putters failed and then moving back to the anchor did not improve his fortunes. With the return of Steve Williams as his caddie, Scott seems to have righted the ship, but struggled again last week disappointing fantasy owners yet again. He will be owned by a few less folks as a result, but he has played well here before and his game is suited for the course if you look at his career stats and can overlook some of this season’s inconsistencies.

Key Stats – TD – 9, SGTG – 11, GIR – 8, Scramb – 152, Sand Saves – 105, SGP – 178, Appr > 200 yds – 172, Par 4 Scoring – 41, Par 5 scoring – 35

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T45, The Open – T10, US Open – T4, Crowne Plaza – T24

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – T39, 2004 – T9

Rickie Fowler ($9,800) – Coming into form after an up and down season, I like Fowler this week, but not quite as much as the rest of the crowd. His play at The Open and the US Open left owners frustrated although his win at The Players Championship and Scottish Open were impressive. He has had trouble hitting greens this year, but is rounding into form and when Fowler is in form he is a force to be reckoned with and a player you will want to own shares of even if the course may not suit him perfectly.

Key Stats – TD – 21, SGTG – 37, GIR – 125, Scramb – 93, Sand Saves – 34, SGP – 72, Appr > 200 yds – 50, Par 4 Scoring – 91, Par 5 scoring – 35

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T10, Quicken Loans National – 2nd, The Open – T30, Scottish Open – 1st, US Open – MC

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – T58

Louis Oosthuizen ($9,100) – With two second place finishes at the last two majors, I just cannot ignore Oosthuizen this week. Outside of those events, Louis has been a bit erratic this season, punishing owners who have chased his results. He did blow the cut at Whistling Straights in 2012, but finished in 21st at Kiawah Island in 2012. Outside of his putting, he is a fantastic statistical fit this week for the course and has the upside potential to be worth a few roster spots for the Millionaire Maker this week.

Key Stats – TD – 42, SGTG – 31, GIR – 33, Scramb – 77, Sand Saves – 11, SGP – 162, Appr > 200 yds – 40, Par 4 Scoring – 23, Par 5 scoring – 69

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T42, The Open – T2, Greenbrier – T73, Travelers – MC, US Open – T2

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – MC

Zach Johnson ($8,400) – A bit of a surprise winner at The Open, Johnson has had an incredible resurgence this season. Johnson has been great at the links style courses at The Open, although he did struggle at The US Open at another links style course. His track record at Whistling Straights is solid so he will make plenty of my teams this week along with everyone else. He is having a great season with nine Top 10 finishes so the upside potential is certainly there, although he did struggle last week at the WGC Bridgestone.

Key Stats – TD – 48, SGTG – 15, GIR – 42, Scramb – 71, Sand Saves – 36, SGP – 137, Appr > 200 yds – 160, Par 4 Scoring – 17, Par 5 scoring – 20

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T33, The Open – 1st, John Deere Classic – T3, Travelers – 6th, US Open – T72

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – T3, 2004 – T37

Matt Kuchar ($8,300) – We need a few boring picks this week and Kuchar fits the mold well. Kuchar’s numbers are a little down this year, but it does look like he is beginning to round into form. With his experience at the course and success with Pete Dye courses in general, I like Kuchar as a nice safe play this week with some shot at upside if he can hit some greens this week. Kuchar also makes for an excellent cash game play this week.

Key Stats – TD – 48, SGTG – 15, GIR – 42, Scramb – 71, Sand Saves – 36, SGP – 137, Appr > 200 yds – 160, Par 4 Scoring – 17, Par 5 scoring – 20

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T25, RBC Canadian Open – T7, The Open – T58, US Open – T12

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – T10

Jim Furyk ($8100) – Furyk is still playing solid golf this season. He blew another chance to win an event with a weekend collapse, but earned fantasy owners a lot of points in the process. He did miss the cut here in 2004, but finished a respectable T24 in 2010. He played okay in his last two majors, but does have the potential to jump up into the Top 10. That may not be the case this week, but he probably will not hurt us and does have upside coming in off of consecutive Top 10 finishes. He is too strong statistically to ignore this week. Furyk is another very nice cash game option.

Key Stats – TD – 85, SGTG – 3, GIR – 30, Scramb – 21, Sand Saves – 121, SGP – 124, Appr > 200 yds – 7, Par 4 Scoring – 19, Par 5 scoring – 127

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T3, Canadian Open – 4th, The Open – T30, US Open – T42

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – T24, 2004 – MC

Patrick Reed ($7600) – He is not an accurate player and struggles to hit greens, but his iron play is above average making him a very good tee to green player and his scrambling and putting can usually keep him out of trouble. He has had difficulty this year with one bad round destroying his chances of winning big events, but the talent is clearly there and impossible to pass up.

Key Stats – TD – 174, SGTG – 40, GIR – 118, Scramb – 36, Sand Saves – 50, SGP – 11, Appr > 200 yds – 44, Par 4 Scoring – 9, Par 5 scoring – 35

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T15, The Open – T20, Greenbrier – T29, Travelers – MC, US Open – T14

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – NA

Marc Leishman ($7,600) – He did not do anything special last week, but that is okay. Owners have already forgotten that Leishman was the third man involved in the playoff at The Open. He started the season poorly as his wife nearly died fighting off a virus, but his form has turned around since her recovery. This will make the stats look a bit distorted on the year. He has been decent at PGA Championship events over the years (12th in 2012 at Kiawah Island) so I think he has a reasonable floor and I anticipate low enough ownership so that owning a few shares of him if he makes a big run could pay big dividends for us this week.

Key Stats – TD – 130, SGTG – 66, GIR – 105, Scramb – 123, Sand Saves – 107, SGP – 86, Appr > 200 yds – 133, Par 4 Scoring – 58, Par 5 scoring – 69

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T33, The Open – 2nd, Greenbrier – MC, Travelers – T39, US Open – MC

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – T48

David Lingmerth ($7,300) – He did not shine at The Open back in July, but he has been on quite a tear since winning The Memorial two months ago with four Top 6 finishes in his last six starts. I think people will own him more than they have in previous events, but there is enough talent in his price range so that it will not leap significantly. He has not shown me enough in big tournaments to earn a place in the core group, but his stats point to a good showing this week and worth a few roster spots.

Key Stats – TD – 31, SGTG – 52, GIR – 115, Scramb – 37, Sand Saves – 48, SGP – 93, Appr > 200 yds – 98, Par 4 Scoring – 69, Par 5 scoring – 49

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T6, Quicken Loans National – 3, The Open – 74th, Greenbrier – T6

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – NA

Jason Dufner ($7,300) – Reports say that Dufner has been battling a bit of a cold so check back for updates, but I think he is a very sneaky play here. Dufner has a great history at PGA Championship with three Top 10 finishes including a win in 2013 and a 5th at Whistling Straights in 2010. He went through a tough divorce that hurt his play early in the season, but seemed to turn a corner recently and not too many folks have noticed, making him a nice under the radar pick.

Key Stats – TD – 39, SGTG – 18, GIR – 49, Scramb – 168, Sand Saves – 157, SGP – 185, Appr > 200 yds – 68, Par 4 Scoring – 91, Par 5 scoring – 57

Recent Form – The Open – 58th, US Open – T18, The Memorial – T24, Byron Nelson – T8

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – T5

Jason Bohn ($6,700) – A player receiving a lot of buzz this week and coming into the event in fantastic form, Jason Bohn will try to continue his breakout season with a big performance at Whistling Straights. He missed the cut here in 2010, but has made a significant leap this year in nearly all facets of his game. Given his lack of success on a big stage, I cannot use him as a core player, but his stats this spring combined with his recent form make him playable this week. Outside of the fact that he is not a big hitter, the rest of his stats are a great match for the course.

Key Stats – TD – 83, SGTG – 41, GIR – 22, Scramb – 31, Sand Saves – 159, SGP – 38, Appr > 200 yds – 10, Par 4 Scoring – 2, Par 5 scoring – 49

Recent Form – Quicken Loans National – T4, John Deere Classic – T12, Greenbrier – T13, Travelers – MC

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – MC

Steven Bowditch ($6,600) – For some reason, the Aussies tend to eat up these links style courses. Since winning the Byron Nelson, Bowditch has been playing really well, missing just one cut in his last nine starts. He will need to be more accurate and hit a higher percentage of greens than normal, but he does get good distance off the tee, has a good approach game and is a reasonable putter. He is also a tremendous scrambler and plays well out of the sand, very key for this week.

Key Stats – TD – 118, SGTG – 82, GIR – 159, Scramb – 2, Sand Saves – 16, SGP – 70, Appr > 200 yds – 65, Par 4 Scoring – 39, Par 5 scoring – 46

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T12, Quicken Loans National – T67, The Open – T30, John Deere Classic – MC,

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – NA

Pat Perez ($6,000) – Pat Perez has only finished in the Top 10 twice this year, but has made eleven straight cuts which include eight Top 25 finishes. He is a shorter hitter, but accurate and hits greens. The closest thing Perez has going for him in terms of experience is a T21 in 2012 at Kiahwah Island. At his price, he helps to open up a lot of options at the top of the salary chain. He is also one of the most underpriced players versus Vegas odds this week.

Key Stats – TD – 86, SGTG – 73, GIR – 37, Scramb – 86, Sand Saves – 100, SGP – 43, Appr > 200 yds – 113, Par 4 Scoring – 6, Par 5 scoring – 90

Recent Form – Quicken Loans National – T21, Canadian Open – T18, John Deere Classic – T55, Greenbrier – T22

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – NA

Emiliano Grillo ($6,000) – Though he is only 3/4 in making the cut in events in North America, his results have been very good and he is having a great season on the European Tour where he has missed just one cut this season. He hits it around 290 yards and is fairly accurate as well. He is an average putter and will certainly be challenged this week, but needs to only make the cut to provide value to your roster. Using a player in this range offers enormous salary cap relief and if you wish to roster Spieth with another top player, you will need to use one of these players to make your roster work.

Key Stats – Not enough data to be ranked on PGA Tour. Good in Total Driving and a reasonable putter.

Recent Form – Canadian Open – T22, Barbasol – T10, Scottish Open – T41, Alston – MC, Nordea – T21, Irish Open – T30

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – NA

Soren Kjeldsen ($5700) – He burned me in a couple of lineups at The Open, but that does not take away from the fact that he has had a pretty good year and is a bargain for his price. Coming off of a nice showing at the WGC Bridgestone, he enters Whistling Straights with some momentum. Since the middle of May, Soren has been on a nice roll with a win at the Irish Open, three Top 10s and six total Top 20 finishes. He is a shorter hitter, but fairly accurate and hits greens. His stats in Europe would be even better were it not for a rough start to the season. He is a higher risk play, but also capable of a nice result if he can get through the cut. He missed the cut here by just a single stroke in 2010.

Key Stats – Not enough data to qualify, decent in Total Driving and pretty good at hitting GIR

Recent Form – WGC Bridgestone – T12, The Open – MC, Scottish Open – T41, Alstom – T15, BMW International – T47

Tournament History at Whistling Straights – 2010 – MC

That’s all for the week! Congratulations if you made it all the way to the end as it has to be exhausting…as it was to write it. I did my best to be comprehensive as there are so many players that could contend this week that I wanted to talk about as many as possible. Yes, there are a few that were left out in each price range. It does not mean they are unplayable, simply that I liked other options a little better. Best of luck this week!

-myzteriouzly

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