The First Tee – The Shriners Open

Whether you’re a first-time reader, or been with me for a while, the object is to help you all become more informed and hopefully earn some good money along the way. I provide a weekly strategy review of the high volume “pros” as well as my thoughts for the upcoming tournament. Want to see a specific user on the list? Hear my thoughts on developing trends? Feel free to tweet me and follow me @dfsgolfer23 with any questions suggestions or comments. Enjoy reading!

Weekly Roundup – The HSBC

Evening the score, Matsuyama picks up his second Tour victory and his first WGC. An extremely impressive weekend, following a good start, fantastic tee to green game, and FINALLY some great putting, helped Matsuyama path the way to victory.

My Fantasy Week Recap: Back to back top 50’s for me, this time in the big $3 birdie. However, I struggled a bit in the “dogleg” so I wasn’t able to really capitalize on my good finish.

The Winning Strategy: Well, the biggest WD fear of the week for most players, ended up being a guy you needed to own. Of course, I’m talking about “The Machine” Henrik Stenson. Coming in at just 12% owned, this super hero was a must own. The find of the week belonged to Bill Haas roughly 5% owned by the field.

Right & Wrong
• Where I Went Wrong-50% DJ 50% Bubba… Brutal… Was able to have Matsuyama above the field which is why I was able to have at least some decent results.
• Where I Went Right-I was pretty much even with the field on a lot of players… So not much I can say I was correct about. However, on my periscope I did mention Fowler as a sneaky play.

Player Ownership Analysis

2 weeks in a row a resident, or semi-resident, was able to have a huge week. Let’s take a look.

SaahilSud – Again we see a very high ownership, much above the average for the pros, as he chose Gergory Bourdy as his own this week. My guess, is he figured he would be one of the lowest guys owned, and thought he hast the most upside.

• Results:
o $3- 150 Entries entered: Best Finish-364th
o $33- 100 Entries Entered: Best Finish- 154th
o $300-4 Entries Entered: Best Finish- 12th, 14th

• Players Used-
o $3- 25 Players Used
o $33-25 Players Used
o $300- 10 Players used

• Player Own %- $33 used for example.
o Bourdy- 99%
o Scott-77%
o Woodland-53%
o Kuchar/Bubba-48%
o Stenson-42%
o Louis Oost- 38%
o Rory-37%
o Koepka/Holmes-20%
o Matsuyama-6%

Jetblackx – Minimal participation here, maybe the no-cut event? Other things? Who knows.

• Results:
o $3-2 Entries-4073rd
o $33- 2 Entries-429th
o $300-2 Entries: 13th

• Players Used-
o $3-8 Players used
o $33- 8 players used
o $300-8 Players used

JAE686 – Put a W on the resume. Nice start to the 2016-2017 Season.

• Results:
o $3-150 Entries Entered: Best Finish-14th
o $33- 100 Entries Entered: Best Finishes- 1st, 8th, 19th, 20th, 29th, 34th 46th
o $300- 5 Entries Entered: 0 lineups in the top 25

• Players Used:
o $3- 45 players used
o $33- 45 Players used
o $300- 45 Players used

• Player Own %- 33
o Stenson- 37%
o Scott-31%
o Kuchar-30%
o Haas-26%
o Rory-25%
o Bubb-24%
o Garcia/DJ-23%
o Woodland-21%
o Fowler-20%
o Matsyuama-16%

Jberg1679 – Few have mentioned, that this could be the famous and my astute colleague Jeff Bergeson. Although I cannot confirm or deny this rumor, he plays under the user name jtbergeson for those that would like to follow is work. Nonetheless, this user was maxed out across the big contests.

• Results:
o $3- 100 Entries Entered: Best Finish- 1581st
o $33- 123 Entries Entered: Best Finishes- 7th,13th
o $300- 0 Entries Entered

• Players Used:
o $3- 44 players used
o $33- 44 Players used
o $300- 44 Players used

• Player Ownership%
o Casey-76%
o Wiesberger-62%
o Bland-51%
o Knox-49%
o Berger-46%
o Watson-42%
o Scott-22%
o Matsuyama-18%

PSBC22 – Bouncing back and able to enter just three lineups in the 300$ scoring 3 top 25’s, he was able to allocate a little more money this week. Oh, I think I saw him at the top of an NFL contest anyway.

• Results:
o $3- 150 Entries Entered: Best Finished- 124th
o $33- 100 Entries Entered: Best Finishes- 11th
o $300- 4 Entries Entered: 0 in the top 25

• Players Used:
o $3- 44 Players Used
o $33- 44 Players Used
o $300- 8 Players Used

• Player Own
o Scott-40%
o Thomas-38%
o Piercy-35%
o Cab-bello- 35%
o Casey-27%
o Kaymer-26%
o Wiesberger-26%
o Knox-23%
o Woodland/Bland-20%
o Matsyama-18%

FlavorFlav – After a rather disappointing week at the CIMB, let’s see if he could get back on tract at the HSCB.

• Results:
o $3- 0 Entries Entered
o $33- 100 Entries Entered: Best Finishes- 156th
o $300- 4 Entries Entered: 0 in the top 25

• Players Used:
o 33- 33 Players used
o $300- 15 Players used

• Player Own %- 33*
o Scott-49%
o McIlroy-48%
o Casey-6%
o Cab-Bello-39%
o Grillo-34%
o Vegas-32%
o Kokrak-28%
o Holmes-28%
o Koepka/Fowler-24%
o Watson/Hatton-20%

1350978425 – I don’t know why this user chose this user name, maybe it’s code for something I don’t understand, or maybe it’s a former user who changed his name. Regardless, this user has been maxing out entries the last few weeks, and with some of our normal list contributors playing a little bit less, I decided to add this one to the list. Let’s check out his strategy and how it fared this week.

• Results:
o $3- 150 Entries Entered: Best Finished- 351st
o $33- 120 Entries Entered: Best Finishes- 41st
o $300- 2 Entries Entered: 0 in the top 25

• Players Used:
o $3- 44 players used
o $33- 44 Players used
o $300- 15 Players used

• Player Own %- 33*
o McIlroy-39%
o DJ-38%
o Wiesberger-38%
o Willett-31%
o Grillo-27%
o Watson-26%
o Kisner-23%
o Sstenson-22%
o Fowler-21%
o Berger/Charl/-20%
o Matsuyama-0% Ouch!

The Shriners Open: What happens in Vegas…Stays in Vegas. The city of sin is host to another Shriners Open as a swarm of Tour rookies, and a few veterans, will look for their first win.

Stats: This category has been coming up with some big finishes this year. Let’s see if that trend can continue. Last Week: Matsuyama in 2/5 Stenson 2/5 Fowler 2/5 McIlroy 3/5

1. 150-175 Approach shots – Nick Watney, Robert Garrigus, Bryson Dechambeau, Danny Lee, Tyrone Van Asween
2. Par 4 Scoring – Koepka, Castro, Cauley, McGirt, Simpson
3. Scrambling Average – Koepka, Murray, Tsung Pan, Blaum, Bryan
4. Birdie or Better % – DJ, McIlroy, Stenson, Koepka, Matsuyama, Scott
5. Strokes Gained Approach to Green – Simpson, Garrigus, Cejka, Taylor, DeLeat

Player Focus: The Shriners

On the Rise: Pretty bad week overall. Got only 1 top 10, although my below 6k was the on to own below 6k. I’ll do better this week.

• Jon Rahm – $9,800 At this price range, and his success in limited time on tour? This sets up for an enormous ownership %, but he might win so I don’t think you can fade him here.
o 98 DK Points

• Grayson Murray – $8,900 Looks like I was a couple weeks early on Murray as he had a great week finishing in 8th, and had a share of the lead after 36 holes. I like that form to continue this week.
o P/PR= 88

• Cody Gribble – $8.400 Fresh of his first PGA Tour victory, Gribble’s masterful Sunday propelled him to full tour status for the next 2 years. I’m sure that will have a great effect on him, and I expect to see him around a lot this year.
o P/PR=86

• Ben Martin – $7,600 Martin comes off the Sanderson’s where he placed 18th, and comes back to TPC Sumerlin where he won in 2014, so we know he loves the course, and the recent form is there, so this spells some great value at 7600.
o P/PR=78

• Ryo Ishikawa – $7,600 Normally I don’t do guys at the same price, but I couldn’t pass this one up. Ryo placed 10th at the CIMB and is 3/3 here at TPC Summerlin. I expect Ryo to take advantage of his rare PGA tour start.
o P/PR=75

• Nick Watney – $7,500 Course horse definition here. 7/8 cuts made and 5 of them were top 20’s with 3 being in the top 10.
o P/PR-69

• Greg Owen – $6,800 A second place finish at the Sanderson Farms earns Owen a spot on the list. He’s only 2/5 here at TPC Summerlin so this is just a play on recent form
o P/PR=65

• Xander Schauffele – $6,200 A top 5 for the Web.com tour grad in Mississippi last week, and yet he went down 200 in price. I love the value this presents, as Xander is 2/2 in cuts made this year.

• Richy Werenksi – $5,600 Well he’s 2/2 in cuts made on tour, so I’ll ride it for this Web.com tour grad. My other choices would have been Ken Duke or JJ Henry both 4/5 cuts made here in Vegas.

Pick to Click: DJ was awful last week; I’ll do much better this week.
Winners picked this year: 1

Brooks Koepka – $10,700 Out of alt he guys priced 10k and above, he’s the only one I’d play at a high clip. Chris Kirk is playing very well right now, but I think Koepka is going to win, and soon, and it might be in Vegas this week. Only 1/3 here, but his 1 was a 4th place finish in 2014.

Heading South – Fades

Dead wrong last week with Stenson. Nothing else to say other than that.

Jimmy Walker $9,600, like really? A DFL in a no cut event. Yea, I’ll be avoiding Jimmy here with this price and his 4/7 record here in Vegas.

The Pro Review: With a new year starting, I plan to update this regularly as lineup and roster construction is pivotal to everyone’s success in DFS.

% of field covered*(note because a lot of tournaments having several different field sizes I decided to change this to % of field covered. – 40%
Top Golfer % Owned- 60%

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