The First Tee – WGC HSBC

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 CIMB Classic

We have our first title defense of the 2016-2017 PGA Tour season, as a marvelous 64 on Sunday from Justin Thomas propelled him to his second victory on tour, and his second consecutive victory at the CIMB classic. An absolute birdie fest in Malaysia as he finished at -23 three shots clear of Hideki Matsuyama.

My Fantasy Week Recap: It didn’t take long for me to earn my first top 50 of the season, but sadly it was in the smaller $3 birdie as I placed 34th. Still, overall a really decent week for me and my picks. I’ll look to replicate those results for you all this week.

The Winning Strategy: Lahiri was the must own of the week, outside of the obvious plays like JT and Adam Scott and Matsuyama.

Right & Wrong

• Where I Went Wrong- I found out on Wednesday night that this was Lahiri’s “home away from home” course as he’s been playing this course since he was a junior golfer. Being from India, Malaysia being a neighboring country, Anribian talked about how much he loved going to play TPC Kaula Lampur as a kid. However, with the early Wednesday night start I was only able to get him in about 5% of my lineups. I decided to give Kevin Chappell my high ownership, and clearly that backfired.

• Where I Went Right-Justin Thomas had him about 25% so about 13% above the field, which in hindsight I wish I had made him my high owned guy of the week.

Player Ownership Analysis

Well one of our semi-resident users had himself a week. Let’s take a look:

SaahilSud – He had Justin Thomas in 1.7% of his lineups. I think you can already guess his results were below par.

• Results:
o $3- 150 Entries entered: Best Finish-364th
o $33- 120 Entries Entered: Best Finish- 43rd
o $300-5 Entries Entered: Best Finish- 0 in the top 25

• Players Used-
o $3- 24 Players Used
o $33-24 Players Used
o $300- 12 Players used

• Player Own %- $33 used for example.
o Scott- 100%
o Bradley-62%
o Garcia-60%
o Berger-57.5%
o Leishman-50%
o Lee-42%
o Swafford-38%
o Finau-33%
o Streb/Knox-30%
o Justin Thomas- 2%

Jetblackx – Coming off a win at the Safeway, this user looks to make it two in a row.

• Results:
o $3-52 Entries-2048th
o $33- 52 Entries- 233rd
o $300-3 Entries: 0 in top 25

• Players Used-
o $3-30 Players used
o $33- 30 players used
o $300-12 Players used

• Player Own % 3$
o Scott- 95%
o Lee-85%
o Howell-70%
o Garcia-60%
o Swafford-45%
o Knox-35%
o JT-30%
o Berger-29%

PriestsApp – Either he’s taking a break, or he’s done with golf… We’ll keep you updated on this user, who for about a month was winning everything last year.

AEJones – Again a very small amount of entries. He entered 3 lineups in the three big contests.

• Results:
o $3- 3 Entries Entered: Best Finished- 2365th
o $33- 3 Entries Entered: Best Finishes- 272nd
o $300- 3 Entries Entered: 9th

• Players Used:
o $3- 12 players used
o $33- 12 Players used
o $300- 12 Players used

• Player Own %- 300 Lineup
o Derek Fathauer/Matsuyama/Cejka/Reavie/Scott/SI WOOOO

JAE686 – He’s back…no need to worry.

• Results:
o No three dollar entries this week.
o $33- 120 Entries Entered: Best Finishes- 105th
o $300- 5 Entries Entered: 0 lineups in the top 25

• Players Used:
o $3- 57 players used
o $33- 57 Players used
o $300- 57 Players used

• Player Own %- 300*
o Scott-60%
o Garcia-49%
o Grace-28%
o Leishman-25%
o Matsuyama-23%
o Bradley/Knox-20%

ChipotleAddict – Still nothing.

CSURAM88 – One lineup across the three contests this week. I’ll hopefully have an update as to why shortly.

• Results:
o $3- 2 Entries Entered: Best Finished- 936th
o $33- 1 Entries Entered: Best Finishes- 1000th
o $300- 2 Entries Entered: None in the top 25

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

PSBC22 – After a very poor performance last week, this user scaled down significantly this week. Let’s take a look.

• Results:
o $3- 12 Entries Entered: Best Finished- 1352
o $33- 12 Entries Entered: Best Finishes- 150th
o $300- 3 Entries Entered: 13th 16th 21st

• Players Used:
o $3- 12 Players Used
o $33- 12 Players Used
o $300- 8 Players Used

• Player Own % – Too small amount of lineups to show ownership.

FlavorFlav – 3 in a row? Maybe…

• Results:
o $3- 150 Entries Entered: Best Finished- 351st
o $33- 120 Entries Entered: Best Finishes- 41st
o $300- 5 Entries Entered: 0 in the top 25

• Players Used:
o $3- 30 players used
o $33- 30 Players used
o $300- 15 Players used

• Player Own %- 33*
o Casey-58%
o Swafford-35%
o Si WOO Kim-34.2%
o Emiliano Grillo-33.3%
o Vegas-33%
o Matsuyama/Cab Bello-32%
o Bradley-31%

1350978425 – I don’t know why this user choose 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- 5 Entries Entered: 0 in the top 25

• Players Used:
o $3- 39 players used
o $33- 39 Players used
o $300- 15 Players used

• Player Own %- 33*
o Grillo-48%
o Grace-45%
o Scott-36%
o Kisner-30%
o Leishman-29%
o Howell-28%
o Matsyuama-26%
o Casey/Lingermeth-23%
o Swafford/Reavie-22%

The HSBC:

Well, JT and Matsuyama absolutely dominated the stats I picked last week as Mats showed up in 3/5 and JT showed up in 2/5. Let’s see if I can pick them again. It will be ANOTHER birdie fest here in China as the average score to par for the winners in the last 4 years has been -20. Note* For players that play on the Euro Tour, some of these stats I mention the Euro Tour does not follow.

1. Bogey Avoidance – Willett, Fowler, Casey, Woodland, Castro
2. Tee to Green – Scott, McIlroy, DJ, Stenson, Bubba, Matsuyama
3. Par 4 Scoring – DJ, Fowler, Castro, Koepka, Scott
4. Scrambling Average – DJ, Scott, Hatton, McIlroy, Noren
5. Birdie or Better % – DJ, McIlroy, Stenson, Koepka, Matsuyama, Scott

Player Focus: The CIMB Classic

On the Rise: Well I definitely made up for my lackluster results from the Safeway and bounced back by picking the winner. In addition, I had: Hole in One Bonus Man Na(29th), 9th, 10th, 33rd, 45th x2,66

• Justin Thomas – $9,300 How can he only be 9300, coming off a win! I know it’s a stronger field but still JT is on fire right now and should be highly owned yet again this week. He placed 27th here last year.
o 93 DK Points

• Bubba Watson – $8,800 Bubba has had a nice little 4-week vacation as he arrives to China for another HSBC start. A winner here in 2014, granted the highest to par score of the last 4 years at -11, he obviously likes the course. You know I’m a big fan of Bubba when there’s no cut, as you can almost assure he will place in the top 10 in Draft King Points scored.
o P/PR= 88

• Russel Knox – $8,600- A rather poor Sunday from Knox pushed him back to a 10th place finish in Malaysia, but he’s back to defend his title in China. Playing rather decent golf lately, I like Knox to have a chance to defend his title, and he’s only 8600. I love that.
o P/PR=86

• Scott Piercy – $7,900 Staying on the list after another top 10, Piercy looks to break into the winner’s circle here in China. Looking for his third straight top ten, Piercy heads to Sheshan International Golf Club for his third start.
o P/PR=78

• Rafael Cabrera-Bello – $7,600 Moving from the fade list to the on the rise list, and that’s purely due to his salary. 7600 is extremely reasonable for a guy who finished 10th last week in Kuala Lampur. This will be his first start at the HSBC so proceed with caution when using him at a high clip.
o P/PR=75

• Kevin Kisner – $6,900 Arriving in Shanghai off a decent performance in Malaysia, Kisner comes to China and the Shenzan Golf Club where he placed second last year. With that in mind, and a great value, I like Kisner to jump start his 2016-2017 season with a top 10 this week.
o P/PR-69

• Younghan Song – $6,500 One of the lowest owned guys in the field last week, Song was able to put up 81 DK Points and a tie for 21st. A short trip from his home country of Korea, Song looks to make a mark here in China.
o P/PR=65

• Xin-Jun Zhang – $5,800 Well as you guys know if you’ve been with me for a while, I always like to put in a guy below 6k if DK puts a few out. This week I’m picking Xin-Jun Zhang. He was the leading money winner on the PGA Tour China in 2014, but was then suspended for 6 months following an investigation that found he was signing incorrect scorecards…whhhhat???? Crazy. However, his last start was at the Pingan Bank Open and he placed second so the recent form seems to be there. A native of Shanxi, China, the trip will be a short one for Zhang.

Last week, the players I focused on were from the Asian/Euro tour’s and featured Ryo Ishikawa who walked away with a top 10. Let’s see if I can dig deep again and find some more of those Euro/Asian tour players you may not have heard about.

• Haotong Li – $7,000 A winner on the Euro Tour last year at the Volvo China open, this young 21 year old loves playing in his home country. In addition to that win last year on the Euro tour he has 3 other PGA Tour China victories under his belt.

• WC Liang – $6800 an Older Chinese Tour Pro, 38, Liang is here for the 5th time. His best finish was 15th 3 years ago.

• Jacques Blaauw – $6,600 Hailing from South Africa, Blaauw comes to Shanghai, China for the first time. He has barely any recent form to go off of, and no course history, I can’t see a reason to play him, but I thought I’d give you all the small amount of info I have on him.

• Zecheng Dou – $6,100 This 19-year-old Chinese golfer has burst onto the scene on PGA tour China. He placed 5th in the Pingan Open 15th before that and first before that. With good recent form I can see myself adding a few shares of this low priced emerging star.

Pick to Click: Well the pick to click section picked the winner last week. Let’s go for two in a row!

Dustin Johnson – $11,900 He’s already won here, and I’m sure he’s out for revenge after losing the FedEx Cup to Rory. So in the coin flip, I’ll take DJ.

Heading South – Fades

Cab-bello had a good weekend, and almost provided a return for his owners, so I’ll call it a push.

Henrik Stenson – $9,800 It’s tough to ever completely fade this machine, but in 4 tries he doesn’t have a top 10 here in Shanghai so I think you can make the case to pay up for Matsuyama, or go down to Casey/Scott/JT/Patrick Reed.

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 a number of different field sizes I decided to change this to %o of field covered. – 30%
Top Golfer % Owned- 65%

Want more? Need lineup suggestions? Join the Fantasy Golf Insider Community by becoming a subscriber today!

Tweet me and follow me @DFSgolfer23. Good Luck!