RADIO
Hello PGA DFS family and welcome back to Horse For The Course! It has been a long time since we talked. Without going too deep into things, I dealt with lots of health issues throughout the month of September. Needless to say, I'm so very thankful to be here and writing this article again for you guys!
We are now in the thick of the PGA Tour's "Swing Season" and this week's Shriners Hospitals for Children Open represents one of the best events of the fall series in my humble opinion. It's great to be back, let's dive right into this fun tournament!
Horse For The Course is an article that highlights players in this week's field with elite course history and is part of our free PGA DFS content here at RotoBaller. For my favorite DFS plays of the week check out my Core Four article here at RotoBaller every Wednesday. It's part of our excellent PGA Premium package that includes an all-new PGA Research Station, Lineup Builder & Optimizer, and some of the best articles in the PGA DFS industry! You can sign up now using Promo Code: NICE for an extra discount at checkout!
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2022 Shriners Hospitals For Children Open
With the fall golf schedule now in full swing, we head to Las Vegas for perhaps the best event of the bunch in the Shriners Open. With a tried and true TPC Summerlin course and an entrant list that seemingly gets better every year, this will be a fun tournament to watch and make DFS lineups for!
Make no mistake, the Shriners is indeed a birdie-fest type of event - the last four winners have finished better than 20-under par for the week - but it is at least an interesting birdie-fest, which is not something that can always be said for events that require super-low scores. With winners as diverse as Kevin Na (2020) and Bryson DeChambeau ('19) over the last five years, it's pretty obvious that TPC Summerlin doesn't fit just one type of golfer. This makes constructing PGA DFS lineups both fun and challenging.
Another fun aspect of the Shriners is just how deep the field is. This event seems to get better every year with the 2022-23 edition being no different. We have an elite defending champion in Sungjae Im that will attempt to fend off some serious challengers such as Patrick Cantlay and Max Homa. This year's Shriners also features some of golf's biggest rising stars in Tom Kim and Taylor Montgomery. Make no mistake, this isn't a major-championship caliber field, but there is lots of quality depth teeing it up in Sin City this week.
You can also find out who the smart money is on by checking out Spencer Aguiar's PGA DFS: Vegas Report every week. And be sure to read all of our other top-notch weekly PGA DFS articles to help you win big!
The Course: TPC Summerlin
Par 71 - 7,225 Yards, Greens: Bent, Designed By: Bobby Weed
Fairly short by modern standards at just over 7,200 yards, this Las Vegas track has reachable Par-5s and a driveable Par-4 - which allows players to rack up birdies - but is short enough to bring every player in the field into the mix. The fairways are wide and firm with huge Bentgrass green complexes that generally roll on the slow side.
Summerlin routinely ranks as one of the easiest courses on the PGA Tour schedule, but we have seen wind and weather occasionally play a factor on this layout that sits at high elevation, as Patrick Cantlay won this event at just nine-under par in outlier conditions a few years ago. Outliers aside, the last four winners at Summerlin have finished the week at 21-under par or better and we should expect similar scoring to be needed in this year's edition.
With winners as diverse as Kevin Na (2020) and Bryson DeChambeau ('19) over the last five years, it's pretty obvious that TPC Summerlin doesn't fit just one type of golfer, which can make things challenging from a statistical perspective. Personally, I'll be targeting great T2G ball strikers that have the ability to rack up birdies in bunches.
I always recommend checking out RotoBaller's PGA Premium Course Breakdown by Josh Bennett for an in-depth breakdown of this week's golf course!
Recent Shriners Winners & Scores
- 2022 Season: Sungjae Im (-24)
- 2021: Martin Laird (-23)
- 2020: Kevin Na (-23)
- 2019: Bryson DeChambeau (-21)
- 2018: Patrick Cantlay (-9)
The Horse
Patrick Cantlay
- Event Scoring Average: 66.63
- Notable Event Finishes: T8 (2021 Season), 2nd ('20), 2nd ('19), Win ('18)
- DraftKings Price: $11,100 FanDuel Price: $12,000
Nothing fancy here, as Patrick Cantlay stands out as both the most talented player in this week's field and the best from a course history perspective. Cantlay has amassed a 66.63 event scoring average in the Shriners and has never finished worse than T8 in four career starts in this event.
While the UCLA alum captured the Shriners crown back in the 2018 Swing Season, we could very well be talking about Cantlay as a three-time champion of this event. He dropped a playoff to Kevin Na in the 2020 edition and lost by a single shot to Bryson DeChambeau in 2019.
Cantlay comes into this year's edition in sharp form on the heels of a strong FedEx Cup Playoff stretch that included a win at the BMW Championship and top-10 finishes in five of his last six starts. Most recently, the Californian put together a 3-1 record at the President's Cup in a winning effort for the U.S. team.
We rarely get "slam dunk" spots in PGA DFS, but this certainly qualifies. Cantlay is a no-brainer in cash, single-entry, and 3-max formats this week.
The Ponies
Sungjae Im
- Event Scoring Average: 66.50
- Notable Event Finishes: Win ('22), T13 ('21), T15 ('19)
- DraftKings Price: $10,400 FanDuel Price: $11,800
With the firepower - and course history - atop the salary scale this week, a strong argument can be made for leaning towards "Stars & Scrubs" type DFS builds. Like the aforementioned Cantlay, Sungjae Im has never missed at TPC Summerlin. The rising star emerged victorious from last year's Shriners and has never finished outside the top-15 across his three career starts in the event.
Also like Cantlay, Im is coming off a successful week at the President's Cup and appeared to really find his groove down the stretch of the summer. The Korean closed out the 2021-22 season playing as well as anyone on the PGA Tour, logging a remarkable three runner-up finishes over his last five starts of the season!
Sporting blazing recent form and a field-best 66.50 Shriners scoring average, Sungjae should be a DFS priority this week. Yes, it's tough to repeat as champion, but this is a true smash scenario for the legendary grinder/dancer.
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Tom Hoge
- Event Scoring Average: 69.41
- Notable Event Finishes: T14 ('22), T24 ('21), MC ('19), T7 ('18)
- DraftKings Price: $9,000 FanDuel Price: $10,300
A well-known lover of the action found in casinos, "Tommy Tables" has been right at home in Las Vegas and the Shriners. Sin City apparently gets Hoge's juices flowing, as he's found a large amount of success at Summerlin over the years.
Hoge has made the cut in five of his six career Shriners starts. He's quietly recorded top-25 finishes in three of his last four trips to the event with a T7 standing as the highlight. In addition to his obvious comfort with this layout, the North Dakota resident is coming off the best season of his career that included a win at Pebble Beach and a top-10 in the PGA Championship.
Often discussed as a grinder or plodder, Hoge is actually a terrific ball striker that's very capable of going low. Over his last 50 measured rounds, he grades out second in this week's field in Birdie Opportunites Gained and also ranks seventh in Proximity. The 33-year-old actually stands first in the field in Proximity in two different statistical ranges, 100-125 yards & 175-200 yards. Hoge's overall consistency isn't quite what we'd want it to be at this rather large $9k price tag, but he's been rock-steady in the Shriners and is coming off a T12 performance in his most recent start at the Fortinet Championship.
Adam Hadwin
- Event Scoring Average: 67.59
- Notable Event Finishes: T6 ('22), T34 ('21), T4 ('20), T4 ('17), T10 ('15)
- DraftKings Price: $7,700 FanDuel Price: $10,500
Jessica's husband heads to Vegas looking to get back on track after a sluggish end to the season. Hadwin's last top-25 was way back in June when he posted an impressive T7 at the U.S. Open. He was able to knock the rust off last week at the Sanderson, sandwiching rounds of 69-67 between rounds of 73 in Jackson en route to a so-so T45.
Despite his lack of impressive results in recent months, I love this as a "buy-low spot" for Hadwin - especially on DraftKings. He's been pristine on previous trips to TPC Summerlin, recording top-10 finishes in half of his six career Shriners starts. Hadwin ranks sixth among this week's entrants in career SG: Total in this event.
While the game log doesn't look that impressive at first glance, I'm encouraged by the fact that Hadwin gained 2.8 strokes with his irons last week at the Sanderson, which marked his best Approach numbers since that run at Brookline. That flash of ball-striking form, coupled with his history at TPC Summerlin, makes him one of my favorite value plays on the DK salary scale this week.
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