Welcome back RotoBallers! Francesco Molinari (-8) continued his hot streak capturing his first major, the Open Championship.
This week I will be providing you with my DraftKings lineup picks for the RBC Canadian Open. My goal as always is to help put together your optimal daily fantasy golf lineups. If anyone has lineup questions before the start of the championship Thursday morning, feel free to contact me via Twitter @SethFinkTV.
Editor's Note: Our friends at Fantasy National have built some incredible DFS Golf lineup tools including a Lineup Optimizer, Stat Engine, Ownership Projections and Course Breakdowns. They are by far the best daily fantasy Golf tools in the industry. Seriously. You can read all about them here and see screenshots.
Also check out Joe Nicely's horse for the course column, and Spencer Aguilar's Vegas report.
RBC Canadian Open
The PGA Tour heads north of the border to Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Canada.
The par-72 plays to around 7,250 yards. It has four par-3's, 10 par-4's, and four par-5's. The greens are bent grass and fast. This is also a Jack Nicklaus design.
Let's take a look at the stats.
Stat | Glen Abbey GC | Tour Average |
Driving Distance | 297 | 283 |
Driving Accuracy | 51% | 61% |
GIR Percentage | 62% | 65% |
Scrambling Percentage | 60% | 57% |
Three Putts/Round | 0.44 | 0.56 |
The average cut line the last four times at Glen Abbey has been -0.25.
Past winners at Glen Abbey are Jhonnattan Vegas (2017), Vegas again (2016), Jason Day (2015), and Brandt Snedeker (2013).
Through the past five years (including when it was not held at Glen Abbey in 2014) Matt Kuchar has the most strokes gained with 43.13. Jim Furyk is next with 39.13 followed by Dustin Johnson, 31.7, Snedeker, 31.15, and Charley Hoffman, 29.85.
In Vegas, as of Tuesday on sportsbook.ag, Dustin Johnson is the enormous favorite at 6.5-1. I really can't remember a favorite at this kind of price. Brooks Koepka is 12-1, followed by Tommy Fleetwood and Tony Finau at 16-1.
Stats I'm looking at
With the results, I keyed on the following.
Fantasy Golf Lineup Picks for DraftKings (PGA DFS)
High-Priced Players
There are three players this week priced above $10,000: Johnson, Koepka, and Fleetwood.
Johnson ($11,300) - Despite missing the cut last week, the world number one ranked player is obviously still the highest-priced player. He probably just had a bad week at The Open and it's definitely an anomaly. He'll be on the first page of the leaderboard for most of the tournament. His finishes at Glen Abbey: T-2, cut, T-2, and T-8 last year.
Koepka ($10,800) - I thought the U.S. Open champ would make a strong push after a second round 69, but a third round 75 derailed him. He only played at this event in 2015 where he got a T-18. Him and DJ can not only bomb it, but keep it straight. He's hard to pass on.
Fleetwood ($10,500) - From two hard to overlook players to one that I'll be passing on this week. Fleetwood mostly plays on the European Tour and with the WGC-Bridgestone next week, and PGA Championship in two weeks, I think he will use this week as more preparation than gunning to win. I'm not saying he doesn't want to win, but I think he will try and acclimate to the Eastern time zone and get a feel for these types of courses . Still, he'll finish top-20.
Middle-Priced Players
Matt Kuchar ($9,500) - He rebounded very well after missed cuts at the U.S. Open and Scottish Open with a T-9 at the British Open. One of the most consistent players on tour is ranked number one in strokes gained over the last 50 rounds at Nicklaus-designed courses. He's made his last five cuts at this event. Those two things and him being number one in my custom rankings is enough to go with him.
Brandt Snedeker ($8,500) - Sneds had a rough British Open after rounds of 76 and 78. But he returns to a course he's played well on in the past. He won in 2013 and finished T-5 in 2016. He plays well on Nicklaus-design courses and is a terrific putter.
Keegan Bradley ($8,100) - The St. John's product ranks high in four of my five custom stats. The lone exception is putting. However, putting is hit-or-miss each week. You either have it or you don't. He's made three consecutive cuts and was T-14 last year.
Jhonnatan Vegas ($7,500) - Despite cuts at the Travelers and British Open, how can you not pick the two-time defending champ? At this price to help balance a lineup, a cut made is all you can really ask for.
Low-Priced Players
David Hearn ($6,800) - Can the Canadian end the Canadian curse at the Canadian Open? The last Canadian to win this tournament was Pat Fletcher in 1954. Will Hearn win? Probably not. Will a Canadian break the curse? No. But for this price, he has solid numbers. He was cut at the Barbasol last week and the past two Canadian Open's, but did have a T-3 here in 2015. You gotta have one Canadian in your lineup so take a shot with Hearn.
Blayne Barber ($6,700) - He's made five consecutive cuts and three in a row at this tournament. He's done progressively better in Canada from a 91st to a a T-63, to a T-30 last year.
Best of luck RotoBallers and be sure to look out for another article coming next week for the WGC-Bridgestone!
Golf DFS News and Player Outlooks
Custom Stat Model - DFS Golf Advanced Tools
Here are the players I wrote about and their correlating stats with my custom stat model:
Premium DFS Golf Tools and Lineup Optimizer
Our friends at Fantasy National have created some game-changing DFS Golf tools, and you can read all about them here. They are hands-down the best daily fantasy Golf tools in the industry.