RotoBaller PGA: One And Done Staff Picks - The Honda Classic

The PGA Tour season is almost always a series of peaks and valleys when you play DFS or do OAD contests. I'm definitely down in the valley at the moment, as my attempt to get back on track with Dustin Johnson at the WGC-Mexico Championship fell extremely flat. It was a really disappointing outing from DJ, a two-time winner of the event, and a disaster for my OAD player pool availability going forward.

There's two options when you are struggling in OADs (or DFS), you can start swinging for the fences with out-of-the-box strategies or you can continue to grind down the path that you believe will ultimately lead to success. I'm gonna stay the course this week at the Honda Classic by selecting one of the most consistent golfers in the world. Tommy Fleetwood has yet to notch a victory on the PGA Tour, but he's been in sharp form in 2020, logging a runner-up finish in Abu Dhabi and top-20s in his other two starts. He recorded a T4 in his lone appearance at the Honda in 2018 and I like his chances if the weather becomes a factor this week. - Joe Nicely

Yearly Earnings - $1,398,218

Yearly Cuts Made - 6/8

Spencer Aguiar - Tommy Fleetwood

Alternate - Sungjae Im

It has been a strong run for me in this contest recently, but I can't help but feel as if I have left a ton of cash on the table. Three selections on Sunday have been within the top-five during their back-nine (Justin Thomas 1st, Dustin Johnson 2nd and Paul Casey 4th) but it has been all for naught after each man slipped down the leaderboard late in the event to provide me with an inferior payday.

In my opinion, PGA National is one of the most difficult tournaments to handicap yearly. It only takes one bad hole for your selection to be done for the week, and it should (at least in theory) open up the board for you to attack a little more aggressively if you believe the event could turn into a crapshoot.

With all that being said, I've decided to stick to my guns and play the golfer who I believe is the safest on the board this weekend in Florida. Tommy Fleetwood has made 45 consecutive worldwide cuts, a total that dates back to 2018. There aren't too many natural spots to use the Englishman with him spending the majority of his time over in Europe, and if I am not planning on utilizing him at a WGC, the Players Championship or the Open Championship, we aren't going to get too many better opportunities to deploy the 12th-ranked player in the world. -Spencer Aguiar

Yearly Earnings - $2,240,331

Yearly Cuts Made - 8/8

Josh Bennett - Louis Oosthuizen

Alternate - Billy Horschel

I find that a lot of times myself and many others have their best weeks when they’re the least confident in the players they pick for the week, so I’m banking on this week being one of those good weeks. There is not one player in this field that stands out to me and checks every box I’m looking for, which makes this choice hard, but exciting to see how it plays out. I can’t think of a better person to pick in a sketchy toss-up week than Mr. Sketchy himself: Louis Oosthuizen (credit me with that sick nickname, by the way).

I always look for course history and recent form when making my selections and Oosty happens to check off both of those boxes for the most part. His most recent two tries at this tournament have been top 25 finishes which is very good considering the difficulty of the course, and he’s been playing really well lately too. Aside from one bad round in Mexico, he’s racked up some solid recent finishes on both the PGA tour and the European Tour that includes a whole bunch of rounds in the 60’s and some top five finishes. He’s been competing pretty much everywhere and anywhere around the globe which I like and I think speaks to a piece of his game that will especially stand out this week. Louis statistically stands out with his short game and his putting, and that will be extremely important on this course. A good short game will keep bogey off the scorecard and will keep him in contention even if there aren’t a lot of birdies being made because there’s not a lot of scoring on this course. I had planned to pick someone in good ball-striking form, but I’ll let that slide for this pick knowing Louis will be able to make up for any lack in ball-striking with his short game this weekend, assuming he doesn’t decide to WD before finishing the first round. – Josh Bennett

Yearly Earnings - $2,275,112

Yearly Cuts Made - 7/8

Running Totals

LIKE ROTOBALLER?

CLICK HERE, ENTER ROTOBALLER.COM, THEN CHECK THE BOX

Golf DFS News and Player Outlooks

LIKE ROTOBALLER?

CLICK HERE, ENTER ROTOBALLER.COM, THEN CHECK THE BOX

More PGA Analysis and DFS Lineup Picks