Josh Culp's Blog, page 21

Arnold Palmer Invitational Fantasy Preview

If someone told me a few years ago that three Canadians would win on TOUR before Graham DeLaet, I’d tell them they were crazy. I would have also assumed David Hearn was one of them. Instead, we now have Adam Hadwin, Nick Taylor, and Mackenzie Hughes as PGA TOUR winners while DeLaet is still stuck on ZERO.

On the bright side, that is another win for a breakout candidate. On the flip side, I thought Hadwin was a good golfer to swerve last week due to high ownership and terrible metrics at Innisbrook Resort. Instead, we saw the Copperhead Course play in calm conditions, and lose a bit of its bite. That may be the reason the leaderboard looked like a glorified Web.com Tour leaderboard, or maybe it was due to all the stars being fatigued/ill from their week in Mexico. Whatever the reason I’m ready to regroup and move onto the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The story line for the week so far is golfers skipping this event, the first year after the death of Arnold Palmer. The people who are upset about this are also the same people that tell you that you’re an awful person for voting for a particular candidate and also try to tell you what beer you should drink. I like stouts and porters but I don’t mock you if you drink a disgusting IPA. I also won’t mock any golfer that doesn’t honor the King (Arnie, not Elvis) this week in Orlando.

Check that, as I was writing this, FanDuel officially launched their golf product, so that will be the story line, for DFSers, anyway.

Onto the good stuff. This week’s course is Bay Hill Club & Lodge. It’s a par 72 course that plays over 7,400 yards. Pretty lengthy just by the raw yardage. Then you look at a few of the holes and realize it plays even longer. The par-4 5th and par-4 13th pretty much force a layup off the tee while the par-4 10th and par-4 11th also invite golfers to club down to less-than-driver. There are also five par 4s over 455 yards. Combined, this tells us that long-iron play will be key this week.

We want golfers that can excel on bermuda greens, but more importantly we want Florida specialists. These golfers are able to deal with water hazards and heavy bunkering.

It’s no cakewalk once you reach the green, either, as these greens are typically running 12-to-12.6 on the stimp. Have a look at Fast Green Specialists. A few years ago, G-Mac said this, “I heard a comment to where Arnie kind of wants it to play as a U.S. Open off the tee and Augusta-esque around the greens.”

We should also remember that the greens suffered worm damage ahead of the 2015 edition so they weren’t up to usual speeds that year. Last year, they were playing on fresh TifEagle Bermuda, but as we know from the past, baby grass often needs a few years to mature and get up to PGA TOUR standards. For that reason, I would weight course history over the last few years a little less, especially if a golfer gained most of their strokes on or around the green.

Check out the Fantasy Golfanac for more course details and/or tournament info.

When browsing for correlated events, the five that stood out were Doral, THE PLAYERS, The Masters, The Memorial, and the U.S. Open.

Players to Watch

Henrik Stenson… The Swede can be summed up here by this one quote he had last year when asked why Bay Hill fits his eye, “Lot of mid-to-long irons both on par 3s and into the par 4s and also on the par 5s a lot of times you got long irons and that’s one of the strengths of my game when I’m playing well, I hit good mid-to-long irons and that’s what you got to do around here to give yourself birdie chances. It’s a good course for me in that sense. The same as last week in Tampa, really. It’s two good weeks for me.” Sleeping in his own bed this week, Stenson will be heavy chalk this week, but for a very good reason.

Jason Day… Skipped Mexico due to a plethora of illnesses (what’s new?). It turned out to be a great move. Even if he wasn’t ill, there is no way he would have escaped Mexico, considering his fragile immune system. Now he’s back as the defending champ here. If DJ and/or Spieth were in the field, Day might have gotten the cold shoulder, making him an appealing play. However, I’m guessing he will be popular in DFS since DJ & Spieth are sitting this week out. That has me on the fence.

Kevin Na… Really crapped the bed last week in Tampa. That was after he sat out the Pro-Am due to illness. Perhaps the weekend off is just what he needed to get all the Mexico out of his system. I love him as a low-owned bounce-back candidate this week.

Rory McIlroy… He’s had some ups and downs at Bay Hill, swallowing SIX double bogeys last year but also carding TWO eagles in his closing round. The double bogeys were spread out throughout the week but the pair of eagles both came in round four. On the bright side, this will be the first year he’s playing this event where the greens should be normal (worm damage in 2015 and newly laid in 2016). Hard to argue with Rory, especially in the birdie/eagle-heavy DK scoring. On FanDuel, he may be one to slightly swerve if we think he’ll be popular.

Francesco Molinari… Has top 20s in each of his past three visits here. The Italian also has top 20s in eight of his last nine starts worldwide.

Hideki Matsuyama… Don’t let the robot slip through the cracks this week. With a strong track record at Muirfield Village and Augusta, it’s clear that he likes quicker greens. Those fast greens should be on tap this week, allowing his ball-striking to shine.

Amateur Hour… The man-bunned wunderkind Curtis Luck is in the field this week. We will see him next month at Augusta where he will likely be playing his last event as an amateur. He’s already played a nice schedule overseas and that’s allowed him to play with (and against) some nice competition. He’s stacked up alright, making him an interesting sleeper this week. Another amateur you’ll find near the top of any ranking is Matthias Schwab. He’s a senior at Vandy, currently ranked 4th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and 8th on the Sagarin College Rank Ratings. I think both are worth a look this week but expectations should also be kept at a reasonable level.

Other youngsters (but no longer amateurs) that should not be lightly glossed over include Robby Shelton and Ryan Ruffels. Both have the pedigree but no status on TOUR right now.

Sean O’Hair… Want to roll the dice a bit? O’Hair is coming off a mid-tournament WD w/ a neck injury. However, he is 9-for-11 here at Bay Hill with all nine paychecks landing in the top 40.

Jason Kokrak… In 14 rounds at Bay Hill, he’s gained 14.9 strokes approaching-the-green. He’s posted three top 20s in four visits, despite losing strokes on the putting surface. If he can find his flat stick for one or two rounds, then he could finally find the winner’s circle. That would be another Canadian-born golfer that does so before Graham DeLaet.

Zach Johnson… Much like Na, he plays surprisingly well on lengthy par 72s. Sometimes we can chalk that up to great long-iron play, but sometimes it’s just course management. ZJ knows how to plot his way around a golf course. I like him more on FanDuel, but he’s definitely one to consider this week.

Alex Noren… His game has never really translated to North America, but a smart play might be to hop back on Noren this week. His play over the last few years on the Euro Tour certainly warrants the attention.

My Top 25 for the 2017 Arnold Palmer Invitational

1. Henrik Stenson

2. Rory Mcilroy

3. Justin Rose

4. Hideki Matsuyama

5. Jason Day

6. Zach Johnson

7. Paul Casey

8. Rickie Fowler

9. Kevin Na

10. Francesco Molinari

11. Tyrrell Hatton

12. Louis Oosthuizen

13. Charl Schwartzel

14. Keegan Bradley

15. Marc Leishman

16. Brandt Snedeker

17. Emiliano Grillo

18. Billy Horschel

19. Graeme Mcdowell

20. Ryan Moore

21. Harris English

22. Chris Kirk

23. Jason Kokrak

24. Charles Howell III

25. Wesley Bryan

Hero Indian Open Fantasy Preview

The “European Tour” continues to navigate around Europe as we head from South Africa to India this week. I know it’s great for the global game, but perhaps the Tour needs to reconsider its name.

This week looks like a lot of fun, at least from a viewing perspective. The Gary Player Course at DLF G&CC is pretty new, finalized in 2015 and hasn’t been used in this event until now. The layout is a beast! There is a 273-yard par 3, a 550-yard par 4, and a 624-yard par 5! A 4,000 yard inward nine. It sounds like Gary Player was watching the U.S. Open when he finalized the plans for this course.

I would expect the tournament to move up the tee boxes on those holes this week to avoid bitching from the golfers, but there are still some cool facets of the course like an island green, elevated greens, and extreme bunkering (pictured above via Richie Ramsay)

The golfers may not have the same warm feelings toward the new Gary Player Course at DLF Golf & CC by week’s end. It looks nontraditional and golfers like to blame the course for their failures if it’s not what they are used to seeing. Give Gary Player a follow this week on Twitter as he will surely be trying to defend the course all week.

Players to Watch

Anirban Lahiri … Playing in his home open, he’ll have the crowd on his side all week. He’s also inside the top 5 in the field in terms of raw talent. That makes him the man to beat in my eyes.

Romain Langasque… The Frenchman has finished top 40 in all six starts this season. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him find the winner’s circle before the year is over. This would be as good layout to do so.

Peter Uihlein… Loves playing anywhere in Asia. Whether it’s the bermuda greens or the climate, there is definitely something he likes in this part of the world.

Phachara Khongwatmai… The young Thai is showing no fear early on his career. He finished T2 at the Singapore Open and also finished runner-up at the World Super 6 Perth. He already has two wins to his name on the Asian Development Tour. Don’t sleep on the 17-year-old.

Rafa Cabrera Bello … Probably the class of the field, but I don’t love that he’s flying directly from Mexico last week. A bit of jetlag and then he needs to figure out a new course? Sounds tough. He’s also going from Mexican food to Indian food. His stomach probably hates him right now.

Maximilian Kieffer … Whenever these beastly tracks come along, people rush to target the bombers, but there will inevitably be a few shorter hitters that pop up the leaderboard (Cam Smith at Chambers Bay is the first that comes to mind). Kieffer would fit that bill as he is short but perhaps his accuracy will help him avoid all these massive bunkers.

Home Course Heros … Scavenging through the interwebs, I found a few local connections. First there is Jyoti Randhawa and Shubhankar Sharma who both call DLF G&CC their home course. That has to be a huge advantage this week on a course that nobody has seen besides them.

A few other interesting names call Delhi GC home (about an hour or hour-and-a-half away): Rashid Khan and Shiv Kapur. I would consider Khan to be a very lively sleeper. I know if I were playing in my home open just an hour from my home course, I would go visit the course once or twice to prep. I can’t confirm he’s done that, but the possibility is there for sure.

Shoot a note in the comment section if you know of anymore relevant local connections, as I didn’t dive too deep myself.

My Top 25 for the 2017 Hero Indian Open

1. Anirban Lahiri

2. Romain Langasque

3. Peter Uihlein

4. Maximilian Kieffer

5. Rafa Cabrera Bello

6. Jordan Smith

7. Nicolas Colsaerts

8. Kiradech Aphibarnrat

9. Jorge Campillo

10. Phachara Khongwatmai

11. Jyoti Randhawa

12. Dylan Frittelli

13. Chris Hanson

14. George Coetzee

15. Paul Dunne

16. Richie Ramsay

17. Rashid Khan

18. Shubhankar Sharma

19. Anthony Wall

20. Prom Meesawat

21. Ricardo Gouveia

22. Robert Rock

23. Siddikur Rahman

24. Marcus Fraser

25. Shiv Kapur

Valspar Championship Fantasy Preview

We now return to our regularly scheduled Florida Swing, after rudely being interrupted by the Mexico Championship. Actually, the inaugural WGC-Mexico was awesome and the course was awesome. I completely mis-handicapped the course, but it was still awesome to watch.

I thought the tree-lined nature of Chapultepec would force a lot more pitch-outs, putting an emphasis on accuracy. Instead, a missed fairway only turned out to be worth ~0.27 strokes (pretty standard) as golfers were able to hit under and over the trees quite frequently.

Phil Mickelson got a lot of attention for his free drops and ability to save pars from insane locations but he really ran out of luck or maybe we should say he pushed his luck. Lefty missed 28 fairways on the week and was 5-over-par on those holes. He gained 13.1 strokes over the field on the 28 holes he did manage to find the fairway (easily the most strokes gained when hitting the fairway despite the small number of fairways hit). A great example of the risk-reward that was offered at Chapultepec.

Onto the Valspar this week, where we don’t have to guess how it will play. We already know the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort is one of the toughest non-major stops each year. The yardage is almost identical to last week (7,340-yard par 71) but this time we are 55-feet above sea level instead of 8 million.

While it is a par 71, it’s not a traditional P71 since it has four par 5s instead of the usual (3). That is a big reasons why the bombers are still able to feast here, despite four of the par 4s being distinct less-than-driver holes and a few others also being less-than-driver, depending on the wind. Speaking of wind, the forecast is definitely something to keep an eye on this week because wind is known to wreck havoc on the event every now and then. As of right now the forecast calls for weak winds on Thursday and Friday so no tee-time advantage, but keep an eye out as the week goes on.

It’s also worth mentioning the length of the par 4s. Despite the course forcing you to club down on many occasions, there is only one par 4 under 410 yards. That leads into a quote from Daniel Berger last year, “You got to hit your long irons well because you’re going to have a few of them coming into in par 4s and par 5s.”

Because of the long approaches and smaller greens, I’m looking at GIR machines, stat-wise. As a secondary stat, I would love to have great scramblers since 10 of the 18 holes here have averaged less than 60% GIR since 2003.

As for correlated events, the five that popped the most are: Doral, Valero Texas Open, The Masters, U.S. Open, and the RBC Heritage. As you might be able to tell from the list, this course is no cake walk.

Players to Watch

Matt Kuchar… Six top 20s in nine starts here at Innisbrook. You’re paying for consistency here but I don’t think he takes home the trophy. Since 2003, only five golfers have gained more strokes with the putter here at Copperhead’s bermuda putting surfaces (Goosen, Ogilvy, CH3, Ames, and Mahan).

Henrik Stenson… Withdrew last week with Montezuma’s Revenge to crush the dreams of many fantasy gamers. Prior to that, he’d posted six straight top 10s internationally. I think he should bounce back nicely this week at a course where he’s posted a fourth place and T11 in two starts.

Justin Thomas… Has been leading or in second place after 14 of his last 31 rounds. You can’t argue with that kind of form. Should be able to feast on these par 5s, as well.

Daniel Berger… Anytime we’re in Florida, the Berger has to be on your menu. He’s played all these courses growing up and knows how to deal with typical Florida conditions (wind & water hazards).

Poor Form Studs… There are four really good golfers that the raw numbers are telling me to fade due to poor form. These golfers are Bubba Watson, Jim Furyk, Charl Schwartzel, and Russell Knox. Charl is the defending champ but he’s missed the cut in both of his 2017 events with a cut and finished T38 at last week’s no-cut WGC. Furyk has some of the most success at Copperhead Course but he’s posted finishes of T66, T39, and T58 to open 2017. Early in the week, these guys are on my FADE LIST, but that may change when salaries come out. Might dabble in Bubba and/or Furyk if the price is right but I think Charl and Knox are fades for me.

Luke Donald… A past champ here at Innisbrook. He loves golfing in Florida and he arrives with three straight top 30s. He’s gained 44.7 strokes over the field here at Innisbrook since 2003, but 60.5% of those strokes have been gained in the short-game department (around-the-green or putting). I hate relying on the short game, but that area is pretty repeatable for someone like Donald. I’d expect a top 30 this week.

Harris English… The recently married English has a pair of top 10s here in five tries. He also won the 2010 Southern Amateur at this week’s venue. The top finishers haven’t exactly torn up the course at the Valspar, but English has fared well. Could be a tie-breaker this week if you need it, or it could just be a reason to give Richy Werenski a shot.

Byeong Hun An… The Euro Tour stud is inching closer and closer to the PGA TOUR winner’s circle. This week, he should feel rather comfy playing in Palm Harbor, Florida. An spent years at the IMG Academy with David Leadbetter as his coach, just over an hour away from this week’s venue. Should be a nice change for BHA, playing in a familiar area for once.

Lee McCoy… Speaking of comfort, nobody in the field will be more comfortable than McCoy who grew up with Copperhead as his home course. When asked how many times he’s played it last year he had this to say, “Probably a thousand. I get on it as much as I can. They stay pretty busy out here. The golf course is phenomenal and lot of resort guests want to play it so it stayed pretty busy but I would always get out here around 4, 5:00 in the afternoon, grab a cart and get out and play a few holes.” The only downside is his lack of form since injuring his wrist in a car accident. He was forced to WD from the 2nd stage of Web.com Q-School because of that injury and then tried to earn status on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica but WD’d after two rounds of the Qualifying event, opening with rounds of 74 and 76. High risk, high reward play.

Graham DeLaet… Could this finally be the week we’ve all been waiting for? He arrives with finishes of T9, T17, and 10th in his last three starts and is no stranger to success here at the Copperhead Course (T17-T8-T5 after a MC in his debut). For a golfer that has struggled mentally with short-game issues, it’s good to hear him talk so positively about Innisbrook, “I feel this is a golf course I can do it on. You can’t fake it around this place. You have to be hitting it solid. It’s all about rolling in a few putts.” and “I feel like this is a good golf course for me to get my first win.” If DeLaet believes, then I believe.

Webb Simpson… Has missed his last two cuts here but rattled off four top 20s before that, including a runner-up in 2011. Says this layout reminds him of courses back home in the Carolinas. If he feels comfy, I’m on board. He actually leads the field in terms of Birdie or Better % at the Copperhead Course (21%). That is the kind of birdie-making potential I want on my GPP teams this week.

Gary Woodland… Got some flak for not having Gary in my top 25 last week. He makes his way back into my rankings this week (#9) as I prefer him on bermuda and he’s already proven he can win the battle with the Copperhead Course (win in 2011, T8 in 2014). Just needs to survive the five-pack of par 3s this week because he should be up near the top in par-5 scoring this week. I’m going to excuse last week’s disappointing T38 since he posted back-to-back top 5s prior to that.

My Top 25 for the 2017 Valspar Championship

1. Henrik Stenson

2. Justin Thomas

3. Matt Kuchar

4. Daniel Berger

5. Graham DeLaet

6. Patrick Reed

7. Webb Simpson

8. Charles Howell III

9. Gary Woodland

10. Ryan Moore

11. Byeong Hun An

12. Steve Stricker

13. Harris English

14. Luke Donald

15. Kevin Na

16. Jason Dufner

17. Robert Garrigus

18. Shawn Stefani

19. Keegan Bradley

20. Jamie Lovemark

21. Brian Harman

22. Sean O’Hair

23. Scott Brown

24. Ian Poulter

25. Jim Furyk

Tshwane Open Fantasy Preview

The WGC-Mexico Championship is garnerning most of the attention this week, but we can’t forget at the Euro Tour event taking place in South Africa.

The course is Pretoria Country Club. A par 71 (played as a par 70 in previous two editions) that doesn’t punish you with length but instead it’s the tight fairways and penal rough that gets to your head. Based off the social media pictures floating around, it looks like a course you could legitimately walk right over your ball when searching for it in the rough.

That means accuracy should be important but pure class is also key since the strength of field is rather weak. They even lost the defending champ this year since Schwartzel is in Mexico for the WGC. Just like Mexico, the greens at Pretoria are a mix of bentgrass and poa while the rough is also kikuyu.

Players to Watch

George Coetzee… Playing in a home game this week, he already owns a win here (2015).

Thomas Aiken… He’s so steady on the Euro Tour, especially in his home country. Should be a great course fit, as well, as he rarely veers too far off the fairway.

Mikko Korhonen… One of my favorites for DFS because when his game is on, it usually stays on for the entire week. That gives him a really high top-25 percentage compared to the other golfers in his salary range.

Romain Langasque … If you want to ride pure talent, keep with the Frenchman, as well as golfers like Alexander Bjork, Thomas Detry, and Jordan Smith.

My Top 25 for the 2017 Tshwane Open

1. Jaco Van Zyl

2. Thomas Aiken

3. Dean Burmester

4. George Coetzee

5. Maximilian Kieffer

6. Robert Rock

7. Hao Tong Li

8. David Howell

9. Mikko Korhonen

10. Romain Langasque

11. Peter Uihlein

12. Trevor Fisher Jr.

13. Anthony Wall

14. Dylan Frittelli

15. Rikard Karlberg

16. Eduardo De La Riva

17. Richie Ramsay

18. Joakim Lagergren

19. Justin Walters

20. David Horsey

21. Adilson Da Silva

22. Alexander Bjork

23. Magnus A. Carlsson

24. Jordan Smith

25. Paul Dunne

WGC-Mexico Championship Fantasy Preview

The Honda Classic opened with a Web.com style leaderboard on Thursday and Friday before some cream rose to the top over the weekend as preferred lies were lifted and the course firmed up a bit. In the end, Fowler found his way back into the winner’s circle while I was still left scratching my head on missed cuts by guys like Russell Knox and Daniel Berger.

This week we head south of the border for the inaugural WGC-Mexico Championship. This slot was previously hosted by Trump Doral so it’s kind of hilarious that the TOUR jumps over the wall to be hosted by Mexico. The odd thing about this event is the scheduling. It breaks up the Florida Swing and will do so again next year. Expect some changes after that, but for now the TOUR pros just have to live with it.

An easy solution (if this course continues to host) would be to slot it directly after Riviera. It would allow a segue to the East Coast while also allowing golfers to use Riviera’s Kikuyu + Poa combination to be a perfect warmup for Club de Golf Chapultepec which uses kiyuyu on the fairways & rough and a combination of poa/bent on the greens. That provides us with first two correlated events due to kikuyu + poa: Genesis Open and Farmers Insurance Open.

The next thing we need to know about this week’s venue is the altitude. According to @alpariente on Twitter, which is a recommended follow for anything and everything course related this week, the elevation is 7,382 feet at the course. That means the listed yardage of 7,330 yards will actually play closer to 6,500 yards in “adjusted yardage.” As a one off, it’s fine to look at the results of the 2014 BMW Championship which was held at Cherry Hills CC in Denver (5,280 feet). Personally, I’m going to head to the Euro Tour for this next course link, which may be my favorite of the week, Crans-Sur-Sierre GC, which is in the Swiss Alps and hosts the Omega European Masters. I will provide a list of course horses later in this article as well as a resident of Crans Montana which could prove to be a nice pointer in terms of comfort level in altitude.

Adding to my love for the Crans-Sur-Sierre link is fact it also uses bent/poa on the greens but also the length of the par 4s. Both Crans and Chapultepec feature SIX par 4s under 410 yards. That means golfers will have plenty of options to club down off the tee and use less than driver. That will likely be the case this week considering the altitude as well as the tree-lined nature of the course. Keeping it between the pipes will likely be a necessity unless you want to test your luck with tree trouble. This gives us our final three correlated events (plenty of short par 4s): AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, CIMB Classic, and WGC-HSBC Champions.

If you look at the typical scores of those last three events, you’ll notice that short par 4s generally lead to scoring fests. I would expect the same this week with the winner likely creeping into the 20-under zone.

To recap the correlated events/courses I am looking at: Genesis Open, Farmers Insurance Open, WGC-HSBC Champions, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and the CIMB Classic. Also using the 2014 BMW Championship as a one-off link and the Omega European Masters from across the pond.

Players to Watch

Sergio Garcia… The Spaniard gained 5 strokes off-the-tee last week at PGA National, another less-than-driver venue. He gave two strokes back on the greens but if the putter warms up than he’ll surely be in contention. He is also the previously-mentioned Crans Montana resident that should be rather comfy in high altitudes.

Henrik Stenson… Posted a couple top 10s in the Desert Swing and now he heads to a course that will allow him to club down off the tee. I like the sound of that.

Dustin Johnson… Already mentioned the connection to Pebble Beach where DJ has feasted over the years. His performance on poa annua greens is also top class. Just coming off a win at the Genesis and found out he’s having baby boy #2. Life is good for DJ right now, and I expect him to keep rolling.

Emiliano Grillo… Wish he was in better form but I love the course fit here. He’s a fairways-and-greens machine and bent/poa is his preferred surface to putt on.

Jim Furyk… I always have a tough time imagining Furyk keeping pace in a shootout, which is why he dropped out of the top 25 (upside reasons) but more often than not, he should provide a steady finish in the top 20 to 30 range.

Branden Grace… A less-than-driver course with kikuyugrass? Sounds like a great fit for Grace. The only problem is his WD last week after a birdie-free opening round. I wasn’t too worried about the actual performance since I didn’t expect him to contend at PGA National but he tweeted about a strained muscle in his rotator cuff. If that is true, I want no part of him due to WD risk. However, if that is an “alternative fact” and it’s actually not as serious as it sounds, I would love to jump on board Grace this week.

Tyrrell Hatton… He’s a Steady Eddie, which means I prefer him on tougher layouts. That being said, you can’t ignore his form (nine straight top 25s). He might be popular this week after a strong Honda finish, but he will still crack a few of my GPP lineups.

Alex Noren… While Hatton gets priced at $8300 this week on DraftKings, you can scroll down quite a bit and find Noren at just $7,200. The Swede is a two-time winner at Crans-Sur-Sierre GC which tells us altitude is his friend. Noren is also playing even better than Hatton overseas (minus the MC at the Super 6 Perth). I’m not saying Hatton is a bad play, but Noren is an easy pick over Hatton when you factor in price.

Crans-Sur Course Horses… Earlier I talked about my favorite link of the week (Omega European Masters) and here are the top 10 course horses in the field: Danny Willett (2015 winner), Alex Noren (2x winner), Sergio Garcia (2005 winner), Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood (1999 winner), Tyrrell Hatton, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Charl Schwartzel, and Tommy Fleetwood. David Lipsky also won the 2014 edition but didn’t crack the top 10 in terms of overall course history.

Justin Thomas… Has slipped a bit since his torrid start to the season. Now we head outside the Contiguous United States. All four of his wins have come in tournaments that fit that bill, while three of them have been no-cut events. Would be hilariously fitting for him to win another outside the United States.

Rory McIlroy… Making his return from a back/rib injury. Can’t say this is an ideal fit (tree-lined course where distance advantage may be muted on many holes). Still, he’s one of, if not the best, birdie maker on TOUR. That makes him worthy of consideration on DraftKings. I wouldn’t blame you if you took the wait-and-see approach before re-investing though.

Thomas Pieters… If he wants the option to play full-time in the States, this week is a great opportunity to lock that up. Went close at Riviera CC which is one of the initial course links I was looking at this week due to kikuyu tee-to-green and poa on the putting surfaces.

My Top 25 for the 2017 WGC-Mexico Championship

1. Sergio Garcia

2. Dustin Johnson

3. Henrik Stenson

4. Jordan Spieth

5. Adam Scott

6. Hideki Matsuyama

7. Jon Rahm

8. Emiliano Grillo

9. Alex Noren

10. Rory McIlroy

11. Justin Rose

12. Justin Thomas

13. Rickie Fowler

14. Matt Kuchar

15. Paul Casey

16. Tyrrell Hatton

17. Louis Oosthuizen

18. Ryan Moore

19. Patrick Reed

20. Zach Johnson

21. Lee Westwood

22. Thomas Pieters

23. Rafa Cabrera Bello

24. J.B. Holmes

25. Brandt Snedeker

Joburg Open Fantasy Preview

This week’s Euro Tour event heads back to South Africa for the Joburg Open.

It’s an event which has a massive field and is played across two courses. The East Course will see three rounds while the West Course helps the huge field finish up before sunset, in Rounds 1 and 2.

Most weeks I try to dial in a few course angles, but this week I just want to target pure class and weight performance in Africa a bit heavier. So instead of the usual “players to target” I’m going to provide a few Top 10 lists.

Top 10 Euro Tour Performance (Strokes Gained / Round since 2015)

Dean Burmester

Alexander Bjork

Anthony Wall

Maximilian Kieffer

Jordan Smith

Hao Tong Li

Jaco Van Zyl

Robert Rock

Rikard Karlberg

David Howell

Top 10 Euro Tour Form (Strokes Gained / Round over last 10 weeks)

Jordan Smith

Thomas Aiken

Dean Burmester

Alexander Bjork

James Morrison

Graeme Storm

Chris Hanson

Maximilian Kieffer

Jaco Van Zyl

Hao Tong Li

Top 10 Tournament History (SG / Round in last 10 Joburg Opens)

George Coetzee

Thomas Aiken

Anthony Wall

Jaco Van Zyl

Trevor Fisher Jr.

Justin Walters

Richard Sterne

Haydn Porteous

Garth Mulroy

David Drysdale

Top 10 Performers on the Continent of Africa (since 2015)

Thomas Aiken

Trevor Fisher Jr.

Jaco Van Zyl

Richard Sterne

George Coetzee

Dean Burmester

Anthony Wall

David Howell

Keith Horne

Brandon Stone

Conclusion: When we combine those list we see Jaco Van Zyl appears on ALL FOUR! I would say that makes him the man to beat this week. Right behind him are Dean Burmester and Anthony Wall who both got three mentions on the lists above.

As for the rest of the shakedown, here is how my Top 25 plays out:

1. Jaco Van Zyl

2. Anthony Wall

3. Dean Burmester

4. Trevor Fisher Jr.

5. Thomas Aiken

6. George Coetzee

7. Richard Sterne

8. Maximilian Kieffer

9. Brandon Stone

10. Jordan Smith

11. Keith Horne

12. David Drysdale

13. Justin Walters

14. Scott Jamieson

15. Alexander Bjork

16. Graeme Storm

17. Robert Rock

18. Tjaart Van der Walt

19. Magnus A. Carlsson

20. David Howell

21. Paul Dunne

22. Garth Mulroy

23. Marc Warren

24. Adilson Da Silva

25. Erik Van Rooyen

Honda Classic Fantasy Preview

There are maybe 3-to-5 tournaments per year where the tee-time draw plays a huge factor. Last week’s Genesis turned out to be one of those weeks. The pre-tournament forecast made it clear that the Thursday AM/Friday PM wave had the potential edge. There was still a chance that the edge would be small but the delays played out perfectly in the end. After looking at the cut carnage, 45 of the surviving 71 golfers came from the AM/PM wave.

This week the tee-time draw differentials do not look as enticing. There isn’t any rain in the forecast for Thursday or Friday so wind would be the only factor to watch for. Keep an eye on that, but don’t get sucked into over-analyzing the tee-time draws just because of last week’s results.

Speaking of wind, this week’s event has averaged wind speeds of roughly 15 mph over the last three years. Only three tournaments have had windier conditions over that stretch (Puerto Rico, The Open Championship, and DEAN & DELUCA). The Wind Specialists might be worth taking a peek at this week.

The course is PGA National’s Champion Course. It’s a par 70 track that cards in at 7,140 yards. On the shorter side, but it’s no pushover. In fact, the field has averaged 1.53 strokes over par since 2010. It’s the toughest non-major event, in relation-to-par at least. That likely goes hand-in-hand with the typical wind this course sees.

In addition to the wind, missing fairways is much more penal than most of the courses we’ve seen early in the year. That is part of the reason we’ll see golfers clubbing down off the tee this week. You want to keep it in the fairways around here, and being good on bermudagrass greens is a big plus, as well.

Stat-wise, it’s really an all-around test. Accuracy off the tee is nice but so is distance if you got it. Approach play, scrambling, and scoring all rate out decently also.

That matches up with the course layout, as well. There aren’t any really long par 5s but there are four lengthy par 4s, three short par 4s, and five par 4s that land between 410-and-450 yards. A really balanced layout that’s going to test your whole bag.

Check out the Fantasy Golfanac for more about the course setup and golfer quotes.

For correlated events/courses I am looking at THE PLAYERS, Valspar, Doral, The Open Championship, and Wyndham.

Players to Watch

Sergio Garcia… Didn’t impress in his first 2017 Stateside start last week at Riviera CC, but he’s still less than a month removed from his Euro Tour win. Should feel right at home in Florida and has three top 15s here in six tries.

Daniel Berger… Speaking of Florida, this FSU product finished runner-up here in his debut before missing the cut last year. Should have a result closer to his debut this week as he loves teeing it up in his home state on bermuda greens.

Russell Knox… Another Florida guy (Jacksonville). Knox has two podium finishes here at PGA National in addition to a T26 last year. You don’t NEED length around this layout, making it a perfect Knox track.

Blayne Barber… Notice a trend yet? All of these golfers have lived or currently live in Florida. There is something to be said about comfort. Last year Barber said this on his way to a third-place finish, “These greens are perfect. I love putting on bermuda. It’s great to be back in Florida, where I’m from.” As I mentioned in my 2017 projected earnings article, Barber is someone that can tear apart less-than-driver venues and this fits the bill.

Graeme McDowell… Had a couple of top 30s during the Desert Swing before returning with a 67th-place finish at Riviera. A nice warmup event to this week’s course which suits him much better. Four top 10s in eight starts here. Oh yeah, another Florida resident.

Russell Henley… Henley is often linked to some of the golfers I’ve already mentioned (G-mac and Knox) due to their success on coastal tracks where the wind often picks up. This area certainly fits the mold since heavy winds are the norm. Plus, he’s a past winner here (2014) in addition to a T13 the year before that. Making him a great GPP option this week.

Luke Donald… The Englishman had plenty of course history at Riviera CC and pulled through with a top 25. PGA National is another course he’s feasted on. He won this event in 2006 (CC of Mirasol) but even since the switch to PGA National he’s posted four top 10s in six starts.

Brooks Koepka… Giving Brooks the Bubba FADE treatment until further notice. BK was on the wrong end of the draw last week, so his missed cut shouldn’t have been too alarming but even before then his early 2017 results have been disappointing. Despite this week being a home game for him, he’s never found himself inside the top 10 after any round here (12 rounds played). Whether it’s the club changes or just a mini-slump, I’m going to hold off for now.

Jeff Overton… Making his last start on a Major Medical, this is the perfect spot to do so. In 10 Honda starts he’s posted three top 10s with another two results at T21 or better. A very lively (and risky) GPP option this week.

Will MacKenzie… Playing out of the reshuffle this year, he had to rely on a sponsor’s invite to crack the field. With three top 15s in seven starts here, he certainly holds the upside. Much like Overton, he comes with plenty of boom-or-bust risk.

Euro Tour fill-ins … Much like Thomas Pieters last week, there will likely be some Euro Tour pieces that are vastly underpriced. No DraftKings pricing at the time of this writing, but it will be worth monitoring the price of guys like Tyrrell Hatton, Danny Willett, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Matthew Fitzpatrick, and Thomas Pieters (again). Then there is Soren Kjeldsen who should be a good fit but is struggling with form. Also, Fran Molinari looks like a great fit on paper but he’s posted a MC and T65 in two trips. Lastly, Florida has not been kind to Branden Grace, so I won’t be diving heavily into the South African this week.

My Top 25 for the 2017 Honda Classic

1. Sergio Garcia

2. Daniel Berger

3. Rickie Fowler

4. Justin Thomas

5. Adam Scott

6. Russell Knox

7. Paul Casey

8. Keegan Bradley

9. Graeme Mcdowell

10. Charles Howell III

11. Blayne Barber

12. Russell Henley

13. Luke List

14. Jimmy Walker

15. Danny Willett

16. Luke Donald

17. Tyrrell Hatton

18. Camilo Villegas

19. Rafa Cabrera Bello

20. Thomas Pieters

21. Harris English

22. Gary Woodland

23. Ian Poulter

24. David Lingmerth

25. Matthew Fitzpatrick

Genesis Open Fantasy Preview

With the multi-course events now behind us, we can breathe a sigh of relief and really start to focus on one course each week.

This week the course is Riviera Country Club for the Genesis Open (previously Northern Trust Open). The layout is a par 71 that plays to roughly 7,300 yards. The fairways and rough are kikuyu grass which always gets a lot of airtime by the TV announcers. They love to talk about the spongy grass that is commonly found in South Africa. When golfers reach the greens, they will take on tricky poa annua greens.

A few things stand out in my eyes. First, is the difficulty to hit fairways. Most of the field will average around 54% (very tough-to-hit) but what the golfers cite as more important is the ability to set up the second shot. It’s one of those classical position-based golf courses. The rough is not penal so you can spray it, as long as you spray it on the correct side of the fairway. If you are fighting a two-way miss around here, you’re still going to have a bad time.

The reason it’s important to set up the second shot is because the greens are very tough to hit. They are small and they are protected by runoffs and sticky rough. If you actually do pelt the green, they are usually firm which means it is really hard to keep the ball on the green if you’re coming in with a long iron or from the wrong approach angle. That means we want elite approach play or elite scrambling this week. Distance is a big advantage since the bombers will be coming in with less club, they can fling up their approach shots to a greater apex height, which fights through some of the difficulty to stick the greens.

Lastly, we should notice the length of some of these par 4s. There are six of them over 450 yards, which is my baseline for long par 4s. With a third of the holes being long par 4s this week, that is another reason to target distance over accuracy.

Check out the Fantasy Golfanac for more about the course setup and golfer quotes.

For correlated events/courses I am looking at Firestone CC, The Open Championship, Torrey Pines, Doral, Augusta National, and Muirfield Village (Memorial).

Players to Watch

Dustin Johnson… One of the rare events in which DJ excels but hasn’t hoisted the trophy….yet. He’s 7-for-9 here with five of his finishes going for T4 or better. He’s fresh off a third-place finish at Pebble Beach… fire him up.

Phil Mickelson… Lefty is doing what Tiger failed at… playing a lot of early-season golf ahead of the Masters. Mickelson is a two-time winner here, so we have another week of Phil exposure. The fact that he’s playing his fifth week in a row tells us he’s feeling good and really doesn’t want to miss out on a track he enjoys.

Jason Day… I promise I don’t hate Day but he slides down my rankings again to #7 this week. He’s making his first appearance here since 2012 and his track record includes two missed cuts and a T62. Obviously he wasn’t World No 1 when he recorded those finishes, but he was posting top 10s in 31% of his tournament during those three seasons he performed poorly at Riviera (right in line with his career rate). I can’t put his expectations over some of the guys with plenty of good course results and solid form to boot.

J.B. Holmes… Fits the mold of a golfer that can take advantage of the lack of rough here at Riviera CC. So, it’s no surprise to see he’s 9-for-10 here with seven top 25s. Six of those have doubles as top 12s. With a field as stacked as this one, it would be easy to overlook J.B. but we shouldn’t make that mistake.

Ollie Schneiderjans… He doesn’t have the course knowledge I’d like to see, but his ability to handle the long par 4s could be key this week. Since 2015, he actually leads the field in terms of DraftKings scoring on par 4s over 450 yards. He arrives in decent form so I’m willing to give him a shot in GPP lineups.

Keegan Bradley… Should be flying high still, making his first start his Pats won the Super Bowl. His combination of distance AND accuracy makes him a great play at Riviera. His course resume include four top 20s in six tries.

Branden Grace… Making his tournament debut but if you want to target the Kikuyu narrative then Grace is your guy since he’s played more than his fair share of rounds back in his home country of South Africa where Kikuyu is the norm.

Thomas Pieters… Sticking with the Euro Tour, Pieters should be a good fit for Riviera CC. He’s a bomber and can rack up birdies with the best of them when he’s on his game. However, his ‘bad’ is pretty putrid still. That makes him a high-risk, high-reward option for GPPs.

Steve Stricker… On paper he doesn’t fit the type of golfer I’m trying to target but he does fall into the elite-short game category which is another route to success here at Riviera. In fact, Stricker is 7-for-9 here including a runner-up in 2009 and a win in 2010. I really hate relying on short game, personally, so he won’t make as many lineups as his raw course history might dictate (unless his salary is too good to be true when salaries come out). UPDATE: Irrelevant since he’s backed out of the event.

Patrick Rodgers… I already talked about Ollie up above and Rodgers is a golfer I closely link to Ollie. Basically, anytime Ollie is a good course fit, then so is Rodgers, and vise-versa. Rodgers debuted here last year with a 6-over 77 before bouncing back in R2 with a 2-under 69… but it was too little, too late. Another strong GPP play, though.

Andrew Loupe… His form is way off the tracks but two of his six career first-round leads have come in California. In his 2016 Riviera debut he was T39 after R1. I’m not suggesting big exposure since he’s still fighting his way back from injury, but this looks like a decent track to possibly get off to one of his torrid starts.

Bubba Watson & K.J. Choi… I’m grouping these two together since they both have course history on their side (Bubba with the upside history while Choi has been steady with 16-of-16 cuts made). However, they both look lost at the moment. For Bubba, it could be the change in ball or it could be a small mini-slump. Whatever it is, I want to see some good results before I re-invest. FWIW, I also faded Bubba here last year and we saw how that turned out. SPOILER: He won.

Brendan Steele… The Cali native is 7-for-7 to open the new season with a win and four other top 20s. He’s playing great golf and doesn’t mind a little poa in his life.

My Top 25 for the 2017 Genesis Open

1. Dustin Johnson

2. Jordan Spieth

3. Hideki Matsuyama

4. Sergio Garcia

5. J.B. Holmes

6. Phil Mickelson

7. Jason Day

8. Paul Casey

9. Justin Rose

10. Adam Scott

11. Brooks Koepka

12. Jimmy Walker

13. Matt Kuchar

14. Keegan Bradley

15. Charl Schwartzel

16. Brendan Steele

17. Adam Hadwin

18. Harris English

19. Luke List

20. Justin Thomas

21. Shane Lowry

22. Jason Kokrak

23. Patrick Reed

24. Ollie Schniederjans

25. Thomas Pieters

Maybank Championship Fantasy Preview

After a few weeks in the desert we head to Malaysia for some hot-and-sticky Malaysian golf.

The course this year is Saujana GC. It’s a course that hosted the Malaysian Open periodically between 1999 and 2009. Since then, it’s undergone some renovations. Considering the lengthening of the course + time elapsed since 2009, course history can be tossed out the window for the most part.

It’s a par 72 this week with bermuda greens. The stimp is listed at nearly 13 feet on the European Tour website. That’s remarkable when you consider Saujana provides updates of their green speeds on their website and they were listed at 6.5 feet as recent as January 21st. I’m thinking the European Tour website is exaggerating here a bit, and they will actually be on the slower side.

Players to Watch

Anirban Lahiri… His track record in Asia speaks for itself. He has four wins in India, one in Indonesia, one in Macau, and one here in Malaysia. His game is starting to show up anywhere he goes, but he’ll be quite comfy back in hot and stick conditions with bermuda greens.

Bernd Wiesberger … Got stuck on the wrong end of the weather draw last week but still managed a T32. Should be right in the mix again this week.

Rafa Cabrera Bello … Continues steady play. Still searching for his first win since 2012.

Curtis Luck … Kind of like Romain Langasque, I am trotting out Luck until he proves otherwise. You don’t need to get carried away but at $6,300 it’s easy to plug him into a few lineups this week. #TrustTheManBun

Thongchai Jaidee … I said course history was thrown out the window this week, but Jaidee may be the exception. He’s won here twice which should give him confidence and comfort heading into the week.

Peter Uihlein … He’s established himself as a bit of a specialist on the continent of Asia. He’s gained the most strokes in Asia since the start of 2015, finding top 25s in 7-of-12 starts.

Others with a strong track record in Asia since 2015:

Scott Hend

Marcus Fraser

Julien Quesne

Lucas Bjerregaard

Jorge Campillo

Gregory Havret

Prom Meesawat

Thongchai Jaidee

Romain Wattel

Alexander Levy

Anirban Lahiri

Hao Tong Li

My Top 25 for the Maybank Championship

1. Anirban Lahiri

2. Bernd Wiesberger

3. Lee Westwood

4. Rafa Cabrera Bello

5. Thongchai Jaidee

6. Peter Uihlein

7. Jeunghun Wang

8. Prom Meesawat

9. Jorge Campillo

10. Maximilian Kieffer

11. Pablo Larrazabal

12. Tommy Fleetwood

13. Charl Schwartzel

14. Kiradech Aphibarnrat

15. Paul Dunne

16. Alexander Levy

17. Mikko Korhonen

18. Danny Willett

19. Marcus Fraser

20. David Horsey

21. Ross Fisher

22. Hao Tong Li

23. Curtis Luck

24. Young-han Song

25. Gregory Bourdy

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Fantasy Preview

Just when you thought we were clear and free from multi-course events, we head back to California for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

The first thing we notice is that we’re back to a full field at 156 but only Top 60 and Ties will play the fourth round this week. With roughly 60% of the field missing the cut, it brings up plenty of questions in terms of DFS roster construction. That will depend largely on how they decide to price the field, since the last few weeks they’ve been “experimenting” with super soft salaries.

Next we see the weather forecast calls for plenty of rain before the weekend and temps in the upper 50s. Could be a battle with Mother Nature before the cream rises to the top over the weekend. We saw Dustin Johnson win this event in 2009 when sloppy weather shortened it to three rounds. He also returned the next year and won it playing four rounds. Definitely one to target this week.

The three courses this week are Pebble Beach Golf Links (played twice), Spyglass Hill (hardest of the three), and Monterey Peninsula (easiest of the three). If we’re looking for a common link among the three, they all feature poa annua greens and check in under 7,000 yards.

The next thing I found notable about this event is the rough. Because of the pro-am nature of the event, we don’t see the typical gnarliness that we’re used to seeing week-to-week on TOUR. It’s no surprise to see the numbers back this up, as it’s one of the smallest gaps in terms of penalty for missing the fairways.

Since the courses are so short, the plodders are certainly in play this week. At the same time, the big hitters still have a nice edge because of the point we just talked about, they just aren’t punished heavily for getting errant off the tee. For stats, that leads me to leaning heavily on Driving Distance and Birdie or Better Percentage. Pretty common.

Check out the Fantasy Golfanac for more event history and golfer quotes. If you head to the bottom of the page, you’ll see a Google Doc link that includes scoring averages at each course since 2003.

For correlated events/courses I am looking at the Farmers, the Open Championship, WM Phoenix Open, the Masters, Doral, and Riviera.

Players to Watch

Phil Mickelson… A four-time winner at this event and he’s off to a superb start in 2017. Last year when he was asked about how these courses suit his game he answered, “…the greens being poa annua are what I grew up on, so it’s a grass I feel comfortable. Not just putting on, but chipping on, chipping into and hitting full shots into. It can be challenging for guys if they’re not used to it. It’s something that I’ve become very comfortable with over the years.” Would not be surprising to see Phil “Poa Annua” Mickelson finally back in the winner’s circle by week’s end.

Jason Day… A T12 and MC to kick off 2017. Color me not impressed. May be overreacting on my part, but I’m going to hold off until he flashes something special. That explains why he’s dropped to ninth in my power rankings. Plus, with daily highs barely reaching 60 degrees this week, there is a tiny more risk backing someone with a history of back issues. Could be a fatal decision to fade him, but that’s how I’m leaning. Okay, not fatal, this is just fantasy golf we’re talking about.

Jon Rahm… His breakthrough win followed by a decent week at his ASU stomping grounds. Seems like a week where some veterans might opt to rest and regroup. Rahm is still young, and ready to take on the world though. Fatigue (physical and/or emotional) cannot be ruled out this week, but he’s still one of the best birdie makers on TOUR at the moment, so we can’t ignore him.

Hunter Mahan… His form is slowly showing signs of life and he always enjoys coming back to Cali. Worth a few GPP Dabbles.

Matt Jones… Has no PGA TOUR card so he needs to a big finish somewhere to get his name back toward to top of the FedExCup list. With four top 15s at Pebble, this is a good venue to pop back up.

Cameron Smith… If we look at performance in sub-70 degree weather, then you’ll notice a lot of Aussies show up on the wrong side of the spectrum. However, Smith finished T11 here last year so maybe he is one of the Aussies that doesn’t like the cold (like Matt Jones we just talked about). Could be worth a look this week, but I will wait a littler longer to fully unload on him. He just missed out on my top 25. Others that just missed out include: Jonas Blixt, Roberto Castro, Pat Perez, and William McGirt.

Jim Furyk… Also not in my power rankings, but this one is intentional. He’s been dormant since The RSM Classic and he owns just one top 25 at this event over his last seven appearances. I will let him play his way back into form before re-investing.

Patrick Cantlay… He’s back! The layoff has been too long to jump back on him but I’m excited to see how he fares this week.

Scott Stallings… Going the boom-or-bust route, Stallings is our man this week. He’s 0-for-2 at this event but hasn’t played here since 2012. What’s popping is his success in Cali. He’s a two-time podium finisher at the Farmers (correlated event) and has a couple top 10s at the CareerBuilder Challenge as well. For someone with just 13 career top 10s, that’s an awful lot of success in one state.

Sean O’Hair… Rarely finds my radar but he’s got sneaky-good history at this event. He’s 9-for-11 with eight top 35s. That works for me since he’s playing pretty alright over the past year, as well.

Luke Donald… Missed the cut on the number last week so that’s not too alarming. Now he heads to a venue with short courses that is played in chilly conditions. Sounds like a good week to jump aboard the Englishman. He’s posted five top 30s in seven tries at this event.

Brian Campbell… He’s a SoCal guy so not exactly a local, but should still enjoy a nice return to the Golden State. With five top 10s in 17 starts on the Web.com Tour last year, I like his upside this week playing in his home state.

Brett Coletta… The PGA TOUR of Australasia proved to be to be too easy for the youngster (5-for-6 with a win and two other top 10s) so he decided to turn pro. Lost to Curtis Luck by one stroke at the Asia-Pacific Amateur, or else he would have punched his ticket to the Masters. Instead, he gets to make his PGA TOUR debut a bit earlier. So many talented Aussies making there way up right now, worth throwing on one or two GPPs this week in case he comes out guns a blazin’!

My Top 25 for the 2017 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

1. Dustin Johnson

2. Phil Mickelson

3. Jordan Spieth

4. Justin Rose

5. Patrick Reed

6. Jimmy Walker

7. J.B. Holmes

8. Brandt Snedeker

9. Jason Day

10. Sean O’Hair

11. Shane Lowry

12. Luke Donald

13. Adam Hadwin

14. Jon Rahm

15. Matt Jones

16. Matt Kuchar

17. Tony Finau

18. Jason Kokrak

19. Webb Simpson

20. Robert Garrigus

21. Stewart Cink

22. Daniel Summerhays

23. Gary Woodland

24. Brian Campbell

25. Vaughn Taylor