PGA Pin Seeker 3-23-16

The Puerto Rico Open Preview

If it wasn't for Draftkings, I would probably pay zero attention to this tournament. The best players in the world will be in Austin competing for a WGC title at the Dell Match Play Championships. With that being a match play event, Draftkings rolls with the standard stroke play event that doesn't boast a lot of top end talent, and often leaves you saying, who the f*%k is that guy? I do think these tournaments offer an opportunity to gain an edge by doing the research on the lesser known players that the general public will just avoid.

The site is the Coco Beach Golf and Country Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. The track measures 7,506 yards, so it's long, but when looking at the list of previous winners it isn't totally exclusive to long hitters. Two former winners of the MGC Match Play are in attendance, Luke Donald and Ian Poulter. It's hard to say how motivated they will be this week, when they would much rather be in Texas with the big boys. John Daly is playing out his PGA Tour career before turning 50 next month and joining the Champions Tour, so the galleries will be larger for him as per usual. Defending champion Alex Cejka will be in the field, after becoming the third oldest player in PGA Tour history to win his first event last year. In fact, the last three winners of this event made it their first on tour, Cejka, Scott Brown and Chesson Hadley. For this reason, and because I'll be keeping a closer eye on the WGC, I won't be playing even close to my normal volume in GPP's this week. You'll also notice a lot of golfers are much higher priced than normal, but this is one of the weaker fields of the season, so try to remove that from your thinking while you're making your lineups.

Key Stats for Coco Beach G&CC

With four par 5's on the course, par 5 scoring (P5S) is the first key stat I used when making decisions this week. Only two, or three for some, are reachable in two shots, with two measuring over 600 yards. Birdie or Better Percentage (BoB%) and scrambling (SCR) are the two other key stats I honed it on, but the data for this event over the years isn't as clear cut as at most events. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of rhyme or reason to having success here, so I also put a lot more emphasis on current form than I normally do.

Dirt Mcgirt struggled on the weekend at the API, but he's made his last three cuts, and is my favorite play in the high end range. Scott Brown is getting a lot of pub this week, and I don't mind him at $10,900, but I much prefer McGirt for $400 cheeaper $3 GPP Ownership Guess: 15-20%

Freddie Jacobson

I'm reading BJ's mail a bit here with this pick, and I like him for a lot of the same reasons. Excellent short game, and is in good form this year. $3 GPP Ownership Guess: 5-10%

Patrick Rodgers

One of the most talented players in the field, and coming off a top 20 at the API last weekend. $3 GPP Ownership Guess: 12-17%

Middle Tee Plays

Retief Goosen - DK Salary $9,700 - four straight cuts made

Luke Donald - DK Salary $9,600 - I can't quit this guy, made four of his last five cuts - 17th in SCR

Jerry Kelly - DK Salary $9,300 - lots of experience here, three top 10's - 5th in SCR

Tony Finau - DK Salary $9,200 - played better last week - 20th in P5S

Cameron Smith - DK Salary $8,700 - three straight cuts made

Luke List - DK Salary $8,600 - two top 20's in last three starts - top 56 in P5S & SCR

Kyle Stanley - DK Salary $8,000 - cash game lock for me, five straight cuts made

GPP Dart Board Dreams

Aaron Baddeley - DK Salary $7,600 - 19th in SCR

Kyle Reifers - DK Salary $7,500 - made three of his last four cuts - 24th in P5S

Brendon De Jonge - DK Salary $7,300 - great course history, but in poor form - 58th P5S

Morgan Hoffman - DK Salary $7,200 - 14th here in 2013 - 13th in P5S

Mark Hubbard - DK Salary $6,200 - 27th here last year, made six of last seven cuts this year - 55th in SCR

Tyrone Von Aswegen - DK Salary $6,200 - 2/2 in cuts made here, and 5/7 this year

Tom Hoge - DK Salary $6,000 - made two of his last three cuts - 26th in SCR