PGA The First Tee: The Masters

Recap

It was one of those weeks if you played at least two of the top of the guys at Houston, you probably had a good week. I decided to fade the top guys and that was a losing battle from the beginning. Friday afternoon was probably one of the best cut sweats in a long time. It was all due to one player, Bobby Gates. He dropped to -3, helping 20 other golfers. Even Martin Piller tweeted at him, thanking him for his shot on the weekend. It's easy to say, Gates made 20 new friends on the tour and countless more from the DFS community.

This Week

Well Gang, it's finally here!! We have arrived at Augusta for the first major of the year. This is like Christmas for us! On Wednesday, I'll be up for most of the night trying my best not to tinker any of my lineups come Thursday morning. Despite Tiger going to be cursed for this week, I'm still going to play him. I've heard a rumor from last week that Tiger changed his shaft in the driver and played Thursday and Friday for a total of 36 holes and only missed 1 fairway during those two practice rounds.

The Course

Augusta National Golf Club has been named the golf's holy grail. Once you see it on you-tube and on T.V. come Thursday, you will see why. It's a par 72; 7,435 yards. From hearing reports, there is no rough this year and it's raining a lot. We all know how hilly the fairways are and the greens. So, for stats, I'm looking strictly at Driving Distance; SG: Approach the Green; SG: Around the Green. As always, I'll have B.O.B. %; Proximity; and taking out SG: Par 4 scoring for Par 5 scoring.

Core

Justin Rose ($9,200) – I've been saying for the past couple of weeks that this feels like a redemption spot for Rose. After losing to Garcia last year, he's been lights out for the start of this season. Yes, he will be popular because of his price and recent form. He's in the top 10 in the field for the 3 of the 6 stats that I'm looking at for this week. Because of his popularity, I'll be 100% on him. I'm not going to over look this, and I'll let it roll.

Hideki Matsuyama ($8,400) – Matsu is still looking good even after healing his wrist. He made the cut at the API, but didn't do much, mainly because he was getting the rust off and he did the same thing at the Match play. He could be over-look this and, with Bubba being right there and same as Paul Casey and Fleetwood. He's 11^th in the field for both SG: Approach the Green and SG: Around the Green. Matsu will be my dark horse this week.

Cash

Paul Casey ($8,800) – Casey finally came through for a win back at Valspar. He has 3 top 10s here in the last 3 years and with his stats, look for him to be a popular pick for this week. He's 2^nd in the field for SG: Par 5 scoring and 19^th in the field for Driving Distance. He'll be in most of my lineups this week, probably around 25-30%, which should be roughly his ownership.

Matt Kuchar ($7,600) – Kuchar is been playing a lot better as of late. At the start, he wasn't his usual self making a top 10 after a top 10. However, he seems to have found something at Houston. With being at $7,600, he should be a lock in all cash games. He has 3 top 10s here in the last 5 years. He's 20^th in the field for Proximity and 29^th in the field for SG: Par 5 scoring. He is still making cuts this season, and with his good play at Houston, he might be a good top 10 bet for The Masters.

Charley Hoffman ($7,100) – In the last 3 starts this season, he finished inside the top 20 in 2 of them. He's made the cut here in the last 3 years, with a top 10 in 2015. He's 3^rd in the field for Proximity and 15^th in the field for SG: Par 5 scoring. I'm not sure how popular he will get come Thursday morning, being at $7,100, I'm considering in putting him in most, if not, all of my lineups this week.

GPP

Ross Fisher ($7,000) – Fisher is too cheap in my opinion regarding his world ranking. I'm hoping that where he is place, next to Zach Johnson and Ryan Moore will help keep Fisher's ownership down. He's 5^th in the field for SG: Approach the Green and in top 30 in field in 3 other stats that I'm looking at. The fact that he finished just outside the top 40 last year, I think Fisher will be that one play that everyone will over-look.

Brendan Steele ($6,900) – Steele was our guy last year and this year, after winning the Safeway open, he's been making cut after cut with solid finishes. He finished inside the top 30 here last year and the fact that he's 8^th in the field for Driving Distance and 19^th in the field for B.O.B.%, he's going to be my cheapest guy this week.

Exposure

Cash Games: For cash games, I like to play the small field 50/50s, for example, anything less than 100 entrants. I tend to make just 1 lineup and that lineup will have the 6 golfers who I think will have the best chance of making it to the weekend and have the upside of a top 10 finish.

3 Entry Max GPPs: For these tournaments, think of it as one lineup for cash, one for leagues and one that is completely different than the first 2. This technique is very common among the DFS community and even the DFS pros. Just start of with your cash lineup then use a “2 vs. 2" strategy for the other lineups.

20 – 150 Max GPPs: With these, you can have a player pool anywhere from 15-100 players. For 20 max GPPS, I tend to stay closer to 15-18 golfers in my pool. For 150 max GPPs, I recommend using around 25-30 golfers.

Weather

As of Saturday afternoon, there doesn't seem to be an advantage for stacking tee times. If anything, maybe late-early tee times might have a slight advantage with winds picking up Friday afternoon. If there are any updates, then I will let you guys know via twitter.

Good luck everyone!!