PGA The First Tee: U.S. Open

Recap

This week was rather a disappointing week after having a good run for 3 weeks in a row. I had 5 guys missing the cut and 4 of them were off by 1 stroke. That's how it goes sometimes. Out of 20 lineups, I managed to have 1 that got 6/6 through, unfortunately, the guys didn't play well enough on the weekend to make it a good sweat. Here's a look at my player pool and the lineup that had 6/6.

As you can see, not much as a sweat once Sunday came around. Overall, it was one of the worst weeks I've had in a long time and that what's going to happen when you play mostly GPPs. Congrats to D.J. on his second win of the season.

This Week

We are headed to Southampton for the 118^th U.S. Open! The course is called Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. It's a Par 70; 7,445 yards. It's a full field of 156 players and it will be a brutal test for everyone to try stay patient and make pars. Getting 6/6 through this week will be a great achievement as we saw last year, less than 5% had 6 guys through and there were less than 10% having 5/6 guys. For stats, I'm focusing on Driving Distance more so than usual. Also, the ball striking stats, for example, SG: Approach the Green; Proximity; and SG: Off the Tee will be a big part to help me to choose who can it long and who can hit the green with a good of birdie. For scoring, it's always SG: Par 4 scoring and for a tie breaker, I'm looking at guys who can scramble well.

Cash Plays

Tommy Fleetwood ($8,100) – Fleetwood has been playing relatively well as of late. He finished 7^th at the Players and finished in the top 20 at The Masters. For stats, he's 9^th in the field for SG: Off the Tee; 34^th in the field for SG: Around the Green; and 39^th in the field for SG: Approach the Green. He's 2 for 2 making cuts at the U.S. Open and with finishing in the top 5 last year, he'll be my dark horse pick outside the bigger names.

Shane Lowry ($7,200) – Shane is nice and cheap with his recent play and history at the U.S. Open. He's 3 for 3 making cuts in the U.S. Open and has 2 top 10s, including a runner up finish in 2016 to Dustin Johnson. He has made his last 5 cuts and finished 30^th last week. For stats, he's 35^th in SG: Approach the Green; 37^th in the field for Driving Distance; and 36^th in the field for SG: Off the Tee. He's going to be my “free square" this week.

Brendan Steele ($6,800) – He we go again with Steele at a major. We used him at The Masters and he missed the cut by 1 stroke and that was with a bogey on the last hole. He hasn't been playing great, but the fact that the 1 miss cut was at The Masters in his last 9 starts. He has back-to-back top 15s at the U.S. Open. For stats, he's 8^th in the field for SG: Off the Tee; 11^th in the field for Driving Distance; 19^th in the field for SG: Approach the Green.

GPP Plays

Chesson Hadley ($7,000) – Hadley has been one of those guys I always seem to go to. He has 6 top 20s in his last 8 starts. For stats, he's 6^th in the field for Proximity; 15^th in the field for SG: Par 4 scoring; and 22^nd the field for SG: Approach the Green. With no history at the U.S. Open he should be fine at Shinnecock with being in the top 50 in the field for Driving Distance.

Gary Woodland ($6,800) – Woodland should be somewhat of a sleeper because of his recent form. He hasn't played well since his win at the Waste Management Open. It's possible that he's just taking it easy for the rest of the year since he has a job for 2 years. He has made 2 cuts out of his 3 starts at the U.S. Open. For stats, he's 1^st in the field for SG: Off the Tee; 5^th in the field for Driving Distance; 29^th in the field for Proximity.

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 Monday evening, it does look like the late/early tee times will have an advantage this week. Friday morning will have the winds low and Friday afternoon will be the same as Thursday. Which will be in the 14/15 mph and with wind gusts at 21 mph. If there are any changes then I will be updating it via twitter.

Good luck everyone!