PGA The First Tee: WGC HSBC

We can start calling this the “Asia Swing” now since the last 2 out of 3 tournaments have been in Asia and the fact that we have the traditional “west coast swing” and the “Florida swing”. The last few weeks have been tough with the type of field and the fact that we have 3 “no cut” events in a row. It's a good practice for bankroll management and only focus on the type of tournaments that you are good at and not going all in.

Course

We are headed to China for the World Golf Championship. It's a par 72 and it is just under 7,300 yards. With a no cut event, like this one, you can be more aggressive than normal when choosing players for your player pool. The stats are going to be the same as the last few weeks, which are, Strokes Gained: Par 4 scoring; Strokes Gained: Approach the Green; Strokes Gained: Around the Green; and making birdies in the last 12 rounds. s

Cash Play

Marc Leishman ($9,900) – I'm going back to Leishman this week. The fact that he's had 3 top 3 finishes, including a win at the BMW, in his last 4 starts. He's never been that highly owned and I start to question why. Leishman is 1^st in the field for making birdies and 1^st in the field for Strokes Gained: Around the Green. With his last 3 starts here finishing inside the top 20 in all 3, he'll be a core player for me for both cash and gpp.

Henrik Stenson ($9,600) – I know this is scary, but Stenson has good course history, finishing 2^nd last year and a tied for 11^th the year before. He is in the top 5 in the field for the 3 out of 4 stats that I'm looking at. The only stat he's struggling would be Strokes Gained: Around the Green, being 51^st in the field. He's risky because he likes to WD when he's not playing well, however, with his recent results, he should be fine this week.

Phil Mickelson ($8,800) – Phil has been showing some form as of late, finishing inside the top 10 in his last 2 out of 3 starts. He hasn't played here since 2014 when he finished 14^th and he finished 2^nd in 2012. For stats, he's in the top 10 in the field for all 4 stats that I'm looking at this week, including being 3^rd in the field for Strokes Grained: Par 4 scoring and Strokes Gained: Around the Green. He's my pick to win this week!

GPP Play

Hideki Matsuyama ($11,400) – This guy is very unpredictable! He'll go off for a few weeks then before you know it, he will WD on you or will start missing cuts. He's the defending champion and before last year, he has two withdrawals in the last 3 years. He is 3^rd in the field for Strokes Gained: Approach the Green and after finishing 5^th in the CIMB Classic, he might be starting to get on his hot streak.

Russell Henley ($7,600) – After finishing 3^rd in the Tour Championship, Henley flew over to The CJ Cup and finished in the middle of the field. I like Henley as a gpp play this week because of his ability to hit greens and making birdies. He's 1^st in the field for Strokes Gained: Approach the Green and 13^th in the field for making birdies in his last 12 rounds. Henley is my dark horse this week.

Exposure

3 entry max gpps: For these tournaments, I would recommend picking 2 or 3 players who you like the most and rotate them around your 3 lineups. I believe having around 8-10 players will be a nice pool for this type of gpp.

20 max gpps: For the tournaments that are $4 and less, you will have a max of 20 lineups at your disposal. In these gpps, I recommend have a core of 3-5 players around 40-45%. Those are the players that you feel most comfortable with and want to be over-weight in regards to the public. For the rest of your pool, having about 15-18 players in total seems to be the right amount for this type of gpp.

Cash Games: For cash, I love to play mostly head to heads (h2hs) and double ups that have a smaller field (not the giant $5 double up). I usually will only make 1 or 2 lineups for cash which will give you the most leverage come the weekend, especially if you have 6/6.

This way, if your core hits, then you will have a really good chance of having a nice payday! Which, at the end, is what we're all trying to achieve!

Good luck everyone!