The First Tee: PGA Championship

Recap

What a Sunday for Matsu! Shooting 9 under on the final round to beat the field by 5! For DraftKings, it was one of those weeks where it looked like I picked the wrong golfers. I was correct on a few, both Rory and Pieters did their part, but virtually everyone else decided to not play. With that said, time to move on and focus on the final major of the year!

This Week

We are headed to Quail Hollow Club, home of the 2017 PGA Championship and also home of the “Green Mile" (16,17,18). It's a Par 71, 7,600 yards. There a bunch of narratives in play this week, which will be fun for me.You have Jordan Spieth trying to compete with history, becoming the youngest player to complete the career grand slam! You have Rickie Fowler coming to a site where he has won his first PGA tour event and will try to win his first major at the very same course. Last, but not least, you have Rory Mcllroy coming to a site where he's very comfortable and with winning twice at this course and finishing inside the top 10 at the Wells Fargo event since 2012, he should be the odds on favourite this week! The stats that I'm looking at for this week is B.O.B. % (last 12 rounds); SG: Approach The Green (last 12 rounds); and SG: Around The Green (last 12 rounds).

3 Core Plays

Jordan Spieth ($12,000) – I think it's obvious on who I will pick to win this week. Just like last week, you are going to have to make a tough decision on who to fade. I would say everyone above $10k is in play. For me, I'm going with the public and pick Spieth because I do believe he has a very good chance on winning his first career grand slam. In his last 3 starts, he finished t13 and won back to back starts before that. He has also finished 2^nd back in 2015 and finished t13 last year at the PGA Championship. For stats, he's 1^st in the field for B.O.B. % in the last 12 rounds; he's 2^nd in the field for SG: Approach the Green in the last 12 rounds; and he's 4^th in the field for SG: Around the Green in the last 12 rounds. With everything in his favour, he's going to be my pick to win.

Daniel Berger ($7,700) – Berger has been on form recently, and with his history at Quail Hollow, he will be a nice addition to the core this week. For stats, he's 6^th in the field for B.O.B. % in the last 12 rounds; he's 4^th in the field for SG: Approach the Green in the last 12 rounds; and he's 58^th in the field for SG: Around the Green in the last 12 rounds. With his history at the Wells Fargo, he has made both of his cuts and he finished 17^th last year. After finishing in the top 5, twice in the his last 4 starts, he has good value this week and will be my dark horse!

Charley Hoffman ($7,600) – Hoffman has been that surprise player recently, with 3 top 3's in his last 5 starts, he should be a “plug in" play this week. For stats, he's 4^th in the field for B.O.B. % in the last 12 rounds; 72^nd in the field for SG: Approach the Green in the last 12 rounds; and he's 9^th in the field for SG: Around the Green in the last 12 rounds. With not much history here in the past, that will go well for Hoffman with his recent play and he'll be in bulk of my lineups this week.

3 Honourable Mentions

Rory Mcllroy ($11,800) – I'm going back to Rory this week because he is a scoring machine when it comes to DK points. He's 20^th in the field for making the most points in the last 12 rounds and with finishing in the top 5 in his last 2 starts, he'll be a nice contender this week.

Xander Schauffele ($7,000) – Xander has been very consistent in his last 12 rounds. He's ranked 16^th in the field for B.O.B. %. With finishing in the top 20 in his last 2 starts after winning his first event at Greenbriar, it's a good thing to see coming from a rookie. At $7,000, he's another good value considering his performance as of late.

Ian Poulter ($7,000) – Poulter has shown some good form coming into the final major of the season. Since finding out he is fully exempt on tour earlier this year, he's been on a heater. He hasn't missed a cut since and he has finished inside the top 15 in his last 3 starts. For the 3 stats that I'm looking at as well as DK points, Poulter is ranked 2^nd overall over the past 12 rounds.

3 Fades

Matt Kuchar ($8,800) – Now before you start criticizing this choice, here's a reason why I'm choosing to fade Kuchar. If you notice his amount of play, it worries me that he's playing a lot of golf in a row. This will be his 5^th tournament in a row and with his recent “dizzy spell" at the Canadian Open where he almost missed the cut, I'm going to have to fade him for now until he has that week off.

Ryan Moore ($7,300) – Normally I like playing Moore because of his iron play. However, in his last 12 rounds, he hasn't shown any promise. He has missed 4 cuts in his last 6 starts. Also, he's ranked near the bottom of the field for all of the stats that I'm looking at this week.

Lucas Glover ($7,000) – Just like Moore, Glover has been that go to guy at the beginning of the year, but with missing 3 cuts in his last 6 starts and with his stats being just as bad as Moore. At $7,000, I need to feel comfortable for that player to make the cut and I just don't feel comfortable with Glover, so he is a fade this week.

Exposure

Core – For the core, I will recommend going 40-60%. For multi entry, I would go closer to 40% and choose about 15-20 more players for your player pool. For 3 entry max; just have the 3 golfers in all 3 lineups and choose around 4-6 more players.

Honourable Mentions – For the honourable mentions, I would recommend going 20-30% with the same strategy as the core.

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

Good luck everyone!