Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, & Predictions – 2016 CareerBuilder Challenge

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the 2016 CareerBuilder Challenge

2016 CareerBuilder Challenge Preview

Our Salary-Cap Sleeper Pick from last week was none other than Fabian Gomez, and his impressive win makes for a clean 2-0 sweep for us on the short Hawaiian swing.  It will be sad to see the lush Hawaiian backdrops disappear from our TV screens as the PGA TOUR says goodbye to the islands and hello to California.

Hawaii you will be missed but more importantly our Premium Members are heading into another work week with a fist full of cash from DraftKings and a stellar lead in their season-long leagues.  Let’s breakdown what to expect at La Quinta this week before recapping our Hawaiian triumph.

A lot of names in the field this week will be returning for a chance to be a two-time winner this season including Smylie Kaufman and Peter Malnati.  This week’s field looks a little like that of the Sony Open last week with a packed house of newcomers and very few Tour-leading studs.  Fans may however be happy to see Phil Mickelson back in the field this week after a long break following the President’s Cup.  Mickelson does like to win on the West as his records proves it with 17 wins in Cali or Arizona.

With the field consisting primarily of ‘B-list’ players this week, you’re going to need a solid strategy in place to have any sort of a chance in fantasy this week.  We’ll help shed some light and who we think will be a must-have on your roster along with our picks for the best possible sleepers to offer your roster a boost, just like Gomez did for us last week.

Last Week’s Fantasy Results

Our fantasy experts are currently firing on all cylinders with back-to-back weeks boasting winners picked (Spieth, Gomez) and now a 2015-2016 season win record of 4-out-of-9.  Not a bad way to kick off a season in fantasy golf, huh?

Golf Channel on Instagram: “Fabian Gomez’s streak of 7 straight birdies (Holes 6-12) fell just one shy of the #PGATour record for a final round.”

Golf Channel shared a post on Instagram: “Fabian Gomez’s streak of 7 straight birdies (Holes 6-12) fell just one shy of the #PGATour record for a final round.”. Follow their account to see 22387 posts.

With Gomez (1st) and our horse pick Kisner (T5) in our picks last week, our selections ended up making 5 of 7 cuts for a total weekly fantasy earnings of $1,364,682.

Our Tuesday Sleeper Report contained Zac Blair at 100/1 Vegas odds with a great explanation why he should make your roster and he certainly didn’t disappoint anyone who picked him after he put up a solid 3rd place finish.

Here’s a breakdown of how we fared in each fantasy tier:

Horse Pick: Jimmy Walker, Adam Scott, or Kevin Kisner?

Looks like we might the right pick here going with Kisner in the top spot.  His T5 finish earned a ton of fantasy points over the two other “favorites” as Jimmy Walker finished T13 and Adam Scott ended his week in a disappointing tie for 56th.

Mid-Tier Pick I: Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson, Justin Thomas?

Unfortunately we banked on Justin Thomas’ long stick to overcome last week’s short course and in the end he just couldn’t get moving.  JT ended up missing the cut as Kuchar and Johnson finished T13 and T9 respectively.

The Rest of the Pack

Making the move to pick Henley over Snedeker is our only regret from last week but sticking to our gut and grabbing Gomez  (1st) over Jerry Kelly (T9) proved to be the deciding factor for ringing the DraftKings cash register.

By the way, here are the two sample DraftKings rosters we advised for our members last week.  Notice how Gomez was a must have last week?

That’s right, Fabian Gomez provided an incredible bang for your buck as he picked up the win with a mere $7,200 price tag.

The 2016 CareerBuilder Challenge Field

California hometown hero Phil Mickelson will be the spotlight player of the week and he’s come in as the 2002 and 2004 champion.  Phil however will not be the likely favorite this week as those honors should go to Zach Johnson as he links up with his President’s Cup teammate and defending CareerBuilder Challenge Champ, Bill Haas.

Patrick Reed, who put on a clinic in Maui two weeks ago, comes in as the highest ranked player in the OGWR at No. 10.  He should also fetch a hefty price-tag as most view him to be a solid pick this week.

For more here is the full field for this week’s CareerBuilder Challenge.

The Course

The TPC Stadium Course at PGA West measures in at 7,113 yards and will play as a par 72 this week.  This is yet another Pete Dye gem which combines a rugged desert landscape with crisp green fairways.

In true Pete Dye fashion this course was once dubbed as being ‘too tough for PGA TOUR pros’  but still sits on the schedule of a long season.  Dye stayed very consistent to his nature here with deep bunkers and elevated greens that always ensure that there’s plenty that can get you into trouble—not to mention water hazards and rocks.

This one certainly won’t be as easy as the Hawaiian course we just witnessed.

Waldorf Astoria on Instagram: “Giving guests access to the PGA Golf Academy and five instructors who have been named the best in the state of California by @GolfDigest, @LaQuintaResort can proudly say that they offer some of the finest golf instruction in the world. Come see for yourself! #Golf #PGAWest #LaQuinta”

Waldorf Astoria shared a post on Instagram: “Giving guests access to the PGA Golf Academy and five instructors who have been named the best in the state of California by @GolfDigest, @LaQuintaResort can proudly say that they offer some of the finest golf instruction in the world. Come see for yourself!

[gard group=’3′]

Weather Forecast for La Quinta, CA

Well it won’t look like Hawaii anymore, but this week’s tournament is calling for more beautiful weather with mid to upper 70s temperatures and 0% chance of rain all week.  Best of all, we can look for very low winds which should help keep scores down on this difficult track.

Last Year’s Results from the Humana Challenge

In last year’s prediction segment—then called the Humana Challenge—we had an impressive three Top 10s with Kuchar (T2), Thomas (T7), and Palmer (T10) on our squad.  Although they all played well none of these guys had the steam required to keep up with the hot hand of Bill Haas.

On one shot, Billy had to come out of the sand with the ball at nearly at his waist.  He connected an 8-iron and advanced the ball the fairway while escaping the out-of-bounds and water hazard.  After he knocked his approach shot on the green, Haas 2-putt for the victory.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hie_K5oVFZw&end=214&width=742&height=419[/embedyt]

This Week’s Broadcast Schedule

• Television Broadcasts 
  • Thursday (Jan 21, 2016) – Sunday (Jan 24, 2016): 3:00 pm – 7:00 pm EST (Golf Channel)

• Radio Broadcasts (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.COM
  • Thursday (Jan 21, 2016) – Friday (Jan 22, 2016): 1:00 pm – 7:00 pm EST
  • Saturday (January 23, 2016) – Sunday (Jan 24, 2016): 2:00 pm – 10:00 pm EST

• Mobile Broadcasts 
  • Simultaneous coverage on the Golf Live Extra App for iOS and Android.

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for the CareerBuilder Challenge this Week

Looks like things over at DraftKings are really starting to heat up.  The popular weekly fantasy website has announced their upcoming January Jams contest which you can start qualifying for with as little as 2-bucks per lineup.  There will be one winner in a field of about 57 players and that winner will receive a $100 entry ticket into a huge game coming soon (no details have been released).

In the mean time, if you’re looking for a regular game this week, try these:

• PGA $200K BIRDIE [$200,000 GUARANTEED]: As usual, DK will host its $3 entry event with $15K going to the winner.  The field will be the largest all week in PGA Fantasy Sports with 76.6K players available to fit in the game.  We’d consider paying a little extra to reduce the field.

• PGA $120K FAIRWAY [$120,000 GUARANTEED]: For 24 more dollars you can hop into this league and cut your max field down to 5100 players with a first prize of $20,000.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the 2016 CareerBuilder Challenge

Did we mention that out of the 9 events this season, we’ve picked the winner 44.44% of the time?  That said, it should come as no surprise that we won’t be changing our winning strategy this week.

One difference to take note of however is the fact that the fairways here not as wide as some of the courses in the past few weeks, so tee shot precision will be more in focus this week.  Generally speaking accuracy from tee-to-green will be a significant indicator of who will do well here at PGA West.  Also look for proximity to the hole and birdie conversion rates to be key stats for this week’s CareerBuilder Challenge.

Although the course will be difficult the weather is forecasted to be perfect so these guys should be able to light at least a few sparks this week.

Remember, like last week, with not a lot of OWGR top names in the field, sleeper picks will be the key to success this week.

Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the CareerBuilder Challenge

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Last Week’s Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the Sony Open

• Kevin Kisner (Golficity Odds 10/1) T5 ($220,400)
• Justin Thomas (Golficity Odds 16/1) MC
• Russell Henley (Golficity Odds 22/1) MC
• Scott Piercy (Golficity Odds 35/1) T13 ($77,604)
• Tony Finau (Golficity Odds 48/1_ T64 ($12,180)

Sleeper Pick/Odds to Win the Sony Open

• Peter Malnati (Golficity Odds 50/1) MDF ($10,498)

Salary Cap League Sleeper Pick/Odds to Win the Sony Open

• Fabian Gomez (Golficity Odds 66/1) WINNER ($1,044,000)

Fantasy Golf Predictions YTD (2015-2016)

Remember to visit the The Clubhouse and our private Facebook group to discuss this week’s picks for the 2016 CareerBuilder Challenge with other Premium Members.

Cover Photo via Flickr