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Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – AT&T Byron Nelson 2017

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Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the AT&T Byron Nelson

AT&T Byron Nelson Fantasy Preview

Just occasionally, this beautiful game of golf has a habit of surprising you. THE PLAYERS Championship, played at the terrifically tough TPC Sawgrass, is commonly referred to as the unofficial fifth major, such is the heritage and the complexity of lifting the trophy.

We, like most, suspected that one of the world’s finest players would win the tournament as a consequence of the above, and so it was more-than-slightly eyebrow raising to see a Sunday shootout between Si-Woo Kim, Ian Poulter, and Louis Oosthuizen unfold.

The Korean has missed seven cuts this season and withdrawn from four events through injury, and while his skillset is abundantly clear – he won the Wyndham Championship last year remember – 2017 has been a year to forget for the youngster so far.

Until now.

He showed tremendous temperament to fire a round of 69 with the pressure mounting – on the day, only Dustin Johnson and Brendan Steele shot lower.  That’s the mark of a champion, but don’t feel bad if you didn’t draft Si-Woo: his form heading into the event read 22-MC-WD-48-49-WD!  He barely appeared on the shortlist for the majority.

This week we’re heading back to Texas for the AT&T Byron Nelson, another event which has been particularly hard to second guess over the years.  Sergio Garcia is the defending champion – that’s easy enough to believe, but former winners here include Rory Sabbatini (2009), Brendan Todd (2014), and Steven Bowditch (2015).

Can we expect another unexpected name on the trophy this week?

Last Week’s Fantasy Results from THE PLAYERS Championship

Given his aforementioned recent form we’re pretty certain most lineups did not contain Si Woo Kim last week and if you we’re one of the fortunate lucky guessers who did take the 21 year old, then bravo to you.

It puzzled many the likes of Kim and Poulter finished so well at the challenging TPC Sawgrass while so many fantasy studs were kept from cracking the Top 10.

Despite six of seven made cuts, our men faded late in the week and Francesco Molinari remained our only highlight with his eighteen birdies and 80 fantasy points.  Meanwhile, our favorite for the week, Rory McIlory, clearly continued to struggle with some lingering back pain, for which he’ll undergo an MRI this week.

 
What can you say, it was a tough week for guys like DJ, McIlroy, and Jason Day.  None of the big guns came to play last week and lots of rosters were busted.

We simply shake off the week and move onto the next contest.

2017 AT&T Byron Nelson Field

So, he is mortal after all.  Dustin Johnson’s outrageous run of top-five finishes came to an end at THE PLAYERS, although it’s telling that an ‘off week’ for the US Open champion is a T12 finish in which he shoots Sunday’s best round.

DJ has a good record around this week’s TPC Four Seasons track, and so he will be looking to get back into the mix this week.

He will be joined in Texas by native Jordan Spieth, who won the Dean & Deluca Invitational in the Lone Star State about a year ago, along with Masters winner and defending champion here, Sergio Garcia, plus a trio of other major winners in Jason Day, Jimmy Walker, and Charl Schwartzel.

There will be plenty of local interest this week, with Beau Hossler and Robby Shelton both Texas bred and Paul Everest, the venue’s Director of Golf, also teeing up!

This Week’s Course Preview

This is the last time that TPC Four Seasons will host this event after a 35 year run – next year it will move to Trinity Forest GC in Dallas.

A Par 70 track at 7,166 yards, TPC Four Seasons was initially designed by Jay Morrish and Byron Nelson before a full overhaul in 2007 courtesy of D.A. Weibring and Steve Wolford.

The Bentgrass greens are large, undulating and run at an ordinary 11 on the stimpmeter, while the redesign a decade ago brought into play plenty more water features.

Given its short yardage, TPC Four Seasons is renowned for being a ‘less than driver’ course, with the average drive length 12 months ago a paltry (by modern standards) 280.6 yards.  The fairways are of an average width and are Bermudagrass in construction.

Weather Forecast for Irving, Texas

The long-range forecast for Irving isn’t great unfortunately, with strong winds and scattered thunderstorms expected.

These things are always prone to changing of course, but for now there appears to be a huge advantage in the favor of the Thursday AM/Friday PM wave.  The early wave have lighter winds and calm conditions to enjoy on Thursday morning before the afternoon sees winds of 17mph and a chance of rain of 87%.

On Friday the picture is unsettled throughout the day, with no particular favoritism either way.

The weekend forecast is equally as bleak although the good news is that Sunday appears to be the best of the bunch with average wind speeds of 8 mph and only the occasional shower.

As always, stay tuned for the latest forecasts for a more accurate view.

Last Year’s Results from AT&T Byron Nelson

It will be remembered for the year that Sergio Garcia became the first player to win twice at Four Seasons, but the key takeaway away from the Byron Nelson 12 months ago has to be the capitulation of Brooks Koepka.

He led by three heading into the final round, and was going steadily until back-to-back birdies at 14 and 15 opened the door to the Spaniard, who himself twice found the drink on the back nine.

Koepka had a birdie putt at 18 to secure victory but that curled agonizingly wide, and his miserable afternoon was complete when his drive on the first playoff hole also suffered a watery grave.  Given his proclivity for finding the drink at Sawgrass last week, that is something he will be desperate to eradicate from his game.

Garcia held his nerve, as all great champions do, to make par and land his ninth PGA TOUR title.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21_i59NDFqc[/embedyt]

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for the AT&T Byron Nelson this Week

The AT&T Byron Nelson isn’t a frontline PGA TOUR event by any means, but it has to be said that DraftKings has really come to the party with their slate of contests this week.

There are nine separate contests with a minimum prize pot of $50,000, which suggests that the big sharks will be well spread…offering up opportunities for others.

  • PGA $450k Up and Down: With a buy in of $36, this 14.4k team contest is surely going to generate plenty of interest.  There’s a top prize of $50k for the winner, while the first 35 home will all trouser at least $1000.
  • PGA $175k Fore: At the other end of the price scale is this contest, which offers another generous prize pot but for just a $4 investment.  Finish in the top 150 to land a minimum prize of $100.

FanDuel Fantasy Golf

This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the AT&T Byron Nelson

The numbers that Sergio Garcia produced here 12 months ago suggest that once again we are in for an all-round ball strikers test.

Unusually for TPC Four Seasons, giving the ball a whack off the tee was crucial: Garcia ranked T4 for this metric, while the trio ahead of him – Dustin Johnson, Tony Finau, and Broos Koepka – finished T12, T12 and second respectively.  So giving the ball a bunt will be important this week, especially with strong winds aiding and destroying in equal measure.

As you would expect, the Spaniard was solid from tee to green – gaining +1.944 of his strokes on the field here – with an outstanding GIR stat of 79.17% dancefloors found.

But Garcia only found 57.14% of fairways for a Driving Accuracy rank of T43, which would suggest his scrambling was exceptional.  It had to be, because his Putting Average rating of 41st is nothing to write home about!

So strong approach play and scrambling will be important in blustery Irving, as will giving it some humpty from the tee.

And your picks had better play the Par 5s well.  There’s only two of them in this Par 70 stretch of course, but Garcia played these at -6…almost half his final score.

Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the AT&T Byron Nelson

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Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2016-2017)

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[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”8.30%” bar_text=”14 out of 168 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent=”20.80%” bar_text=”35 out of 168 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”38.10%” bar_text=”64 out of 168 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”20.80%” bar_text=”5 out of 24 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”8.30%” bar_text=”2 out of 24 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”74.40″ bar_text=”125 out of 168 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

Remember to visit our private Facebook group to discuss this week’s picks for the AT&T Byron Nelson with other Premium Members.


Cover Photo via Instagram

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