Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, & Predictions – WGC-Bridgestone Invitational

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the 2015 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational from Firestone CC

The 2015 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Preview

Forty-eight of the OWGR Top 50 will be in the field this week as the best players from the PGA and European Tours gear up for a huge event that will take them into the season’s final major next week.

The headliner this week will once again be Jordan Spieth with defending champ Rory McIlroy still sidelined by injury.  Spieth will set out to win his first WGC title during a season which will easily see him named as Player of the Year unless someone like Zach Johnson goes on a two-week tear.  A victory this week for Spieth will catapult him to the coveted No. 1 spot in the world rankings, finally dethroning Rory McIlroy.

Watch out for Zach Johnson this week as he will be making his first start since winning The Open three weekends ago.  Johnson knows the course well and has three top-10 finishes at Firestone, including his most recent T4 in 2013.

Dustin Johnson, who won at Doral earlier in the year, has a chance to become just the third man in history to win two WGCs in the same year if he wins at Firestone this week (Tiger Woods has done it six times and Phil Mickelson won at Doral and China in 2009).

Last Week’s Fantasy Results

Last week five of our seven picks made the cut with our horse pick (Justin Rose) finishing T4 along with our other pick to win Justin Thomas (also coming in T4).

With the 35th event of the season in the books, we are still sitting pretty with average weekly earnings of $1.063 million and 11 winners picked on the season.

Our selections have really shined in the season’s big events with us having picked the winner of all three majors this season.  We’ll certainly be looking to continue that trend with a WGC kicking off this Thursday and the PGA Championship next week.

The Field

These WGC events always seem to get fantasy players excited because the field is much smaller—similar to the FedExCup playoffs when you get down the last two events with only 60 and 30 players—but don’t jump the gun because the small field doesn’t necessarily mean the picks will be easier.  Of course your odds of picking the winner is greater since you’re picking from a smaller pool, but on the other hand, you’re picking from a field of players that can ALL WIN.

This week Zach Johnson and Masters/U.S. Open winner Jordan Spieth headline the list of 76 players with Rory McIlroy (ankle) and Chris Kirk (hand) as the only players who will be missing from the Top 50 in OWGR.

Last week’s winner Troy Merritt squeaked his way into this week’s field with his win at the Quicken Loans National.

Click here to view the complete field for this week’s event.

The Course

Firestone Country Club (South Course) measures in at a long 7,400 yards and plays as just a par 70.  The course first began as an employee perk from then boss Harvey Firestone of the world-famous tire company and since has become the host of some of the biggest PGA TOUR events.

The South course opened its doors back in 1929 and was re-worked by course designer Robert Trent Jones for the 1960 PGA Championship.

Firestone CC has an abundance of tricks up its sleeve that can catch golfers off-guard and we’ll highlight the skill sets necessary to dominate this course in our Fantasy Notes section below.

Photo credit FirestoneCountryClub.com.

Weather Forecast for Akron, OH

The first two rounds of this week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational calls for cool weather and 70% chance of rain but the weekend in Akron should be no less than perfect. Expect 80 degree temperatures and partly sunny skies for the crucial Saturday and Sunday rounds.

Last Year’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Results

Coming off of his big win at The Open, McIlroy continued to surge in 2014, beating out Sergio Garcia by two strokes to get back to his World No. 1 ranking.

The young Irishman nailed three straight birdies to win while Garcia (known to choke) bogeyed from the rough late in the round to squander his chances of a victory.  McIlroy never trailed after that Garcia misstep and went on to notch a 4-under-par 66 to join Tiger Woods as the only two players to win a major and WGC in consecutive starts.

Rory continued his dominance as he went on to win for for a 3rd straight week at the PGA Championship the week after.

Here’s what happened last year in Akron in case you missed it:

Highlights | Rory McIlroy rises to the top with win at Bridgestone

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This Week’s Broadcast Schedule

• Television Broadcasts 
  • Thursday – Friday: 1:30 pm – 6:30 pm EST (Golf Channel)
  • Saturday – Sunday: 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm EST (Golf Channel)
  • Saturday – Sunday: 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm EST (CBS)
• Radio Broadcasts (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.COM)
  • Thursday – Friday: 12:00 pm – 7:00 pm EST
  • Saturday: 1:00 pm – 6:00 pm EST
  • Sunday: 1:00 pm – 7:00 pm EST
• Mobile Broadcasts 
  • Simultaneous coverage on the Golf Live Extra App for iOS and Android.

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational this Week

Just one more week left before DraftKings final “Millionaire Maker” event takes hold for the PGA Championship next Thursday.  Grab a seat in a satellite league for a chance to win your way into the big event.

That said, here are a few of our favorite places to play fantasy golf this week:

• LAST SHOT: PGA $3.3M MIL. MAKER SUPERSAT [1500X]: This $5 entry offers the slight advantage of a smaller player field for a premium buy-in.  Instead of the usual $1 or $3 entry we’ve decided to up the ante a couple more bucks to play in a field with less players.  Only 6,900 entrants will play here and 1,500 (21.7%) will get a free entry to the big game.  Essentially you’re spending $5 to win a $20 entry in a small pool and the odds are much stronger for you.  Win this entry and who knows, you could pick the winning team that walks away with $1 million dollars next weekend.
• $5000 PGA PAYDAY FREEROLL: Haven’t given VICTIV a try yet?  If not, this week’s freeroll might just be the place to start.  With a small player pool and a guaranteed payout, this is your chance to pick up some easy money.

This Week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Fantasy Notes

Beware of Firestone, the track has a sneaky way of becoming a dangerous golf course that can eat players alive.  Measuring in at 7,400 yards, this track is the longest par 70 in a non-major on TOUR.

There are only two par 5s and players NEED to capitalize on them.  The longest of the pair is also the longest hole on the PGA TOUR measuring in at a whopping 667 yards!  Eagling this hole is nearly impossible with a pond surrounding the front of the green.  Players will be forced to layup on their second shot and only the best third shots will yield birdies here.

With all this length we’ll be putting a premium on Driving Distance this week as well as GIR.  Also keep in mind that scoring average here is slightly over par but not by much (70.389).

The greens are scorable and average putters will fare well, but as mentioned, getting to the green at Firestone will be the deciding factor.  Look out for long hitters with stellar GIR stats to walk away victorious this week.

Odds are you’ll be saving Spieth for the PGA and the FedExCup Playoffs, so in our picks segment we’ll dive into alternatives that can fill the slots this week.

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Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the 2015 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational

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Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational

• Dustin Johnson (Golficity Odds 4/1 FPPG: 74.36 GPFP: 93.69 Salary:$10,800): We all want to pick Spieth and Day, but lets face it, you can’t put those guys on a DraftKings roster without filling the rest of the bench with low (and highly uncertain) $7K players.  At $10,800 Johnson is extremely undervalued this week should definitely be considered as your horse pick.  He hits the ball further than anyone on TOUR and his Scoring Average is one of the best out there.  If there is ever a stage for DJ to step up and win it’s here at a WGC event at Firestone—which he has already done twice in his career. (2015, 2013).  His putter can hurt him, but we’re not going to worry about that so much here at Firestone this week.
  • GIR Rank: 86th
  • Scrambling: 59th
  • Scoring Average: 3rd
  • Driving Distance Rank: 1st
• Rickie Fowler (Golficity Odds 10/1 FPPG: 69.97 GPFP: 66.47 Salary:$10,500): The thing about Fowler is that he can be either dynamite for your fantasy lineup or he can be a dud.  The good news is that Rickie’s been impressive lately and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down heading into a major next week.  He has power off the tee and his putter has the ability to bail him out when needed.  Fowler is currently coming off of a solo second at the Quicken Loans and has two wins in his last seven starts worldwide—he also has two top 10s at Firestone including a T8 last year.  Most stats don’t make you scream for Fowler this week but we watch these guys every round of every week and we can tell when a stud is trending.
  • GIR Rank: 106th
  • Scrambling: 127th
  • Scoring Average: 65th
  • Driving Distance Rank:41st
• Hideki Matsuyama (Golficity Odds 15/1 FPPG: 79.39 GPFP: 80.18 Salary: $9,400): We love this guy for fantasy golf because he’s so consistent when it comes to putting up solid fantasy points.  Hideki comes into Firestone with 11 consecutive top 25s worldwide and including both previous starts here.  He leads TOUR in strokes gained: tee-to-green and ranks T2 in par-4 scoring, which is a stat we are also putting some heavy emphasis on this week.  This guy can hit greens with the best of them and combined with his power off the tee, Matsuyama is set up to go really low this week.
  • GIR Rank: 9th
  • Scrambling: 18th
  • Scoring Average: 15th
  • Driving Distance Rank: 36th
• Zach Johnson (Golficity Odds 22/1 FPPG: 73.08 GPFP: 67.96 Salary: $9,000): We feel that Zach is easily the best bang for your buck in the $8800-$9200 space.  He’s making his 12th straight appearance at this event where he’s notched six top 20s.  ZJ took some time off since winning the Claret Jug and comes into Firestone well rested and with ten Top 20s in his last twelve starts.  He doesn’t hit the ball a mile like Dustin but is extremely accurate (3rd in Accuracy) which could feed well into his approach game (34th GIR).  Johnson is another trending hot player with a low decent price tag—you can have a field day with a lineup this week of just guys $9K – $7.5K so you may even want to mix and match a few lineups.
  • GIR Rank: 34th
  • Scrambling: 81st 
  • Scoring Average: 7th
  • Driving Distance Rank: 162nd
• Brooks Koepka (Golficity Odds 28/1 FPPG: 79.17 GPFP: 80.75 Salary: $8,400): Brooks is a super long-ball hitter who can also find greens without a hitch.  Koepka has the ideal game for Firestone and we love the fact that he has never played the course, which sometimes it works in players favor.  This summer he has five straight top 25s, including both majors events and sits pretty at 14th in GIR, fifth in adjusted scoring, and 8th in Driving Distance.  His five Top 10s and only one missed cut in 16 events played make him a fantasy player’s dream.
  • GIR Rank: 14th
  • Scrambling: 156th
  • Scoring Average: 5th 
  • Driving Distance Rank: 8th

Sleeper Pick/Odds to Win the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational

• JB Holmes (Golficity Odds 35/1 FPPG: 67.07 GPFP: 77.78  Salary: $7,500): Look out for Holmes who comes in ranked 3rd on our Weekly Fantasy Stats under the Power category.  This long-ball hitter comes into this week ranked 12th in Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green and his price tag seems too good to pass up this week.  He’s also 5-for-5 at Firestone with a T26 last year and could surprise the field with a breakout performance this week.
  • GIR Rank: 116th
  • Scrambling: 151st
  • Scoring Average: 81st
  • Driving Distance Rank: 7th

Salary Cap League Sleeper Pick/Odds to Win the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational

• Danny Lee (Golficity Odds: 50/1 FPPG: 61.35 GPFP: 49.08  Salary:$7,700): The intangibles of confidence and momentum are key when picking your super-sleeper.  We love Lee this week for a lot of reasons but mainly because he’s playing strongly with both.  He won at Greenbrier and then went on to take T3 at the John Deere and a T4 last week at the Quicken Loans.  Something tells us he’s not done yet.
  • GIR Rank: 100th
  • Scrambling: 61st
  • Scoring Average: 44th
  • Driving Distance Rank: 156th

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Last Week’s Fantasy Results for the Quicken Loans National

• Justin Rose (Golficity Odds: 8/1): T4 ($242,875)
• Jimmy Walker (Golficity Odds: 12/1): T21 ($61,193)
• Justin Thomas (Golficity Odds: 18/1): T4 ($242,875)
• Will Wilcox (Golficity Odds: 28/1): T21 ($61,193)
• Daniel Summerhays (Golficity Odds: 38/1): MC

Last Week’s Sleeper Pick to Win the Quicken Loans National

• Daniel Berger (Golficity Odds: 50/1): MC

Last Week’s Salary Cap Sleeper Pick to Win the Quicken Loans National

• Chesson Hadley (Golficity Odds 66/1): 70 ($13,400)

Fantasy Golf Predictions YTD Stats

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”13.49%” bar_text=”33 out of 245 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent=”24.49%” bar_text=”60 out of 245 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”31.42%” bar_text=”11 out of 35 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”37.14%” bar_text=”13 out of 35 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”79.59%” bar_text=”195 out of 245 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Major Winners Picked” percent=”100%” bar_text=”3 out of 3 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

Remember to visit the The Clubhouse and our private Facebook group to discuss this week’s picks for the 2015 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational with other Premium Members.

Want even more fantasy golf picks for this week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational?  If so, be sure to check out our Tuesday Sleeper Report for more selections coming off 50/1 or greater odds.

Cover Photo by Penn State Turfgrass on Flickr