Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, & Predictions – 2015 WGC-HSBC Champions

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the 2015 WGC-HSBC Champions

The 2015 WGC-HSBC Champions Fantasy Preview

Last week we selected Justin Thomas, Kevin Na, and Brendan Steele as part of our top five and the result paid huge dividends as the trio came in Winner, T3, T3 (respectively).  More to come on that, but first, let’s talk about this week’s 2015 WGC-HSBC Champions from Shanghai China.

Fantasy players need to remember once again this week to get your picks in early as the tournament will kickoff at 10:00pm Wednesday evening EST with most weekly fantasy contests closing to new entries by 6:00pm EST on Wednesday.

The WGC-HSBC Champions will mark the last “big-name” event until the Hawaii swing kicks off in January.  After this week only two weeks remain on the PGA TOUR calendar before the players take a well-deserved holiday rest while the European Tour wraps up its Race to Dubai.

Speaking of the Race to Dubai, points from this week’s event will count towards the RTD and you can bet that McIlroy will be playing hard while seeking a third points title this week.  It’s important to not overlook small factors such as this when making your picks this week because there will certainly be a number European Tour players looking to play with a little more fire this week.

One new face this week will be Emiliano Grillo, who won the Web.com Tour Championship and 2015 Frys.com Open, earning a WGC debut in the process after winning his way into the Top 50 in World Rankings.

Last Week’s Fantasy Results

Although Henrik Stenson was the heavy fantasy favorite last week, our pick Kevin Na outplayed him handedly as Na finished with an impressive T3 while Stenson faded to a T47.  Perhaps even better for our Premium Members was the fact that our second slot pick Justin Thomas won the CIMB Classic dramatic fashion, going -26 for the tournament and catapulting himself into first place in the FedExCup standings.

Justin Thomas on Instagram: “What a week.. One I’ll never forget. Thanks everybody for the kind messages and here’s to a great start to 2015-16!”

Justin Thomas shared a post on Instagram: “What a week.. One I’ll never forget. Thanks everybody for the kind messages and here’s to a great start to 2015-16!”. Follow their account to see 900 posts.

 
Along with Na and Thomas, we also had Brendan Steele (T3), and Daniel Summerhays as a Sleeper Pick (T14) thus rounding out a very successful week overall. In total, we had three fantasy selections finish within the Top 3 to help boost our picks to a total weekly earnings of $2,229,827 which moves us to a three week average of $1.022 million so far on the 2015-2016 season.

The Field

Unfortunately we won’t see the super-hot Jason Day this week, but the field is still quite robust with names like Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, and defending champion Bubba Watson all making the trip to Shanghai. The 78-man field will be competing in another non-cut event with a hefty prize on the line: $1.4 million and 550 FedExCup points.

Although the OWGR No. 1 Jason Day will ride the bench this week, the field will still feature six of the next seven players in the World ranked 2-8 with a total of 12 players attending out of the OWGR top 20. Six players from the 2015 U.S. Presidents Cup team and all but two from the International squad are set to tee it up in China for the WGC-HSBC Champions.  Last week’s winner Justin Thomas, along with Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, and first time winner and rookie Emiliano Grillo will be in the field this week as well. For more, here is the full field for this weeks event.

The Course

Sheshan International GC (West Course) measures in 7,266 yards and will play as a par 72.  This course has served as the home to 10 of the first 11 editions of the HSBC Champions since it first opened its doors in 2004. The course presents its fair share of challenges as none other than Tiger Woods himself gave the course the impressive title of being “the crowning jewel of all of Asian golf.”

Players will face some big elevation changes combined with some slow terrain resulting from all of last week’s rainy weather.  We’ll talk more about the course and how it relates to our picks in the Weekly Fantasy Notes section below.

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Weather Forecast for Shanghai, China

It won’t be as wet as it was in Malaysia last week but expect the heavier rain to come in over the weekend with about 40-50% chance of precipitation on Saturday and Sunday.

The first couple of rounds should be a little damp and we’ll factor this in when making our picks this week.  Beyond that we don’t see much of a reason for any weather delays and the event should begin and end as scheduled.
 

Last Year’s Results from the WGC-HSBC Champions

Want to add a little excitement to a tournament?  How about a hole-out eagle from a green-side bunker to force a playoff.  That’s exactly what Bubba Watson did last year to to set up his first WGC title. Bubba’s eagle was just the start as Watson went on to sink a dramatic 20 foot putt on the first playoff hole to seal the deal on his amazing win.

Although he still came away with the win, the way he got there came as a bit of a shock as Bubba previously saw his 2-stroke lead disappear as he went bogey and double bogey before heading into 18.  The powerful lefty had to perfectly place his bunker shot on 18 which landed about 30 feet from the hole before rolling and dropping right in. With the victory, Watson became the 14th player to have won both a major and WGC in his professional career.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKN_2T0vQ0c&width=742&height=419[/embedyt]

 This Week’s Broadcast Schedule

• Television Broadcasts 
  • Wednesday – Saturday: 10:00 pm – 3:00 am EST (Golf Channel)
• Radio Broadcasts (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.COM)
  • No radio broadcasts scheduled for this week’s event
• Mobile Broadcasts 
  • Simultaneous coverage on the Golf Live Extra App for iOS and Android.

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for the WGC-HSBC Champions this Week

Again with all the exciting fantasy football taking place right now it might be a bit of a challenge to find a good fantasy golf contest, but if you hunt around you’ll see there are still a few gems left in 2015.

• The DraftKings PGA $150K Birdie Contest seems to be the biggest bang for your buck this week.  Even though the real heat of the golf season is over until January contests like this one are still attracting enough players to create a significant payout.  Lay out three bucks for a chance to win $12,000 or play a few different combinations of our picks below for an even greater chance at the top prize.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the WGC-HSBC Champions

Sheshan International is a tough test and some of the veterans in the field know what it takes to win here while others seem to struggle almost every time out or might even be seeing this Shanghai track for the very first time.

The scoring average here last year was 72.726 which was the fourth-highest among par 72s in non-majors last season.  That said, look for long ball hitters and guys who find Greens in Regulation more than others to fare pretty well here.  We’ll certainly be factoring in stats like Driving Distance, GIR, Scoring Average, and Scrambling this week when making our picks.

It will be tricky making a solid DraftKings roster since most of the studs will be priced high in this small, no-cut field so this week we’ll offer some variations of DraftKings rosters to help steer you in the right direction.

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

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Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the WGC-HSBC Champions

Rory McIlroy (Golficity Odds 3/2 FPPG: 73.50 GPFP: 81.49 Salary:$12,300): The OWGR #3 Rory McIlroy is the clear favorite this week (for good reason) and he’s definitely trending in time for the Race for Dubai finale.  Rory’s finished no worse than a T6 (2013) in four attempts at this event and last week’s T6 was his second-best finish in his last six starts.  McIlroy is the highest priced player in the field this week so it may be tough to get him on your roster without giving up some good picks.  If you can build a roster of solid sleepers around Rory you should be in great shape, but we’ll give you a roster suggestion without him if his price tag is too much for you to bear.

• GIR Rank: 46th
• Driving Distance: 26th
• Scoring Average: 41st
• Scrambling: 24th

* Most Notable Stat: Strokes Gained Tee-To-Green: 3rd

Bubba Watson (Golficity Odds 8/1 FPPG: NA GPFP: NA Salary: $10,500): The defending champ is arguably one of the best players on TOUR right now and he certainly knows how to dominate on this track.  With a nice price tag that’s almost $2k less than McIlroy, Bubba can play as your horse pick on your roster if you opt to leave Rory out.  Not only did Bubba win here last year, he also finished T8 here the year before which proves he’s quite comfortable on this difficult track.  Although he has not yet played in the 2015-2016 season the lefty has five top 10 finishes in his last seven starts of last season and he’s coming of a solid performance at the 2015 President’s Cup.

(2015 Stats – No Stats for 2016 yet)

• GIR Rank: 19th
• Driving Distance: 2nd
• Scoring Average: 3rd
• Scrambling: 32nd

* Most Notable Stat: Strokes Gained Tee-To-Green: 1st

Kevin Na (Golficity Odds 16/1 FPPG: 117.33 GPFP: 93.87 Salary:$9,500): What a start to the season it has been for Kevin Na!  He comes into China with Top 3 finishes in his last 3 starts (no that is not a typo!).  Although he hasn’t yet found the winners circle this year his P2, T2, T3 show that he’s certainly trending in the direction of a win.  Na shared 20th at Sheshan in his debut last year, but he comes in this year a completely new and “in-tune” player.  He and Bubba could make a solid tandem on your roster with some excellent sleeper picks.

• GIR Rank: 8th
• Driving Distance: 76th
• Scoring Average: 3rd
• Scrambling:  6th

* Most Notable Stat: Strokes Gained Tee-To-Green: 2nd

Emiliano Grillo (Golficity Odds 28/1 FPPG: 71.00 GPFP: 71.00 Salary: $8,400): Although the rookie cooled a bit since his win in Vegas, Grillo is still a name to watch this season and we like his chances in his debut on this course.  He’s in the middle of an early rookie of the year campaign and is sitting pretty on the FedExCup leaderboard as the fall season is rapidly coming to an end.  In fantasy golf you need quality players in this key mid-range spot and Grillo has what it takes to earn you some solid points this week.

• GIR Rank: 99th
• Driving Distance: 70th
• Scoring Average: 33rd
• Scrambling: 9th

* Most Notable Stat: Strokes Gained-Total: 23rd

Chris Wood (Golficity Odds 33/1 FPPG: 64.00 GPFP: 67.84 Salary: $8,100): Here’s a name you most likely never heard of and you might be scratching your head as to why we chose him but the simple fact is that this is probably the best time to run with Wood as the European Tour heads into its final series.  The hot handed Chris Wood has quietly amassed four consecutive Top 10 finishes leading up to this event which includes a solo fifth in Turkey last week.

• GIR Rank: NA
• Driving Distance: NA
• Scoring Average: NA
• Scrambling: NA

* Most Notable Stat: NA

Sleeper Pick/Odds to Win the WGC-HSBC Champions

Daniel Summerhays  (Golficity Odds 50/1 FPPG: 87.33 GPFP: 69.87 Salary:$7,300): Summerhays has posted no worse than a T16 in his last two starts and looks to have found something in his swing as of late.  We love seeing this type of consistent performance from guys who hover in the low $7K range on DraftKings, because these are the sneaky sleepers that win you some serious cash.  His stats are nothing to jump up and down over but he could crack a Top 10 this week and earn you some solid points to help your squad.

• GIR Rank: 40th
• Driving Distance: 93rd
• Scoring Average: 24th
• Scrambling: 32nd

* Most Notable Stat: Scoring Average: 24th

Salary Cap League Sleeper Pick/Odds to Win the WGC-HSBC Champions

Marc Leishman (Golficity Odds 66/1 FPPG: 91.5  GPFP: NA Salary: $7,100): Can’t rely much on the stats here but Leishman can tackle this course and knows the terrain here at Sheshan as evidenced by his T29 last year.  He’s an all around solid ball-striker and sits at a decent price tag to help you round out your roster (especially if you ate up a chunk of change on Rory as your Horse Pick).  Marc hasn’t played much yet this season but is coming in off the heels of a solid T29 showing in Malaysia last week.

• GIR Rank: 142nd
• Driving Distance:  NA
• Scoring Average: 86th
• Scrambling: 119th

* Most Notable Stat: Driving Accuracy: 5th

DraftKings Roster Suggestion with McIlroy

DraftKings Roster Suggestion without McIlroy

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Last Week’s Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the CIMB Classic

• Kevin Na (Golficity Odds 10/1): T3 ($406,000)
• Justin Thomas (Golficity Odds 16/1): WINNER ($1,260,000)
• Danny Lee (Golficity Odds 20/1 ):  WD
• Gary Woodland (Golficity Odds 24/1) T56 ($15,540)
• Brendan Steele (Golficity Odds 33/1 ): T3 ($406,000)

Last Week’s Sleeper Pick/Odds to Win the CIMB  Classic

• Daniel Summerhays (Golficity Odds 50/1): T14 ($126,000)

Last Week’s Salary Cap League Sleeper Pick/Odds to Win the CIMB Classic

• Rory Sabbatini (Golficity Odds 66/1):  ($16,287)

Fantasy Golf Predictions YTD (2015-2016)

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

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Cover Photo via @haiyan0819 on Instagram