Fantasy Golf Picks & Predictions – 2016 BMW PGA Championship

Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions for the 2016 BMW PGA Championship

By now you’ve probably already heard the exciting news that DraftKings has officially launched European Tour event contests on their uber-popular fantasy golf platform.  That said, let’s dive right into this week’s BMW PGA Championship preview to help you start building your rosters.

2016 BMW PGA Championship Fantasy Preview

The BMW PGA Championship, an event often regarded as the flagship tournament on the European TOUR, kicks off this Thursday at Wentworth Club in Surrey, England.  The par-72, 7,302-yard course has been the venue for this tourney in all but nine occasions since it was first established in 1955 and is well known for being the headquarters for the European TOUR while having the second largest purse of the year; the European equivalent to the FedExCup which offers its winner a prize of $10 million.

A photo posted by European Tour (@europeantour) on May 23, 2016 at 5:00am PDT

In 2015, it was youngster Byeong Hun An who earned his first career win on the European TOUR thanks to an amazing week as he put up one of the best four days in the history of this big tournament.  The then 23-year-old shot 21-under-par and outlasted runners-up Thongchai Jaidee and Miguel Angel Jimenez by six strokes, capping it all off with a perfect Sunday 65.

Another blowout win like An’s last year should not be expected, though, as seven of the last nine installments of this prestigious event have been decided by either a playoff or a single stroke.  In the past, some huge names have won here including Rory McIlroy (2014), Luke Donald (2011, 2012), Miguel Angel Jimenez (2008), and Angel Cabrera (2005) in recent memory.  Donald was the most recent multiple-time winner in the event and he joined eight others with that honor, while Nick Faldo (1978, 1980, 1981, 1989) is the only player to do so four times.

The field for this week’s BMW PGA Championship littered with big names, among them being six players with a major championship win in their past.  The most recent of those is Danny Willett, the 2016 Masters Champion, who also happens to be leading the Race to Dubai by quite a healthy margin.  He is joined by a majority of the top-50 in the Race, including four others from the top-10 (No. 4 Rafa Cabrera-Bello, No. 6 Lee Westwood, No. 8 Joost Luiten, No. 10 Soren Kjeldsen).

Another big name to watch out for this week will be Russell Knox who jumped into the Official World Golf Rankings top-25 last week with a runner-up showing at the Irish Open and currently sits right behind Williett as the favorites in England.

This week will bring out some of Europe’s best and brightest golfers and should provide for some tremendous competition throughout.

Let’s now run through some different tiered choices to help you build a solid DraftKings salary cap roster.

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BMW PGA Championship Fantasy Picks and Selections

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BMW PGA Championship Fantasy Picks

Here are our suggested picks for this week’s BMW PGA Championship at each DraftKings salary “tier.”

Top Option – Lee Westwood at $9,900: Westwood is one of the most decorated European TOUR players in history, backing his two PGA TOUR victories with 23 overseas (tied for 8th most all-time).  That being said, many thought he was past his prime following a weak stretch to finish last year—failing to get into the top-10 from this time last year until the end of the 2015 season.  The 43-year-old has bounced back in a big way, though, and currently sits at sixth in the Race to Dubai behind back-to-back top-10s; including a big showing at The Masters where he was the runner-up behind current Race to Dubai leader Danny Willett.  Westwood has been in the top-38 at each of the last five installments of this event, getting into the top-10 twice, and he nearly took home the trophy back in 2010, eventually losing a playoff to Luke Donald.  While Westwood is certainly near the end of his leash as far as being a dominant presence on the golf course from week-to-week, he is showing more determination then most and should put up a huge effort this close to home at the Wentworth Club.

Mid-Tier Pick – Soren Kjeldsen at $8,800: Kjeldsen has played very few times on the PGA TOUR, racking up a mere 33 starts since 2001 with 21 cuts made (64%).  In that time he has three top-10s and is probably not a golfer that many of the casual fans here in the states would know.  It is another story overseas though, where he has managed to grab four career European Tour victories and is currently playing some of his best golf despite recently going “over the hill” at 41-years-old.  He won fairly recently when he beat out the likes of Eddie Pepperell and Bernd Wiesberger in last year’s Irish Open while rattling off three top-20s in his last four outings heading into the week.  The last three events were high profile as well, with a seventh at the Masters and a 19th at the Irish Open.  Kjeldsen will not do well with his length off the tee, but rather with his experience of the course and ability to stay away from mistakes.

Mid-Tier Pick – Alexander Noren at $7,900: The past few seasons have been solid for the 33-year-old from Sweden as he has had an average finish better than 40th while hitting better than 70% of GIR each year.  On top of that, he was able to perform well in the last installment of this event, grabbing a tie for eighth in 2015—his second top-10 finish here since 2008.  His last outing was certainly not up to his usual standards, placing 95th at the Irish Open last week, but that came on the heels of back-to-back top-10s where he shot a 68 or better in half of his eight rounds played.  With four European TOUR wins to his name, nice past finishes at this venue, and a propensity to hit greens in regulation with regularity; Noren will be a name who should give himself a chance at a big week.

Mid-Tier Pick – Jaco Van Zyl at $7,100: Van Zyl is not one of the South African players who has been able to take his game to the United States with any success, and in 27 career events played on the PGA TOUR, he has made it to the weekend a meager seven times; with only one resulting in a top-25.  His recent play on the European TOUR suggests that he is quite a different sort of player though, and in his last five outings recognized by the European Tour, he has done 28th or better with a 12th and 10th at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open and Tshwane Open respectively while moving up to 59th in the OWGR.  Van Zyl has yet to grab a professional victory, but had two runner-ups and two third place finishes last year, showing that he is not a one-trick pony and should enter the victory circle very soon. With his woes on the PGA TOUR, many will tend to stay away from him, but you can differentiate your squad with this 37-year-old who is playing some great golf.

Bargain Sleeper Pick – Richard Bland at $6,700: It is hard to suggest that a 43-year-old with only one professional win (which came in 2001 on the Challenge TOUR) could stand a chance in one of the flagship events of the European Tour, but Bland has been on an absolute tear of late and is hard to ignore this week.  His last six times out have resulted in five top-25s; two of which fell in the top-six with his best being a third at the Volvo China Open earlier this month.  In that tourney he shot 18-under-par thanks to four rounds of 69 or better and he will be all lubed up and ready to make it to the weekend here after failing to do so each of the past two years.  His stroke average (70.50, 9th on TOUR) is the best of his career as he hits greens in regulation with extreme accuracy (70.11%) and that should bode well for him as he looks to put up some big numbers over the four days at Wentworth.

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