Fantasy Golf Picks & Predictions – Turkish Airlines Open

European Tour Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions for the Turkish Airlines Open

The 2016 Turkish Airlines Open Fantasy Preview

The end is near for the 2016 European Tour season as the Final Series begins in Turkey at the Turkish Airlines Open.  First being played in 2013, this newly minted tournament will call a new venue home as the players tee it up at Regnum Carya Golf and Spa Resort.  The par-72 course measures just 7,127 yards from the tips, but will certainly present a challenge to the players as they are required to navigate plenty of difficult holes with precision shots from all different angles.

With the event just starting up in 2013, there is not much history to talk about, and even less since they will be playing at this course for the first time.  Still, the Turkish Airlines Open has produced two first-time winners in Victor Dubuisson and Brooks Koepka who put up some impressive scores to take home the trophy.  Dubuisson felt so comfortable after winning here in 2013, that he reclaimed the glory again last season with a score of 22-under-par; a mark nearly matching his 24-under from 2013.  His victory came by a mere single stroke over Jaco Van Zyl who had led the first 71 holes before finally giving it up to the Frenchman who birdied the final two holes.  Those two wins in the Turkish Open remain his sole victories on the European Tour, and he does not look ready to repeat again heading into this week on the heels of a year in which he has made it into the money in just half (8-of-16) of his outings.

The field will be led by a trio of golfers who currently reside in the top-14 of the Race to Dubai; winner of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship No. 5 Tyrelll Hatton and three-time European Tour winners No. 12 Bernd Wiesberger, and No. 14 Andy Sullivan.  The talent at the top is very evenly spread out, though, and with no clear superstars it is anyone’s trophy to grab with the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Lee Westwood, Anirban Lahiri, Byeong Hun-An, Danny Willett, Alexander Levy, Andrew Johnston, and Richard Bland all coming in with either big wins in the past or a current streak of tremendous play.

The fun of daily fantasy expanded to the European Tour earlier this year and it has been enjoyable getting to know some of the players overseas that are immensely talented, but have simply not been on our radar with the minimal coverage of their week-to-week events in the United States (not to mention the time difference).  That said, let’s get into a few of our favorite names in each salary tier to help you build a winning fantasy roster for this week’s Turkish Airlines Open.

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The Turkish Airlines Open Fantasy Picks and Predictions

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The Turkish Airlines Open Fantasy Picks

Tyrell Hatton – $10,900 – We keep putting Hatton out there because each week he seems to have about as high of a floor/ceiling combo as anyone on the entry list.  He finally nailed down a win at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship against an impressive field and has flown up the Official World Golf Rankings to 35^th.  The 25-year-old has been in the money at 17-of-21 events (81%) in 2016 and has finished in the top-10 in eight of those weekend visits.  In his past 10 outings, Hatton has made 8-of-10 cuts and has an average finish of 14^th thanks to his win and a second at the Scottish Open.  His fifth-best scoring average of 69.97 has come as a result of doing everything well, ranking 66^th in driving accuracy (61.2%), 34^th in greens in regulation (71%), 30^th in putts per GIR (1.753), and 60^th in putts per round (29.3).  Watch out for Hatton to once again bring his all-around solid game to Turkey with a big showing this week.

Richard Bland – $9,100 – Just like Hatton, we simply can’t get off Bland thanks to his amazing year which no one could have seen coming.  Since beginning his career in 2002, Bland had done no better than 65^th in the Race to Dubai and had a combined eight top-10s over his previous four seasons.  He has certainly made some adjustments and is having his coming out party at 43 years of age.  The veteran is a near lock to make it into the money, doing so on 24-of-27 attempts (89%) thus far, and has an average finishing position of 27.58; about 21 spots better than his previous best.  His past seven tournaments played have resulted in three top-fives and an average finish of 13.6 as he continues to search for his first career win in what will be his 400^th start.  The key to his success will be an elite putter (1.732 putts per GIR, 11^th on Tour) which has led to the 12^th-best scoring average (70.34) on the circuit.  This is a storybook season for the Englishman and all it’s missing is that career-changing victory.  Perhaps this will be the week he gets it done.

David Horsey – $8,000 – The trend of talented players out of England continues with David Horsey who is in the midst of another solid year as he looks to push his way into the top-50 of the Race to Dubai for the first time since 2011; currently sitting at 53^rd.  A recent stretch of five consecutive visits to the money has earned him some major points of late, going for an average finish of 10.8 during that time while getting nearly 100 points per week (96.9) for Draftkings players.  He certainly knows how to win at the professional level with four past victories spread out over his 222 career events, and is currently sporting a career-best scoring average (70.6, 20^th on Tour) thanks to his flat iron (1.739 putts per GIR, 14^th on Tour).  Horsey has won in each of the past two seasons and could be in line to do so once again after the dust has settled in Turkey.

Alejandro Canizares – $7,600 – Canizares has had a fantastic career up until this point, winning twice on the European Tour after aiding the Arizona State Sun Devils golf team to a win at the 2003 Men’s Golf Championship.  The 33-year-old is one of the best short game players out there, carding 1.721 putts per GIR (6^th on Tour) and a minuscule 28.1 putts per round (3^rd on Tour) while owning the best sand save percentage (81%) among all qualifiers.  That has led him to a scoring average of 70.74 (26^th on Tour) and allowed him to put up some nice outings in 2016; including seven top-15 finishes, two of which came in the past two months.  When the realistic ceiling is a victory for a player at this price, he is in play for both GPP and cash games.

Chris Paisley – $7,300 – After going off of players out of England for Canizares, we jump right back to it with Chris Paisley.  The 30-year-old has worked his way into a full time gig on the European Tour and is now turning that into some real results with his best year since joining in 2013.  Although he has made it into the money a mere 13-of-28 times (46%), he has a big ceiling as evidenced by grabbing four top-10s; including a third at the Italian Open and fifth at the Portugal Masters within the last couple of months.  There should be some scoring out there for Paisley who currently ranks in the top-15 in putts per GIR (1.736, 12^th on Tour), putts per round (28.6, 14^th on Tour), and sand saves (67.6%, 9^th on Tour), but we would still consider him more of a high risk/high reward type for tournaments.

Jaco Van Zyl – $7,000 – This seems like quite a discounted price for a player who has amassed nine top-three finishes since 2011 and made his way into the OWGR top-50 earlier this season.  His 2016 campaign is certainly not as impressive as last year when he finished 21^st in the Race to Dubai, but he has still been solid with 14-of-20 cuts made (70%) and four finishes between fourth and 10^th.  The South African representative in the Olympics may be off of most daily fantasy players’ minds after failing to make the cut or withdrawing from his last two events, but he is still one of the most talented players going this week and should be on your radar thanks to his experience, accurate driver (65.7%, 26^th on Tour), putting talent (1.755 putt per GIR, 33^rd on Tour), and ability to get out of trouble (64.2% sand saves, 22^nd on Tour).

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Cover photo via Instagram