FanDuel Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions – TOUR Championship

2017 TOUR Championship FanDuel Fantasy Preview

The top-30 players from the 2017 season are ready for a showdown at East Lake with the best golfers from the campaign teeing it up for one final time during the regular season. With a $10 million top prize on the line there will certainly be a ton of thought and pressure with every swing and putt.

Atlanta, Georgia and East Lake Golf Club are once again the hosts of the TOUR Championship as it has been since the inception of the FedExCup back in 2007. Previously, the top-30 money earners from the year before the playoffs began took each other on in the TOUR Championship.

East Lake features a long 7,385 yards over a par-70 course and has always been a fixture in the golf world with Bobby Jones calling it home.

With the points being reset leading up to this event, every player in the field has a mathematical chance to be the FedExCup Champion, but each of the top-five golfers have the easiest path with a victory guaranteeing them the $10 million purse.

Henrik Stenson of Sweden plays his second shot on the ninth hole…

Henrik Stenson of Sweden plays his second shot on the ninth hole during the first round of the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola at East Lake Golf Club on September 19, 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

With it all on the line, it is no surprise that the best-of-the-best are among the winners here and many times the FedExCup as well. Woods (1999, 2007), Mickelson (2000, 2009), Furyk (2010), Stenson (2013), Spieth (2015), and McIlroy (2016) have all seen their names etched on the trophy in the past decade with all but Mickelson having it lead to a $10 million payday.

Last year McIlroy went into the playoffs ranked 36^th in the standings, but used victories both here and at TPC Boston to make it to the top. It was quite an epic finish, though, as it took a Sunday 64 and a quartet of additional holes with Kevin Chappell and Ryan Moore before being crowned the victor. It was the first playoff here since Bill Haas defeated Hunter Mahan in 2011 while each of winners from 2012-2015 had a margin of victory of three or greater.

The 12-under final score that McIlroy posted was one of the better ones at this course with Stenson’s 13-under being the only week lower in the past handful of seasons. But, it will be difficult to see anyone ever playing as well as Tiger did back in the first year of the FedExCup when he went for a ridiculous 23 shots under par; dominating runners-up Mark Calcavecchia and Zach Johnson by eight strokes.

This year it is no surprise to see the youth movement in full swing as 24-year-old Jordan Spieth remains on top and is joined by fellow 24-year-old Justin Thomas and 22-year-old Jon Rahm in the top-five of the FedExCup standings. Joining them is the No. 1 ranked player in the Official World Golf Rankings, Dustin Johnson, in the three spot, and Australian Marc Leishman in fourth after a phenomenal effort both at TPC Boston and in his victory last week.

World No. 6 Jason Day looks to also be falling back into form with a top-25 at each of his past four outings; three of which were ninth or better.

Jason Day of Australia celebrates on the 18th green after his…

Jason Day of Australia celebrates on the 18th green after his six-stroke victory at The Barclays at Plainfield Country Club on August 30, 2015 in Edison, New Jersey. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

A few golfers were able to make the move from outside of the top-30 last week into the TOUR Championship as Tony Finau, Sergio Garcia, Xander Schauffele, and Patrick Cantlay knocked out the likes of Louis Oosthuizen, Henrik Stenson, and Brandan Steele for a spot in the field. Schauffele and Cantlay are the final two remaining rookies in the playoffs with Mackenzie Hughes (36) and Wesley Bryan (41) just missing the cut.

FanDuel continues to be a fantastic outlet for golf fans to get more into the sport and learn about some new players while playing a competitive game for cash. This week will be quite different than most, though, as the field sits at a mere 30 golfers and every lineup will feature more than 25% of the field.

With that said, we believe a week such as this one warrants making multiple lineups behind a core of three of four golfers that you really believe in and entering almost exclusively into mid-sized to large GPPs. Cash games will not have enough variance in teams and it will really bring the field of players back to each other; making it much easier for someone to do very little research, throw in a lineup, and beat some better daily players.

Below are eight golfers at different price points who we believe can be core plays at East Lake.

TOUR Championship FanDuel Fantasy Picks

Jordan Spieth – $9,300 – We’re pretty much done betting against Spieth and with pricing as soft as these there is no reason to not have him in your lineup unless you really want to go against the field. Looking back at his past 10 starts, the 24-year-old has done no worse than a 35^th at the U.S. Open while earning back-to-back victories at the Travelers Championship and Open Championship. He also has a trio of runner-ups in that time; two of which came in these playoffs alongside a seventh in last week’s BMW Championship.

He has achieved these results with the best approach to the green on the PGA TOUR (0.914 strokes gained) behind 70.35% greens in regulation (3^rd on TOUR) and has earned the third-most total strokes gained (1.918); trailing just Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler. Spieth has also been great on this course every other year, coming in second back in 2013 before winning in 2015.

We believe he will keep up the trend with dominant performances in the odd years and come away the winner when the dust has settled on Sunday.

Rickie Fowler – $8,700 – Fowler seems to be a contender each and every week, but does not get quite as much coverage with the likes of Spieth, Johnson, and Thomas because of his inability to take home trophies. Over his 195 career starts, he does own four wins, including this year’s Honda Classic, and he has a total of 11 runner-ups and seven third-place finishes; to a ranking of seventh in the OWGR.

His rank of second in total strokes gained (2.018) stems from his ability to be elite in every facet of the game; doing no worse than 26^th in any of the major categories (off the tee, approach the green, around the green, putting, tee to green) as putting (0.788 strokes gained, 2^nd on TOUR) is his best weapon. Fowler is the number one player out of the sand (68.55%) and is earning a birdie or better on 24.61% of his holes played (4^th on TOUR).

He has an average finish better than 10^th in his last nine starts, four being in the top-five, and is a great pick to better his career best eight-place at East Lake this week.

Rickie Fowler waits to putt with his caddie Joe Skovron on the fifth…

Rickie Fowler waits to putt with his caddie Joe Skovron on the fifth hole green during the final round of the BMW Championship at Conway Farms Golf Club on September 17, 2017 in Lake Forest, Illinois. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

Paul Casey – $8,000 – Casey is in a very similar spot as Fowler as he tends to be towards the top of the leaderboard each time he tees the ball up, but just can’t manage to get the win. He and Justin Rose are the only two players in the top-10 of the FedExCup standings who have not earned a win in 2017, but he has gotten to this point with just a single missed cut in his 23 starts and eight visits to the top-10.

Five of those top-10s have come over his last 10 tournaments played and he has been hot in these playoffs despite his 33^rd last week after a fifth in the Northern Trust and fourth at TPC Boston. Casey has also torched this course in his past three attempts, getting a fourth in 2010, fifth in 2015, and another fourth just last year. Over the past two seasons he has totaled 13 shots better than par here and managed to nail 75% of greens in regulation and go eight-under on par-fives just last year.

His tremendous ball striking has allowed him to stick 69.96% of GIR (4^th on TOUR) and play to a scoring average of 69.52 (7^th on TOUR) while avoiding poor stretches with a birdie or better after a bogey in 24.21% of his opportunities (11^th on TOUR). Casey is someone who puts his best effort up each week and will eventually win instead of being a bystander near the top.

Justin Rose $7,700 – Rose has turned up his game entering these playoffs and followed up a pair of tenth-place finishes in the first two rounds with a runner-up showing at the BMW Championship last week. Over his 12 rounds in these playoffs he has a scoring average of 68 and finished 18-under last week, falling only to Leishman who played out of his mind.

The 37-year-old has 16 victories between the PGA and European Tours while also winning gold in the Olympics and now gets to come back to a course that he has manhandled in his past four visits. Between 2012 and 2015, Rose had two runner-up finishes around a fourth and a fifth and is coming here once again while playing his best golf of the year.

Overall he is in the top-20 in strokes gained off the tee (0.576, 15^th), around the green (0.393, 12^th), and from tee to green (1.245, 10^th); culminating in 1.248 total strokes gained on the field (10^th on TOUR). Rose earns a birdie on 23.33% of his holes (eighth on TOUR) and tops all other players in the ability to bounce back (28.40%). All signs point to Rose being a major factor in this TOUR Championship and his salary really makes him one of my core plays.

Matt Kuchar – $7,400 – Kuchar bounced back nicely from his 56^th in the Dell Technologies Championship with a fifth-place in the BMW Championship after carding consecutive rounds of 67 on the weekend; vaulting him up six spots to 12^th in the FedExCup standings.

He has always had no issue getting to East Lake, making it into the top-30 each year since 2010, but has failed to do any better than 10^th with an average finish of 17^th in the 30-man field. Things could change this year, though, as the seven-time PGA TOUR winner is getting 0.411 strokes around the green (8^th on TOUR) and is currently 16^th in total strokes gained (1.058).

Kuchar has the love of the crowd and comes in with six top-10s in his past 10 starts as we project him to better his past results in this final event of the regular season.

Kevin Chappell – $6,700 – Chappell is proving that his 2016 campaign, when he finished a career-best 13^th in the FedExCup standings, was no fluke. He currently sits in 19^th in the standings after going 20-for-26 (77%) in cuts made and has continued to play well against the best in these playoffs with a sixth in the Northern Trust and 12^th last week.

He won’t be behind many off the tee (304.2 average drive, 25^th on TOUR) and is gaining 0.989 (18^th on TOUR) with his driver. On top of his nice finishes in recent playoff events, Chappell proved he could win when he topped the leaderboard in the Valero Texas Open and was impressive with a seventh at the Masters and 23^rd in the U.S. Open.

He does not possess the scoring ability that many of the other elite talents do, but if he can find his putting stroke he can keep up with the leaders and attempt to match his runner-up showing at East Lake in 2016.

Webb Simpson – $6,300 – Simpson can sometimes be a wildcard, but he has had past success in his visits here, placing in the top-five in 2012 and 2013 consecutively, and comes into this event on the heels of 12 consecutive made cuts. Although there is no cut with the 30-man field, he has turned those weekend visits during the streak into seven top-25s and has seen his name in the top-10 at three of the last four tournaments.

Between the Wyndham Championship, the Northern Trust, and last week’s BMW Championship, he is 35 shots under par and shot a 68 or better in 8-of-12 rounds.

Simpson has one of the better approaches on TOUR with a proximity to the hole of 34’ (13^th on TOUR) and is in the top-25 in both total strokes gained (0.913, 25^th on TOUR) and the all-important bounce back (24.12%, 12^th on TOUR). This four-time TOUR winner has the talent to compete with the best and sets up well for a big outing here.

Webb Simpson tees off on the 16th hole during the third round of the…

Webb Simpson tees off on the 16th hole during the third round of the Wyndham Championship on August 19, 2017 at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, NC. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

Gary Woodland – $5,800 – Woodland is certainly no sure thing and is a very strong low floor, high ceiling player in Atlanta. He has the experience at East Lake with four appearances since 2011 and has managed two top-10s in that time; including coming in 10^th just last year.

Woodland’s biggest crux is the putter, but he has proven that when he is feeling it with the flat iron, he has the ability to post some great results as evidenced by his five top-10s, two of which were runner-ups, over the course of his 25 tournaments played in 2017.

He has great distance off the tee (307.5 yards per, 13^th on TOUR) and turns that into a green in regulation 69.61% of the time (8^th on TOUR); allowing him plenty of chances to score. Woodland could be a great difference-maker this week with only 30 players in the field to choose from.

[x_callout type=”left” title=”Want More Weekly Fantasy Golf Predictions?” message=”Sign up for a Golficity Premium Membership and for just $7.95 per month you’ll get all-access to our weekly fantasy golf picks, odds, and predictions for every PGA TOUR and European Tour event.” button_text=”Learn More” button_icon=”arrow-right” circle=”true” href=”https://golficity.com/premium-membership-fantasy-golf-predictions/”]