Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – Safeway Open

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the Safeway Open

The Safeway Open Fantasy Preview

Strap yourself in because the 2020-21 PGA TOUR campaign is set to be a ‘super’ one.

They’ve given the name ‘Super Season’ to describe the term due to the huge number of events that will be played – the campaign will feature the most tournaments in a single season since 1975, so opportunity knocks for all who have a tour card at their disposal.

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It will contain SIX majors, all being well, with the rescheduled Masters and U.S. Open, plus the Olympic Games and the Ryder Cup.

But, first things first, there’s no time like the present, and everyone heading to Napa Valley for the curtain-raiser of the new campaign – the Safeway Open – will be hoping to start with a bang this week!

Last Week/Season Results

We picked him….he was priced high, but we told you to pick him! And despite that HUGE price tag, DJ was the RIGHT MOVE!

In our last event of the season, DJ notched us our 7th winner picked this season. Here is was we said about DJ heading into last week:

It’s a bit of a ‘no s*** Sherlock’ pick, but nobody is playing golf quite like Dustin Johnson right now.

For the second week in a row, DJ ranked first for a modified Strokes Gained: Ball Striking stat at the BMW Championship, and on both occasions he gained a considerable umber of shots on the field on the greens too.

He has never quite done the business at East Lake, with a best of T3 in 2018, but there is absolutely no reason why he can’t thrive at a golf course where his ball-striking class is given a chance to shine.

Often, Johnson’s biggest opponent is himself, but right now he appears hungry ad ready to add another slice of golfing history to his resumé. If he plays as well this week as he has been doing in recent times, who can stop him?

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Looking back at the 2019-2020 season,, we successfully made 72% cuts with our main picks including the 7 winners, 4 runner-ups, and 35% top-25s picked. 

The Safeway Open 2020 Field

Originally in the Safeway Open field, there were some hardy souls braving the 2,500 mile trip from Atlanta, Georgia at the conclusion of the TOUR Championship on Monday in order to get to Napa and get some prep in by Thursday.

However, the updated field released on Friday saw all of those names withdrawn to leave a pretty sorry looking field in its place.

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Headline honors go to Sergio Garcia and Jordan Spieth (yep, it’s that kind of week), with reigning British Open champion Shane Lowry and former Masters winner Charl Schwartzel also teeing it up.

Phil Mickelson, fresh from demolishing the field in his debut Champions Tour event, will tee up on his beloved west coast alongside another old timer who has shown form on the ‘seniors’ tour in Jim Furyk.

This Week’s Course Preview

There is a perception that the early season events are something of a jolly on friendly golf courses, but the North Course at Silverado goes at least some way to dispelling that myth.

The fairways are narrow at this Par 72 layout, and last year we saw the average GIR stats outnumber Driving Accuracy by a considerable margin, which proves that a) the rough isn’t too demanding here and b) the greens are nice and receptive.

Indeed, these Poa Annua greens have a habit of running pretty slowly, and so even the most fearful of putters will fancy their chances of making a few this week.

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But there are hazards at large with some deep bunkers on the real estate and the presence of the odd water hazard here, so Silverado is not an establishment where you can just close your eyes on the tee and swing for the hills.

The routing of this 7,166 yard layout also offers plenty of chances for players who are in the mix heading down the closing stretch. Get the Par 3 fifteenth out of the way and the last three holes are dream-like for long, straight hitters – two Par 5s which can be attacked in two and then the 375-yard Par 4 seventeenth. If you can send a drive 320 yards in the general direction of the green a birdie is almost a formality.

Weather Forecast for Napa, CA

Incredibly, there is a heatwave warning in place for San Francisco at the start of the week, with temperatures of an armpit-dampening 105.8°F expected!

Happily, those numbers are set to drop somewhat in time for the Safeway Open, although 88°F with plenty of sunny spells is certainly warm enough.

Unsurprisingly, the threat of rain is slim to non-existent this week, but watch out for the wind – a breeze of around 12-15 mph is expected.

NAPA WEATHER

Last Year’s Results for the Safeway Open

When you head into the final round of a PGA TOUR event with an overnight lead, it’s always welcome when you play the opening nine holes on Sunday in 30 strokes.

And that’s exactly what Cameron Champ did to extinguish any claims that he’s just a hit-and-hope bomber. In fairness, he led the field for Driving Distance – a ridiculous 337 yards on average, but in hitting 53.6% of fairways he also ranked 21st for Accuracy.

There was a wobble as he closed in on victory – a bogey at the easy seventeenth not what the doctor ordered, but Champ rallied to birdie the last and secure a one-stroke victory over Adam Hadwin.

Marc Leishman finished in solo third, while Justin Thomas, Charles Howell III and Zac Blair occupied a tie for fourth.

Cameron Champ’s highlights | Round 4 | Safeway Open 2019

In the final round of the 2019 Safeway Open, Cameron Champ made a couple of clutch birdies to earn his second-career win by one shot over Adam Hadwin. SUBSCRIBE to PGA TOUR now: http://pgat.us/vBxcZSh Reigning champion Kevin Tway returns to the scene of his first PGA TOUR victory to defend his Safeway Open title.

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for the Safeway Open this Week

Time for a new season and this event marks your first chance to cash in before next week’s big US Open event.  Here are some places to stay loose this week on DraftKings.

• PGA TOUR $750K Fresh Start [$200K to 1st] :  For $25 entry, you’ll get a chance to take on a shorter field of DFS players for a larger prize.  This is the one that will get a lot of action this week.

• PGA TOUR $200K Drive the Green [$50K to 1st]:  For just $5 entry, you’ll stack up against a larger field, but there’s not doubt you can spread the wealth of your recent winnings around to a bunch of rosters here for a chance at. the $50,000.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the Safeway Open

Drafting a roster in a weak-field event, with many of the field not in action for a couple of weeks, really is a tough business!

Even those at the head of the field are inconsistent in form or lacking in competitive action, and so a deep dive is required to pick out any morsels of value.

As for the player profile we’re looking for this week, it is kinda interesting looking back at the most recent winners at Silverado. Cameron Champ – you know about him already, but then there’s the power hitting of Kevin Tway, the tee-to-green class of Brendan Steele and the iron game magnificence (and putting game impotence) of Emiliano Grillo.

In short….there’s not a lot that they share in common.

There is a theme of Total Driving to work with though. Champ, Steele and Grillo are all typically excellent off the tee, and clearly the more fairways you hit at Silverado the better – short irons into these slow greens can yield some fantastic results. But, that said, all players will miss the short stuff – those who scramble and recover best will be the least inconvenienced.

There is an age-old debate as to whether slow greens helps or hinders poor putters, and while there’s no absolute evidence either way we’ll perhaps side with the former option – Grillo is a former winner here, after all.

We know that some players enjoy life on the west coast, feel at home on Poa Annua….and those guys – particularly those who haven’t featured in the TOUR Championship – will be at the heart of our draft this week.

Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the Safeway Open

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Fantasy Golf Predictions Last Season (2019-2020)

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