Fantasy Golf Predictions
Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – THE PLAYERS Championship
Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for THE PLAYERS Championship
2019 PLAYERS Championship Fantasy Preview
Sometimes, golfers win tournaments be gliding effortlessly through their 72 holes, outplaying the field and taking care of business with the minimum of fuss.
Other times, a player will crash through the field on the Sunday like a tsunami.
It was the latter option that Francesco Molinari opted for at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week, and sat in T17 after 54 holes even he must have thought the game was up.
But the Italian’s 64, the best round of the tournament, propelled him up the leaderboard, an ultimately it proved enough with others losing their heads all around him.
Neither Rory McIlroy or Matt Fitzpatrick, the third-round leaders, could close the gap, while close challengers such as Matt Wallace and Aaron Baddeley fell largely by the wayside.
Tiger Woods of the United States hits a shot during the final round…
Tiger Woods of the United States hits a shot during the final round of World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship at on February 24, 2019 in Mexico City, Mexico. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images
Once again, DFS gamers and bettors were offered another glimpse into the psyche of a winner, with Molinari draining a monster 43-foot putt on the last to extend his lead. At the time, it was a clutch putt of epic proportion.
It was his fourth win worldwide since May 2018, and just goes to emphasize the gap between those who have the mental toughness to get the job done and those who, well, don’t.
Speaking of mental toughness, the field will need plenty of that this week if they are to triumph in golf’s so-called ‘fifth major’: THE PLAYERS Championship. Hosted by the iconic TPC Sawgrass, it’s great to have this fantastic tournament back in its original March timeslot to serve as a mouth-watering prelude to major season.
Last Week’s Fantasy Results
When the dust settled on Sunday it was Molinari who came out on top, fresh off the club manufacturer change to Callaway. His final round charge was something to be admired.
Francesco Molinari of Italy smiles during a press conference…
Francesco Molinari of Italy smiles during a press conference following his two stroke victory in the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard at Bay Hill Club and Lodge… Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images
Our top pick was Rory, who was in prime position to win heading into Sunday before carding a 72 on the final day. His Sunday stumble was disappointing because the “W” was clearly in his sights after Saturday.
In total, six of our seven main picks including four of our five sleeper picks made the cut, with a total of six picks making the top 25.
The 2019 PLAYERS Championship Field
It’s the veritable who’s who of golf teeing up at Sawgrass this week.
McIlroy, Johnson (D), Koepka, Thomas, Rose, DeChambeau and Day – providing he overcomes the back injury that kept him out of the Arnold Palmer – will all look to get their hands on the iconic trophy, as will, health permitting, Tiger Woods, who sat out the Bay Hill trip with a neck injury.
Justin Rose of England plays his second shot on the par 4, first hole…
Justin Rose of England plays his second shot on the par 4, first hole during the second round of the 2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard at the Bay Hill Club on March 08, 2019 in… Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images
There’s a stack of former winners in the field too, including the defending champion Webb Simpson, Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar and Henrik Stenson, as well as 2017’s surprise winner Si-Woo Kim.
The European Tour charge – which was so well represented at Bay Hill – will once again be led by Molinari, Tommy Fleetwood and Sergio Garcia, while the likes of Xander Schauffele, Charl Schwartzel and Jimmy Walker will be looking to go one better than their T2 returns of 12 months ago.
Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson will make an incredible 26th trip to TPC Sawgrass; he only has one top-20 to his name in his last ten visits.
This Week’s Course Preview
The fifth major requires a host venue befitting such as status, and happily TPC Sawgrass has got game in spades.
The architect is the maniacal Pete Dye, and while arguably this isn’t his most devilish work there is still plenty to confuse the minds of the greatest golfers on the planet. Bryson DeChambeau might need to pack an extra protractor in his bag this week….
Unlike the modern method of toughening a golf course – adding yards and yards to each hole, TPC Sawgrass has been tweaked but remained true to its original set-up for the best part of four decades.
It may be a short track by contemporary standards at roughly 7,200 yards for its Par 72, but the clever doglegging holes – no two consecutive holes play in the same direction – ensure that bombers don’t have things all their own way.
Webb Simpson of the United States plays his shot from the 17th tee…
Webb Simpson of the United States plays his shot from the 17th tee during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on May 13, 2018 in Ponte Vedra Beach,… Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images
There are lots of water hazards, deep British-style bunkers and waste areas that will punish any hitting that is even slightly off-line.
And if that wasn’t enough, the Bermuda greens are among the smallest on Tour, and run at a fair lick of around 13 on the stimpmeter in all weathers.
TPC Sawgrass features a number of famous holes, including the drivable Par 4 at 12 where the green slopes dramatically into the drink, but none captures the imagination quite like 17, home to the iconic island green. This Par 3 is arguably the most legendary hole in golf; surprising, really, given that a 137-yard approach shouldn’t warrant such focus.
But with swirling cross winds, a baying amphitheater of spectators and the ghosts of yesteryear, it’s no wonder the players can temporarily lose their minds.
It’s always special when the PLAYERS Championship rolls around so we can enjoy Sawgrass once more; not bad for a stretch of land purchased for $1 by former commissioner Dean Bema prior to course construction!
Weather Forecast for Ponte Vedra, FL
It could be a game of two halves in this stretch of Florida this week, with the early forecast indicating an agreeable end to the working week followed by an unsettled weekend.
Thursday looks set to be a fairly nondescript day, with the sun occasionally popping through the clouds to warm temperatures to around the 72 degree mark. Note the wind speeds though: from 7 mph at 8 am, they could increase to 15 mph by mid-afternoon.
There’s a similar theme on Friday, with the mercury touching 75 degrees and the breeze again increasing from 6 mph at the start of play to 11 mph for the afternoon wave.
Saturday looks set to be cool, windy and potentially wet, with showers expected at some point during the day.
And Sunday could be interesting too, with the eventual champion likely to brave 13 mph winds, showers and temperatures of no more than 63 degrees.
Last Year’s Results from THE PLAYERS Championship
Last year’s edition of THE PLAYERS Championship played out in extraordinary fashion.
Webb Simpson, in the midst of a four-and-a-half year win drought, laid waste to TPC Sawgrass. The former US Open champion fired a second round of 63 to lead by five at the halfway point, and he extended that margin even further on the Saturday to seven strokes.
Such was the lack of confidence in Simpson’s ability to close out that the betting floor took plenty of money on Dustin Johnson, a whopping nine shots back, to overturn the deficit, but the leader did not crack.
Indeed, he played the opening seventeen holes on Sunday in -1, and it was only at the last – with victory assured – where the wheels came off with a double bogey.
It truly was a staggering achievement, and one of those rare once-in-a-lifetime performances that most can only dream of.
So can anyone emulate Simpson’s achievement this week?
No Title
SUBSCRIBE to PGA TOUR now: http://pgat.us/vBxcZSh In the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship 2018, Webb Simpson kept it safe and carded a 18-under 73 to seal the win by 4-strokes. THE PLAYERS Championship returns to TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.
Where to Play Fantasy Golf for THE PLAYERS Championship this Week
As a tournament of some prestige, it’s great to see the DFS sites treating THE PLAYERS Championship with the respect it deserves with a varied and lucrative slate of contests.
- PGA $1M Fifth Major Classic: Got a spare $10? Why not invest it in this contest, where the winner will trouser a cool $250k come Sunday evening. The first 30 players home will win a minimum of $1k.
- PGA $400k Club Twirl: If you want to battle it out in a smaller field contest, for $44 here you could tackle 10k other players for the chance to win a rather handy $100,000!
This Week’s Fantasy Notes for THE PLAYERS Championship
Avoiding trouble: that’s about the size of the task at TPC Sawgrass!
Last year’s edition was a largely wind-free affair with soft greens, and that made matters rather easier than normal: Webb Simpson’s winning mark of -18 was the lowest here in more than 20 years.
Quite how this year’s edition pans out we will have to see, but clearly there could be some low scores if the rain does come at the weekend: there were countless rounds of 66 or better last year, although that again was something of anomaly.
Typically, length off the tee is an advantage, and between 2014-17 all four champions at Sawgrass ranked inside the top-20 for Driving Distance.
But Simpson opted for a different strategy, choosing to take lots of irons off the tee (he found 82% of fairways) and thus keeping his GIR count nice and high.
And when he did miss the green, which is inevitable given their small size, Simpson would rank fifth for Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green, so his short game was in fine order too.
Ally that with a hot putter, and it’s little wonder that the winner was so untouchable.
Looking back to the 2017 vintage, we see a 1-2 for Si-Woo Kim and Ian Poulter too; neither of whom we would describe as bombers by any means. So, we can kick to the kerb any ideas of distance being relevant (or otherwise).
One stat that is key is Scrambling, aided by some strong action with wedges in hand. Greens and fairways will be missed, and so extricating yourself from tricky positions is key.
Course form is another red herring as well, with Si-Woo only playing Sawgrass once prior to his win (finishing T23), while Simpson’s formline at this track read 16-66-MC-15-MC-69. So again, not necessarily a sure sign of success.
But then, the former US Open champion had recorded a trio of top-tens in his prior six starts worldwide, so clearly form – and confidence – will be key in taming Pete Dye’s masterpiece this week.
[membership level=”0″]
Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win THE PLAYERS Championship
You must be a Premium Member to view our exclusive fantasy golf picks.
Already a member? Sign in Here.
[/membership]
[membership level=”1,2,3″]
Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win THE PLAYERS Championship
Top Tier Pick #1:
Justin Thomas (Odds: 16/1, FPPG: 98.4, GPFP: 127.97 Salary: $11,100)
With Rory McIlroy playing some great golf but unable to get a win over the line, and with Dustin Johnson failing to record a single top-10 at Sawgrass in the past decade, it’s back to Justin Thomas we go this week.
And why not? JT plays a lot of his best golf on Bermuda, specifically on the East coast, and he would love nothing more than to add the PLAYERS Championship title to his already stacked collection.
Thomas has got the ideal game for Sawgrass given that his tee-to-green play has been sublime in 2019 thus far, and as somebody with a bit of magic in his short game we won’t be fearing the odd missed green from the 25-year-old.
He has a home in Jupiter these days, and it’s not a huge leap of faith to see Thomas celebrating a victory with friends and family come Sunday evening.
Key Stats:
- Par 5 Birdie or Better Leaders – 1st
- Scoring Average – 1st
- SG: Tee-to-Green – 2nd
Top-Tier Pick #2:
Francesco Molinari (Odds: 25/1, FPPG: 75.3, GPFP 60.20 Salary: $8,600)
If a young stud wins their maiden PGA TOUR event, or an old-timer gets back into the winner’s circle after a long drought, we tend to expect some kind of ‘hangover’ from their victory.
But not so from Francesco Molinari, the Italian who has become one of the most prolific champions around in the past year or so.
The British Open winner took the spoils at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, and the odd thing is that he was from his best for the bulk of that event!
The confidence he will take from that victory – and draining some putts, which is often his Achilles heel – is mammoth ahead of a trip to a demanding layout.
It’s a course that should play to Molinari’s strengths: ignore the current stats on the PGA TOUR website, he’s a flusher who will be able to post big GIR numbers this week while all around him are scrambling for their lives.
Key Stats:
- SG: Putting – 19th
- Total Driving – 37th
- Scrambling – 61st
Mid-Tier Pick #1:
Hideki Matsuyama (Odds: 40/1, FPPG: 76.2, GPFP: 89.88 Salary: $8,300)
How do you solve a problem like Hideki Matsuyama?
The Japanese ace has been gaining strokes on the field from tee to green for weeks on end, and once again at Bay Hill he delivered a clinic in ball striking.
But, yep, you’re right: if you can’t sink a putt then what’s the point?
Well, that’s a fair point, but consider what we know. Underlying tee-to-green form often acts as a pre-requisite for good form, whereas a hot hand with the flat stick tends to be rather more transient.
So, and humor us here, if Matsuyama has a good session on the practice green these next few days and something clicks, he should go very nicely indeed.
It’s all a big ‘if’, but in that stacked $8,000-$9,000 bracket Matsuyama could be low-owned and yet deliver a big performance.
Key Stats:
- SG: Tee-to-Green – 3rd
- Scrambling – 4th
- SG: Around-the-Green – 21st
Mid-Tier Pick #2:
Lucas Glover (Odds: 66/1, FPPG: 82.1, GPFP: 76.32 Salary: $7,100)
A former US Open champion in good form but without a great track record at TPC Sawgrass….sound familiar?
That’s the method that worked out well for Webb Simpson 12 months ago, so perhaps Lucas Glover could follow a similar path to glory this week.
He’s certainly playing well enough, with his usual precision approach play matched with some slick Bermuda putting of late, which has helped him to back-to-back top-10s at the Honda Classic (T4) and Arnold Palmer Invitational (T10).
Glover’s form at Sawgrass is boom-and-bust, but there’s a pair of top-10s in there and so everything is coming together nicely for the 39-year-old.
Key Stats:
- Greens in Regulation – 4th
- Par 4 Scoring Average – 6th
- SG: Tee-to-Green – 16th
Low-Tier Pick:
Byeong Hun An (Odds: 100/1, FPPG: 70.6, GPFP: 56.45 Salary: $6,800)
If you can finish inside the top-10 of a strong field event while losing strokes with the putter there’s one conclusion we can draw: from tee-to-green, Byeong Hun An was exceptional at Bay Hill.
That’s backed up by the stats too, so the Korean can be confident heading to Sawgrass.
Like Matsuyama, he will need to find something with the flat stick in the next few days, but if he can connect all parts of his game then another strong showing is in the offing.
And if he does miss the greens, we would expect the PGA TOUR’s premier chipper to still make magic happen.
Key Stats:
- SG: Around-the-Green – 1st
- SG: Tee-to-Green – 4th
- Scoring Average – 46th
Sleeper Pick for THE PLAYERS Championship
Patrick Cantlay (Odds: 45/1, FPPG: 88.6, GPFP: 70.85 Salary: $8,600)
If you find yourself with some cash to burn in the upper-mid price range, the sadistic Cantlay could be a wise selection.
Why is he such a sadist? Well, that’s simple: he seems to love playing golf at Pete Dye courses.
He finished T7 at the RBC Heritage last year and T15 in the Travellers Championship, both played at Dye tracks, and has banked back-to-back top-25s at Sawgrass too, including sitting T2 here at the halfway stage in 2018: no mean feat (take a look at the course history of most to see why).
The West Coast boy has played well on Bermuda before, and so he could be a high-salaried sleeper to cherish in Ponte Vedra.
Key Stats:
- Scoring Average – 2nd
- SG: Tee-to-Green – 7th
- Par 4 Birdie or Better Leaders – 10th
Alternative Sleeper Pick for THE PLAYERS Championship
Jason Kokrak (Odds: 125/1, FPPG: 78.7 ,GPFP: 84.23 Salary: $6,700)
There’s some fantastic value around this week, as you would expect from a strong field event, and Jason Kokrak looks a steal at this kind of price.
In his T10 effort at Bay Hill, Kokrak ranked first for Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, and that’s the kind of form that tends to travel nicely.
So why is he such a low price? Well, the Sawgrass formline does not make for pretty reading, but as we’ve seen in the past champions at this track don’t necessarily have the strongest of form at the course.
And besides, it’s unlikely the 33-year-old has ever made the trip to Ponte Vedra in such good heart as he is in right now.
Key Stats:
- SG: Tee-to-Green – 8th
- Greens in Regulation – 24th
- Par 4 Scoring Average – 25th
This Week’s Sample DraftKings Lineup
Note: Sample lineups provided as examples only. Be sure to mix-and-match players to best fit individual contests.
[/membership]
Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2018-2019)
Remember to visit our private Facebook group to discuss this week’s picks for THE PLAYERS Championship with other Premium Members.
Cover Photo via Instagram
What’s Really Going on with LIV Golf?
Blind Ranking The Most Iconic Masters Moments
FIRST LOOK: Titleist Unveils New Vokey WedgeWorks Grind Lineup
New Shot Scope LM1: The Best Budget Launch Monitor Under $200?
Did LIV Golf Finally Get its Big Breakthrough?
FIRST LOOK: Titleist’s New GTS Driver Lineup Spotted on Tour
New Shot Scope LM1: The Best Budget Launch Monitor Under $200?
FIRST LOOK: Titleist Unveils New Vokey WedgeWorks Grind Lineup
Did LIV Golf Finally Get its Big Breakthrough?
Blind Ranking The Most Iconic Masters Moments
We Played This Old Golf Course Where Thomas Edison Was A Member
Are You MEASURING Your Golf Swing Correctly? (This Can Help)
Zach Johnson Explains Why He Didn’t Pick Bryson DeChambeau for the Ryder Cup
Justin Thomas FIRES Coach before Ryder Cup…Who’s Next?
Thanks guys!