Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – Dean & Deluca Invitational

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the Dean & Deluca Invitational

Dean & Deluca Invitational Fantasy Preview

And so it continues.  After Si-Woo Kim chalked up a victory for the underdogs at THE PLAYERS Championship a couple of weeks ago, we were treated to another unlikely victor in Billy Horschel at the AT&T Byron Nelson last time out.

Ironically, the seeds of Billy Ho’s success were sown at TPC Sawgrass.  After dumping his tee shot into the drink at the infamous seventeenth, Horschel was reportedly on the verge of withdrawing from the event after becoming increasingly disillusioned with his game.

His caddie, Josh Cassell, intervened, telling his employer that ‘you know what?  We’re going to go next week to Dallas, to the Byron Nelson – and we’re going to win.’  Whether such prophetic words were meant genuinely or merely as an attempt to spur Horschel on we’ll never know, but clearly they resonated with the former FedExCup winner.  He missed the cut at THE PLAYERS – his fourth missed weekend in a row – but travelled to TPC Four Seasons with renewed vigor.

Despite needing a playoff to vanquish Jason Day, after Jason Kokrak and James Hahn had both relinquished the lead at various stages of the event, Horschel’s move through the field had a sense of certainty.  As underdog tales go, in context, this was up there with Si-Woo’s epic antics a week prior.

The PGA TOUR stays in Texas this week and rolls through to Fort Worth and Colonial Country Club, one of the most picturesque settings on the Tour.  The Dean & Deluca Invitational may have changed names countless times over the years (due to sponsorship of course), but it remains one of the most reliably brilliant tournaments in the calendar.

Last Week’s Fantasy Results from AT&T Byron Nelson

Our boys got off to a roaring start with guys like Cauley, Johnson, and Leishman running hot before the weekend caught up with them.  Despite the cool off, Cauley was our best pick of the week with a T5 finish and 88.5 fantasy points, while DJ (78 FP) and Lieshman (76.5) both finished T13.  Brooks Koepka was running hot out of the gate with with opening 67-69 before also getting tripped up over the weekend.  Regardless of the difficult weekend performances, all seven fantasy selections (including sleepers) made the cut.

The Tuesday Sleeper Report contained Dufner as the Top “go-to” sleeper and the Duf-man answered with a solid T13 finish including 13 birdies and 1 eagle along the way.

As for our FanDuel picks, we caught Taylor (T9), Cauley (T5), Kang (T20), Zanzotti (MC) for rounds one and two and Leishman (T13), Dustin Johnson (T13) and Tony Finau (T13 – 65/69 weekend) for rounds three and four.

2017 Dean & Deluca Invitational Field

So, these past few weeks we have witnessed a ‘surprise’ champion at THE PLAYERS and Byron Nelson….and you know what?  That trend could continue this week as well.

Why?  Well we have a trio at the head of the field who have question marks next to their name.  Jordan Spieth is really out of form, Jon Rahm is not delivering his best golf at present, and Sergio Garcia has struggled to hold it together for four rounds in his outings since his Masters triumph.

The next rung of players – Paul Casey, Matt Kuchar, Phil Mickelson, Kevin Kisner – are all outstanding talents but also guys who, in 2017, simply don’t win enough tournaments to justify their short prices with the sportsbooks.

And so that leaves the door ajar for others….will a young contender such as Adam Hadwin, Tony Finau, or Bud Cauley take advantage?  Or maybe this will be a week for the wily old campaigners – Jason Dufner, Charley Hoffman, Zach Johnson et al – to flourish?

This Week’s Course Preview

There are obvious similarities between Colonial Country Club and TPC Four Seasons, although in some respects these are merely incidental.  Both are Par 70, both are short (Colonial plays just 38 yards longer at 7,204 yards), and both are in Texas, and so harsh winds are experienced at both.  But that’s pretty much where the similarities end.

Colonial is tighter and tree-lined, so the wind can be less of a factor, and the greens are Bentgrass rather than Bermuda.  These run at around 12 on the stimp too, so are faster than those experienced last week.

The lack of length means that many holes are dog-legged, which requires excellent course management to negotiate, with water in play on six holes and strategically-placed bunkers keeping the hazard count high.

Jordan Spieth’s winning mark of -17 last year suggests the course is tameable, although the tale of the tape is that in eight attempts at the pair of Par 5s he birdied them seven times, so the secret to success at Colonial is fairly self-explanatory!

Weather Forecast for Fort Worth, Texas

There are bits and pieces of rain around in Fort Worth on Monday and Tuesday, although Wednesday is set to be an absolute scorcher of a day and so the course should be in immaculate condition for the Thursday start.

And then the four days of the tournament itself should be a fairly mixed bag.  Winds are going to be as strong as ever in these parts – 22 mph is a conservative estimate for Thursday and Friday – although rain should, thankfully, be at a minimum.

The pick of the days could well be Saturday, with lots of sunny spells expected.

Last Year’s Results from the Dean & Deluca Invitational

Jordan Spieth finally got off the mark in his home state here 12 months ago, winning by three strokes over Harris English.

It was a huge moment for Spieth, who finally got the Texan monkey off his back after going close at Colonial in the past, and it was especially poignant as it came so close to his heartbreaking collapse at Augusta just a matter of weeks before.

It was his putting, as has often been the case over the years, that got him out of jail after some errant shots threatened to derail his title bid.  On three separate occasions he holed out from more than 12 feet after running into trouble on approach; most famously on the seventeenth when his errant iron shot struck the leg of a marshal and ricocheted into short rough rather than continue on its path to the long stuff.

Another Texan, Ryan Palmer, got close in third – at one point he was just one stroke behind Spieth – and both local favorites earned a rapturous response as they played out the final hole.

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Where to Play Fantasy Golf for the Dean & Deluca Invitational this Week

If variety is the spice of life, then DraftKings is here with a red-hot offering of contests this week.  It’s also worth noting that there will be no FanDuel golf contests this week.  FanDuel sent out a message earlier today stating that golf contests will be closed while they re-work their format.  We can’t wait to see what those changes will be!

Meanwhile, on DraftKings there’s something for players of all budgets to sink their teeth into, and we’ve picked out two at each end of the monetary spectrum:

• PGA $400k Up and Down: This popular tournament is back and promises a rather handsome $50,000 bounty for the winner of this $36 buy-in contest.
• PGA $250k Best Ball: DK are trialing a new series of contests at ‘slightly above budget’ price, so this competition comes with an $8 buy-in for a $250k prize kitty.  First place trousers a cool $25,000.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the Dean & Deluca Invitational

The sheer nature of this Colonial Country Club test assures that a certain type of player thrives.  You must be accurate off the tee, gain plenty of strokes from tee to green and putt well on what are some of the fastest greens outside of the majors.

It’s a formula that served Jordan Spieth well 12 months ago.  His performance was fairly average by all accounts from tee to green, but he came alive on the dancefloor by gaining a considerable +2.279 strokes on the field with his putter.  These fast Bentgrass greens take no prisoners.

This might only be a small angle in, but playing well at the Byron Nelson a week before could be useful for success at Colonial.  In 2016 the likes of Matt Kuchar (3-6), Kyle Reifers (10-5), Chad Campbell (12-10), Jason Dufner (18-6), and Spieth himself (18-1) all went back-to-back to some degree, and so maybe that’s a line worth pursuing this week.

Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the Dean & Deluca Invitational

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Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2016-2017)

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Cover Photo via Instagram