Fantasy Golf Picks & Predictions – The 100th Open de France

Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions for the 100th Open de France

The 100th Open de France Fantasy Preview

The Open de France is one of the oldest tournaments out there, and this will be the 100^th installment of the event.  In all but two years since 1991, the tournament has called Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France home, and the rise in the prize pool has attracted many of the top European golfers.  The par-71, 7,331-yard course has earned plenty of praise since being established in 1990, and will be the host of the 2018 Ryder Cup as a result.

Plenty of the top players in the world are choosing to head to France rather than to Akron, Ohio, where the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational is being held.  Official World Golf Rankings No. 4 golfer Rory McIlroy will lead the pack in France by a large margin, and will be joined at the top by Masters champion Danny Willett, two-time major winner Martin Kaymer, and two-time winner of this event, Graeme McDowell.  Other top golfers from the OWGR top-50 will also be converging on France this week, with No. 23 Chris Wood, No. 31 Rafael Cabrera Bello, No. 35 Lee Westwood, No. 37 Matthew Fitzpatrick, No. 42 Andy Sullivan, No. 49 Kiradech Aphibarnrat, and 2015 champion No. 50 Bernd Wiesberger all teeing it up.

Wiesberger was the first Austrian-born player to win this event, earning his third career European TOUR victory last year with a score of 13-under-par.  He beat out James Morrison by three strokes thanks to rounds of 66 and 65 over the weekend while the leaders heading into Sunday, Rafael Cabrera Bello, Martin Kaymer, and Victor Dubuisson, could not keep up.  He will look to become the sixth golfer in the tourney’s history to win in consecutive years, joining Peter Oostherhuis, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Jean-Francois Ramesy, and Graeme McDowell.  Ballesteros was the most dominant player here, winning four times overall (1977, 1982, 1985, 1986), and holds the tournament record with a score of 21-under-par back in 1985.

Building a successful lineup for DFS means you need to get the expensive player right and pair him with some lesser-known options that may not be on many other players’ minds.  That said, here are our thoughts on golfers this week at all different price ranges.

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100th Open de France Fantasy Picks and Predictions

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100th Open de France Fantasy Picks

Top Option – Martin Kaymer – $10,900 – In Kaymer’s last six events, he has seen his way into the top seven three times, and has held his own in major tournaments in between.  He’s coming off a 37^th at the U.S. Open, an event he won in 2014, and will be looking for his second win in this event–he first took home the trophy back in 2009 when he defeated Lee Westwood in a playoff.  Since then, he has continued to perform exceptionally in France, with a top-13 showing in 6-of-7 years, and earning a fourth just last year.  Kaymer has not been able to get a top-three finish this year between the two major tours, but he should have no issues turning it around this week and will allow you to diversify your team from the highly-owned Rory McIlroy.

Mid-Tier – Chris Wood – $9,400 – By picking up Kaymer (instead of the high priced McIlroy), it allows players to get in on Wood as well, and the current No. 23 golfer in the world is one of the hottest coming into this week.  The 28-year-old out of England grabbed his third European Tour win with a big showing at the BMW PGA Championship, and has been on a high since, with a tie for sixth in the Lyoness Open and a tie for 23^rd at the tough U.S. Open just a few weeks ago.  Wood has earned his way into the top-10 a dozen times since the beginning of last year, and has three other top-10’s besides his win in 2016 thanks to his putter, which has aided him in getting 1.763 putts per GIR (53^rd on TOUR) and 28.9 putts per round (37^th on TOUR).  He has never played well here before, but with his recent string of success, he is poised to breakout in a big way.

Mid-Tier – Rikard Karlberg – $7,700 – Karlberg has been as good as can be without being able to get a victory this year, and coming into this week, he has placed in the top-20 in five of his last six events.  His scoring average of 70.72 is ninth-best on the European Tour, and he gets to that point thanks to his length off the tee (294.7 yards, 53^rd on TOUR) and his ability to knock it in consistently with his putter (28.8 putts per round, 28^th on Tour).  While Karlberg has been unable to make the cut in his two visits to this tourney, he is having by far the best season of his career, and will be a force to be reckoned with in France this week.

Mid-Tier – Raphael Jacquelin – $7,300 – French-born Jacquelin should feel right at home at this course, and has had some strong performances here in the past.  He is coming off of a 24^th last year, but nearly took home the win back in 2012 with a third-place finish.  The 42-year-old had been doing decently at the beginning of the year, but will be feeling great coming into this tournament thanks to an eighth at the Nordea Masters and a fourth at the BMW International over his last two outings.  His putter is what will get him paid this week, as he ranks 40^th in putts per GIR (1.759) and 15^th in putts per round (28.6).  There is a lot going in Jacquelin’s favor, as he plays close to home and he will have a good chance at a great finish come the weekend.

Bargain Buy – Kristoffer Broberg – $6,500 – Broberg has not had the season he would have liked, after a fantastic beginning when he finished in the top-35 during three of his first four starts.  Since then, his best showing has been a tie for 38^th in the Shenzhen International while missing half of his cuts in his last 10 tournaments.  With that said, he has always performed much better when heading to France behind three straight top-25’s in as many years.  His last two have each been a 12^th, and an outing like that from someone at such a nice price is exactly what you are looking for.  Broberg will continue to putt well (1.732 putts per GIR, 15^th on TOUR) and should provide great value if that is what you need.

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