Fantasy Golf Picks & Predictions – 2016 Nedbank Golf Challenge

European Tour Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions for the Nedbank Golf Challenge

The 2016 Nedbank Golf Challenge Fantasy Preview

The European Tour’s final series continues in Sun City, South Africa this week as players attempt to improve their standing in the Race to Dubai at the 2016 Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by golf legend Gary Player.

With The Black Knight calling South Africa home, it is no surprise that he is hosting this tournament at his own course; Gary Player Country Club, a long par-72, 7,831-yard course which bodes well to those who carry a long, yet accurate driver in their bag.  The event has been around since 1981, but has been an official stop on the European Tour since 2013 when it was co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour and has become a tourney in which many of the biggest names in the world attend as evidenced by the champions in previous years.  This installment will mark the first time that it is attached only to the European Tour and will be at the end of the year instead of the beginning.

Martin Kaymer (2012), Lee Westwood (2010, 2011), Henrik Stenson (2008), Jim Furyk (2005, 2006), Sergio Garcia (2001, 2003), Ernie Els (1999, 2000, 2002), and a slew of others showcase the caliber of player who is able to win at this event.  Much of the reason that such an impressive list of golfers has taken home the trophy here is because of the limited field size, and in 2016 there will be the top-67 men from the Race to Dubai rankings who can attend.  Last year, Australian Marc Leishman dominated the rest of the strong field, leaving runner-up Henrik Stenson in the dust by six strokes behind his 19-under performance.

As mentioned previously, the field will be a strong one as the players who have performed best in European Tour sanctioned events will be in attendance.  Each of the top-10 players from the Race to Dubai, with the exception of No. 3 Rory McIlroy, will be teeing it up this week.

Currently, Henrik Stenson holds the top spot thanks to top-seven showing at six of his last seven outings.  Over that stretch he has been able to capture victories at the BMW International and Open Championship while coming in as the runner-up at the Olympics and HSBC Champions.  He is followed closely in the race by Masters Champion Danny Willett who has been playing very poor of late; placing no better than 68^th in his three outings since Europe’s Ryder Cup loss.

Some of the other favorites according to Vegas include Ross Fisher, Alexander Noren, Martin Kaymer, Charl Schwartzel, Thomas Pieters, Branden Grace, Andy Sullivan, Louis Oosthuizen, Rafael Cabrera Bello, and Tyrell Hatton all at 25/1 odds or better.

In a smaller field event such as this one you need to make sure you are taking a couple of chances as the chalk plays will be owned by a larger number of daily fantasy players.  That said, here are some names at all different price ranges to give your DFS search an edge this week.

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The Nedbank Golf Challenge Fantasy Picks and Predictions

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The Nedbank Golf Challenge Fantasy Picks

Thomas Pieters – $9,400 – Pieters has fallen off a little of late, but the 24-year-old is one of the most talented players hitting the links each week out.  Previous to his past three outings, in which he has a mediocre average placing of 32^nd, he had three consecutive finishes in the top-four with a win at the Made in Denmark Open and a runner-up in the Czech Masters.  His stroke average of 70.33 ranks 12^th on the European Tour thanks to his length off the tee (301.5 yards per, 14^th on Tour) and solid putter (1.76 putts per GIR, 45^th on Tour), so he will have no issues navigating this long course layout.  Watch for Pieters to get off his recent stretch of rough outings with a bang this week.

Tyrell Hatton – $9,100 – We will stop playing Hatton when he stops playing at such a high level, it’s that simple.  Coming into this week, he is fourth in the Race to Dubai following a trip to the weekend in 18-of-22 (82%) tournaments played.  Not only is he getting into the money, but he has an average finish of 28.81 and has been in the top-10 at half of his previous 10 outings.  Hatton is coming off another top-10 just last week at the Turkish Airlines Open, doing well across the board with driving accuracy (62.5%, 31^st in event), greens in regulation (77.8%, 26^th in event), and putts per round (30, 30^th in event).  This is similar to what we have been seeing all season long as he is fourth on Tour with a stroke average of 69.9 despite being no higher than 36^th in any primary statistic.  His well rounded approach to the game should allow him to have both a tremendous floor and ceiling; a perfect combo for DFS.

Louis Oosthuizen – $8,000 – Oosthuizen stays close to home for this outing and will look to improve on some already impressive performances at Gary Player’s course.  He followed up his seventh in 2014 with a solid 11^th last year; combining to go eight-under over the two years.  While he comes into this week not playing the best golf, he has made the cut at each of his last seven events and placed in the top-18 at four straight tourneys between August and September.  The 25^th ranked golfer in the world has eight European Tour victories to his name, one coming earlier this year at the ISPS HANDA Perth International, and should be able to use his length off the tee (297.3 yards per, 28^th on Tour) and ability to hit greens in regulation (73.3%, 20^th on Tour) to be in contention for another win in Sun City.

Richard Bland – $7,600 – Just like Hatton, we will continue to ride Bland until he falls off, and with the way he is playing, that does not look to be coming anytime soon.  His rise to this point was certainly a surprise to everyone after never doing better than 65^th in the Race to Dubai in any season since his first full campaign in 2002.  Yet, he comes in ranked 25^th and has made it into the money nearly each week out (25-of-28).  He continued his solid play last week with a tie for 17^th and has now earned a top-30 in his last 11 tournaments.  Bland still does not own a win on the European Tour over his career, so his ceiling is not quite as high for GPPs, but he is perfect in cash games and should be used plenty at this price point.

Nacho Elvira – $7,500 – Elvira is lightning in a bottle right now and is certainly not a sure thing, but has found his stroke lately with a top-10 in three of the past four events played.  He has earned consecutive visits to ninth place at the Portugal Masters and Turkish Airlines Open while posting his second top-three at the Italian Open where he went 18 shots under par.  Nacho has enough distance with his driver (291.9 yards per, 66^th on Tour) to stay with a majority of the field and should be feeling a ton of confidence in his first visit to Gary Play Country Club.

Joakim Lagergren – $7,300 – Although Lagergren is not a household name, he has been playing like one and seems underpriced despite facing some serious talent.  He is one of the best putters in the field this week, ranking eighth in putts per GIR (1.724) and 26^th in putts per round (28.8), and has parlayed that into one of the better stroke averages out there (70.69, 26^th on Tour).  The results continue to pour in as well, and since the end of August he is 7-of-9 (78%) in cuts made and has earned a top-20 on six occasions; including in each of his last four tournaments.  His momentum should help him into another top-20 as he aims at showing he can compete with some of the best the game has to offer in the Nedbank Challenge.

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