2014 Fantasy GolfChris Garosi

Daily Fantasy Golf Strategy: Farmers Insurance Open

farmers open
The Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines

 

We are back this week for another look at Daily Fantasy PGA at DraftKings. It was a tough week last week as I missed on winner Brooks Koepka and put Gary Woodland in a lot of my lineups. You still could have won money with my picks, but there were too players who I liked who missed the cut. We were done in a bit but the unusual (for Arizona) weather on Friday. But, the key to PGA DFS is playing every week while managing your bankroll. Let’s see if I can help you out this week.

This week we head to California and the Farmers Insurance Open. We won’t see the debauchery of last week, but we will see a classic course on the coast with beautiful views galore.

And the two players in the field who have had the most success at this course are Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. And we know how it’s gone hitching your wagon to those two horses recently.

It’s a great week to check out DraftKings as they have some top notch contests. Come on over and take a look.

Tour Stop

This week’s tour stop is the Famers Insurance Open at the Torrey Pines (South Course) in La Jolla, California. The tournament actually puts players on the North Course for one round and the South Course for three rounds. The South Course plays at 7,698 yards and a par 72 while the North Course is significantly shorter (and easier) at just 7,052 yards and also a par 72. You can view both courses here.

Field

We will have 13 of the top 25 world rankings at Torrey Pines. We also see the return of the suspended Dustin Johnson this week.

The full field can be found here.

Also, thanks to GolfOdds.com for the odds this week. If you’d like to see a second set of odds, check out the Betting Zone’s odds here – just click on this week’s tournament on the left hand pane.

Past Tournament Results

2014 Winner: Scott Stallings worked his way through a five-way tie by picking up a birdie on the 18th and watching others falter. He is back to defend his title this week.

Here is the top 20 from last year’s tournament

2014 Farmers Insurance Open Top 20
2014 Farmers Insurance Open Top 20

First a quick note and then on to the picks. I’ve been fighting some sort of illness for the last couple of days that has kept me mostly bedridden. So, if you see something below that doesn’t make sense, don’t blame my editors. Blame the haze of illness and drop me a note.

DraftKings Expert Picks

K.J. Choi |$7,600 – Choi has back to back top 10s at Torrey Pines and always seems to play the left coast well. He’s favorably priced off a tie for 22nd at the Waste Management where he played only one round in the 70s.

Jason Day |$14,700 – As I’ve stated previously, if he’s in a tourney, I almost have to recommend him. You’ll need to find some bargains elsewhere to balance your lineup (but that’s what I’m here for!). Day has played here five times, but he’s got two top 10s in the last two appearances. He’s as safe as any player.

Also, as I noted last week, I won’t cover all of the top names, but anyone that is priced at $9000 or higher is a solid option again this week with the exception of Phil and Bill Haas (still worried about his wrist injury). You can put just about any of them in your lineup and be safe in the knowledge that they should come through with a solid performance.

Graham DeLaet |$10,200 – I faded him last week and it burned me. I hope to learn from my mistake last week. I’m not in the camp that believes DeLaet has to win sometime, but I certainly believed he’s fixed any of his putting issues. He’s been here four times. He’s made the top 10 twice, he’s missed the cut twice. The two top 10s are the last two years. Withdrew due to the flu.

Jamie Donaldson | $7,500 – What I wrote about Donaldson last week, still stands. The Welshman is one my favorite players on any tour as he just seems to have fun wherever he goes. He finished outside the top 25 for the first time this year in last week’s tour stop. But, his skills are still top notch.

Charles Howell III |$6,900 – Howell is not a threat to win this week, but he’s certainly a safe play to make the cut. He’s got five top 10s in 12 appearances here. He hasn’t been great in early 2015 (though he’s only missed on cut in the year), but his history here is hard to pass up.

Fredrik Jacobson | $6,500 – Jacobson doesn’t have a great record here, but his work last week was impressive if you remove his rain-affected second round. He’s worst round outside of Friday’s 73 was a 68 and he closed strong with a 64.

Dustin Johnson | $9,200 – Johnson is back off a six-month layoff for either a drug suspension or time to clear his head (or something in between). I rarely recommend someone coming off such a layoff, but his history here (and on the West Coast in general) gives me confidence. He’s not great here (six starts, five cuts made, two top 20s), but he has success on other West Coast courses.

Colt Knost | $6,000 – I wanted desperately for Knost to get into the tourney last week, but alas my dreams were dashed. However, he does get to tee it up this week. I’ll say the same thing as last week. This will be Knost’s fourth appearance here and he’s never finished higher than a tie for 72nd (and he’s only missed one cut!). He’s coming off a top 20 finish two weeks ago with a closing round of 63. Knost also led the Humana in Driving Accuracy at 85.2% (which will be key with the tight fairways and punitive rough). Knost has back to back top 20 finishes and has made three cuts in a row.

Marc Leishman | $9,000 – Leishman has six appearances here and has three top 10s. His last missed cut was the Barclays in late 2014. He did fire a 62 in the second round on his last time out.

Bill Lunde | $4,000 – San Diego born, Lunde is likely off most radars this week as he hasn’t played here in three years. But, he made three cuts in a row prior. His last time out he tied for 41st at the Humana, but he closed with back to back rounds of 67.

Jarrod Lyle |$3,700 – Lyle is back again as a high risk option. He’s only played four times here though he’s made the cut each time (highest finish is a tie for 42nd). However, he’s played par 5s pretty well so far this year as he’s 28 th in par 5 scoring on tour and there are eight par 5s on this course.

Pat Perez | $7,300 – Perez tied for second here last year and has made 13 starts with only one other top 10 finish though he did rip off three straight top 25s before last year. He’s a West Coast star (not Tupac level, but hey few were) and he finished tied for 26th last week.

Hideki Matsuyama | $ 11,700 – Matsuyama is getting to be nearly an automatic option each week. He’s only played here once with a tie for 16th last year being his only result. However, he’s coming off a tie for second last week and has four top 10s in 2015 without missing a cut.

Seung-Yul Noh | $6,800 – Noh is in the same bucket as Freddie Jacobson, but with better course history and a worse closing round at the Waste Management. Noh has played here three times, made the cut three times and slid in for a tie for tenth last year.

Brandt Snedeker |$10,400 – Snedeker has five top 10 finishes here in only eight appearances. He missed the cut last year, but we’ll take that as anomaly. He’s been in great form with three top 10s already this year including last week at the Waste Management Open where he fired a final round 66.

Nick Watney |$7,700 – Watney has five top 10s including in a win in his 10 appearances at Torrey Pines. He missed the cut last week, so that gives me some pause. However, that’s been Watney this year as he’s gone 85th, tie for 16 th, missed cut, missed cut, 14th, missed cut. He’s a highly volatile option for you risk takers out there.

Jimmy Walker |$14,000 – If the course is in California, then Walker is on my list. Yes, he missed the cut last year, but he was sick all week so we’ll give him a pass. He had back to back top 10s prior to that missed cut. Oh, he also leads the FedEx Cup points standings.

Gary Woodland | $9,200 – I’d hoped to see Woodland drop a bit more off his missed cut last week, but it’s not to be. He opened with a 70 and then struggled in the afternoon rain to a 74 to miss the cut by one. I’ll get back on this horse as he has the length to overcome the monster South Course.

Phil Mickelson ($9,500) and Tiger Woods ($8900)| Pass and double pass. Woods looked like a rank amateur last week compared to the other touring pros and Phil’s game is still too up and down to trust him at a near premium price. You can do better this week and hope that they both find their games of yore.

I think you need good to great golfers this week. You may be able to sneak a scrub by (with Lunde being my favorite of the low-end options), but you need good ball strikers or long hitters who can keep the ball in play.

Good luck this week! Head over to DraftKings to choose your squad for this week.

DraftKings Scoring

Roster size: 6 Golfers

POINT SCORING

Golfers on each team will accumulate points as follows:

  • Per Hole Scoring
    • Double Eagle (DBL EAG): +20 PTs
    • Eagle (EAG): +8 PTs
    • Birdie (BIR): +3 PTs
    • Par (PAR): +0.5 PTs
    • Bogey (BOG): -0.5 PTs
    • Double Bogey (DBL BOG): -1 PT
    • Worse than Double Bogey (WORSE DBL BOG): -1 PT
  • Tournament Finish Scoring
    • 1st: 30 PTs
    • 2nd: 20 PTs
    • 3rd: 18 PTs
    • 4th: 16 PTs
    • 5th: 14 PTs
    • 6th: 12 PTs
    • 7th: 10 PTs
    • 8th: 9 PTs
    • 9th: 8 PTs
    • 10th: 7 PTs
    • 11th–15th: 6 PTs
    • 16th–20th: 5 PTs
    • 21st–25th: 4 PTs
    • 26th–30th: 3 PTs
    • 31st–40th: 2 PTs
    • 41st-50th: 1 PTs
  • Streaks and Bonuses
    • Streak of 3 Birdies of Better (MAX 1 Per Round) (3+ BIR STRK): +3 PTs
    • Bogey Free Round (BOG FREE RD): +3 PTs
    • All 4 Rounds Under 70 Strokes (ALL 4 RDS UND 70): +5 PTs
    • Hole in One (HOLE IN ONE): +10 PTs

Scoring Notes: Ties for a finishing position will not reduce or average down points. For example, if 2 golfers tie for 3rd place, each will receive the 18 fantasy points for the 3rd place finish result. Playoff Holes will not count towards final scoring, with the exception of the “finishing position” scoring. For example, the golfer who wins the tournament will receive the sole award of 1st place points, but will not accrue points for their scoring result in the individual playoff holes.

Player Lock Notes: All golfers lock at the time the first golfer tees off on day 1 of an event.

Full rules are located here for DraftKings golf.

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