We are back this week for another look at Daily Fantasy PGA at DraftKings. It wasn’t a great week for me as I had a lot of the top players identified but went too heavily with B.J. Holmes and he crushed me.

We say sayonara to Florida and head to Texas, San Antonio specifically for the Valero Texas Open. Let’s see if I can help you out this week.

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

We head off to Texas to the Valero Texas Open played at TPC San Antonio on the AT&T Oaks course. The Oaks course is a par-72, 7,435 yard course with Bermudagrass on the greens yet again. It’s a long course, but the narrow fairways and punitive bunkers take some of the air out of the long hitters’ ability to outdrive the hazards.

The tournament has been held at TPC San Antonio since 2010 so any results prior to 2010 aren’t useful in evaluating course history.

The weather looks like it should be good with the exception of Thursday where thunderstorms may push tees back a bit and the wind looks to be a factor as well. Once past Thursday, it should be smooth sailing.

Scorecard breakdown: Four (4) par threes, ten (10) par fours and four (4) par fives. The four toughest holes on the course are all par fours, so we’ll want to focus on par four scoring again this week.

Field

We go back to a full field for this event and as of this writing, we have 15 of the top 30 in OWGR in the field. We also need to turn our focus to the Texans on Tour and ignore (perhaps) the Floridians we’ve targeted the last few weeks.

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: Steven Bowditch somehow won even after putting up a final round 76. He was helped as the rest of the leader board cratered along with him in windy Sunday conditions and no one could make a charge.

Last year, Matt Kuchar finished fourth in the tournament and was in the top 10 in driving accuracy, proximity and scrambling. The winner Bowditch was in the top 15 in driving distance, greens in regulation (GIR) and scrambling.

In looking at past results, you see the successful players are generally those who keep the ball out of trouble (accuracy and GIR) and can get themselves out of trouble (scrambling) if they do. You certainly don’t need to be a bomber to succeed here, but long drivers have had success here as well. We may look a bit down the driving distance list as you don’t have to crush the ball to win, but the course is long.

Here is the top 20 from last year’s tournament

DraftKings Expert Picks

Jordan Spieth | $14,000 – Spieth hails from Dallas, Texas and he’s the odds on favorite this week. He’ll be heavily owned in most formats. He finished solo tenth here last year (after opening with a 75) and he took last week off to bask in the glow of his own majestic presence (his win at the Valspar). He comes in hot and should perform well and his price isn’t quite as high as Rory McIroy’s has been in week’s past. Still, it may be difficult to put a roster together with him at the top.

Dustin Johnson | $13,200 – Johnson’s last five appearances on Tour have produced a MC, T4, T2, MC, WIN. Not too shabby. He has never played this course, but that hasn’t stopped other newbies as Brendan Steele and Ben Curtis won in back to back years in their first stop in San Antonio. He’s the longest driver on tour in 2015 and third in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green. He’s still working on his accuracy, but he’s a premium player who has shown the ability to hit greens in the past and be an average scrambler.

Jim Furyk | $11,000 – Furyk has only played this tourney three times, but his last two stops have been here in San Antonio in the last two years and he’s’ been T3 and T6. He won’t win because he just can’t seem to close out on Sunday, but his record here is impeccable and has the game to stay out of trouble (T3 in GIR, eighth in driving accuracy and a respectable T64 in scrambling).

Jimmy Walker | $10,800 – Walker missed the cut here in back to back years (2011 and 2012), but outside of those two hiccups his worst finish since the move to San Antonio has been a T31 in 2013. He finished T16 last year and that included an opening round 76. So, if he can get past the opening round jitters, he’s primed for a solid finish.

Matt Kuchar | $10,300 – Kuch has three straight top 25 finishes here including a T4 last year. He’s been fantastic this season making the cut in all eight tournaments. He has “struggled” lately with this two worst finishes of the season (T30 and T33) over this last three tour stops. But, his game sets up perfectly for this course as he sits 20th in driving accuracy, 4th in scrambling (after finishing 12th last year). He’s my premium player this week.

Zach Johnson | $10,100 – Johnson won this tournament in back to back years (2008 and 2009), but neither win was at the TPC. He missed the cut the first year the tournament moved, but then didn’t appear again until last year and picked up a T6. He closed out the Arnold Palmer with a finishing round of 66 (tied for the low Sunday round) so he’s got momentum coming into the Valero.

Ryan Palmer | $10,000 – Palmer’s history at the course is nothing special with two top 15s and a missed cut over the last five years. He is however from Texas which means his course history SHOULD be better. On the season he’s only missed one cut in seven tournaments and his worst finish is T25. His accuracy off the tee (165th) concerns me, but he ranks 19th in scrambling and ninth in strokes gained: tee to green so he makes up for that inaccuracy.

Martin Kaymer | $9,800 – This is Kaymer’s first trek to San Antonio so we don’t have any history to go on. He’s not a standout in any one category, but he’s an all-around excellent golfer who finished 28th in all around ranking in 2014, but I’ll probably look for a different player at this tier.

Phil Mickelson| $9,600 – Mickelson tees it up this week and odds makers like his chances installing him as the ninth best chance to win. DraftKings agrees also making him the ninth most expensive player on the board. Mickelson has only played this course once and that was last year and he withdrew. He’s on a little bit of a roll as he’s made back to back cuts with a T17 at the Honda (where he sat on the leader board until Sunday) and a T31 at the Cadillac so he might be a reasonable risk.

Kevin Na | $9,400 – Na has elevated to #22 in the OWGR off the strength of three straight top 10 finishes. He’s played this course three times and missed the cut once, withdrew once and finished T11 (last year). His form is better than anyone not named Jordan Spieth and his price is below the premium players so he still has some room to earn a profit.

Harris English | $9,200 – English’s history here is nondescript with his two trips resulting in a T67 and T61 in 2012 and 2013. He sat out last year, but he’s back this year because he’s still not qualified for the Masters. A leader board finish will get him into Augusta so he has everything to play for and with eight of nine cuts made on the season he’s been steady if unspectacular.

Martin Laird | $9,100 – Laird won here in 2013 and then promptly missed the cut last year. His only other trek around the AT&T Oaks course resulted in a T9 in 2011 so he can clearly handle the course. After back to back top 10s to start February, he’s slowed a bit to a T33 at Valspar and T43 at the Arnold Palmer. He’s a bit overpriced (two slots higher in salary than the odds makers feel he deserves), but that’s probably the winner’s premium so I’ll gladly pay it this week.

Brendan Steele | $8,800 – Steele’s trend line at the Valero is heading in the wrong direction. Since 2011 he’s finished: WIN, T4, T46, MC. That’s a troubling trend. However, his form is tough to ignore without missing a cut in all 10 tournaments this season. This isn’t a value play on DraftKings, but more of a safe choice as he’s been between 62 and 78.5 points in all but one of his tourneys this season.

Jason Kokrak | $8,500 – Kokrak is hot with back to back top 10 finishes on tour entering this week. He finished T31 here last year and had a T15 the prior year. He’s another inaccurate driver (158th in driving accuracy) who can scramble (31 st in scrambling) so as long as he keeps the ball in play he should be able to get out of trouble.

Matt Jones | $8,400 – Jones hasn’t played here since 2012, but he had a little success in the three years he teed it up in San Antonio (T22, MC, T32). He comes in hot though with three straight top 15 finishes including a solo third at the Arnold Palmer last week. His salary keeps moving up, but it’s still not outrageous. And I certainly rather have him at $8,400 than…

Graeme McDowell | $8,400 – McDowell has been pretty horrific since coming to the States in March. He’s played three tournaments, missed the cut twice and picked up a T56 (at the Cadillac). Yuck. He currently has the 25th best odds to win the tournament, but is 16th in salary registering as the worst value in the top 50 DraftKings salaries. He may right the ship here in his debut trip to the Valero, but it will be on someone else’s roster.

Charley Hoffman | $8,300 – Hoffman’s worst finish at the TPC is T13 in 2010 and 2012. He has two top 10s in those five years as well. He’s priced like an average golfer, but has been anything but in his time at the TPC San Antonio. He also offers the best value of the top 20 salaries on DraftKings versus the odds as his salary slot is four spots lower than his odds to win the tournament. He will likely be a staple of my cash game lineups.

Sean O’Hair | $8,100 – O’Hair missed the cut last year in his only trip to TPC San Antonio. However, he’s looked like a new man with four straight top 30 finishes and six straight cuts made. He could be worth a gamble in a GPP when there aren’t a lot of other indicators (other than form) pointing you to him.

Daniel Berger | $8,000 – As predicted last week, Berger bounced back off a missed cut to finish T13. He’s going to be challenged a bit by the narrower fairways this week, but he’s shown some ability to scramble (52nd currently) so if he does get into trouble he can find his way out.

Daniel Summerhays | $7,900 – Summerhays missed the cut his first time here, but he’s been money the last three trips including back to back top 10s. He has two top 20s in his last three starts on Tour, but comes in off a T55 last week. He offers some value as well as he’s rated 21 st by odds makers, but has only the 24 th highest salary.

Gary Woodland | $7,700 – Woodland is a bomber who rarely knows where the ball is going. On a course like this he should be avoided. He’s alternated made/missed cuts in 2015 so he’s due to miss. He’s a GPP option as the volatility in his game lends itself to good scores when he’s on. You just never know when that’s going to be.

Graham Delaet | $7,500 – DeLaet’s salary has dropped like a rock and DraftKings is just begging you to pick him. He had a solid run out West, but has fallen on hard times. Even at this depressed price, I can’t recommend him as he’s only played here twice with a missed cut and a T56.

Shawn Stefani | $7,400 – Stefani’s lone stop here was in 2013 and he missed the cut. However, he’s on a roll since missing the cut at the Honda picking up a T17 at Valspar and backing that up with a T21 at Bay Hill. He isn’t a bomber, but gets the ball there (51st in driving distance) and is relatively accurate (72nd in driving accuracy, 18th in GIR). You’re buying form with Stefani this week.

Will MacKenzie | $7,300 – Mackenzie has played here every other year since the tour moved to San Antonio in 2010. His biggest success was last year’s T2 and was below par in all four rounds to boot. He has a game to fit the course (28th in driving accuracy, 14th in GIR, 12th in strokes gained: tee to green and 69th in scrambling) so he’s a good mid-level play.

Freddie Jacobson | $7,100 – He’s never finished lower than T18 in the five Valeros held at TPC San Antonio including back to back top five finishes in 2010 and 2011. There really isn’t much more to say. He isn’t in the best form, but his history says form doesn’t matter. The Valero seems to jump start this spring revival on the courses of Texas, Louisiana and Augusta.

Brian Harman | $6,700 – Harman has made the cut the last three years (his only three appearances here) with finishes of T18, T22 and T16. He comes in cold off of back to back missed cuts though he does have three top 20 finishes in 2015 so he’s been able to succeed at courses that fit his game like the TPC does.

James Hahn | $6,500 – Remember Hahn? Last time we saw him was a month ago at the Northern Trust defeating Dustin Johnson and Paul Casey in a playoff to win. He’s made the cut in every tourney in 2015 and finished T16 here last year. He doesn’t have the best statistical profile to win here, but he was solid last year so it can be done. No one will remember who he is – he’s been gone too long.

Pat Perez | $6,500 – Perez has played here infrequently, but has been successful whenever he’s been here (T11 last year, T5 in 2011 and T22 in 2010). He missed the cut last week so he’ll probably fly under the radar last week.

Danny Lee | $6,400 – Lee has no course history to speak of (he missed the cut last year and T63 in 2012), but he’s put a hurting on two tough courses the last two weeks with a T7 at Valspar and T17 at Arnold Palmer. If you buy his form, you’ll want him on your squad.

Martin Flores | $6,300 – Flores has three top 25 finishes in the last three years at the Valero Open including a T16 last year. He missed the cut last week at the Valspar, but had back to back top 20 finishes in the two prior to the Valspar. He’s also from Fort Worth, Texas and played his college golf at the University of Oklahoma.

Jerry Kelly | $6,300 – Kelly has played here the last three years and has missed the cut once and picked up a T18 and T6 (last year). He’s a course manager who should be able to succeed on this course (and his history shows he can). Kelly has a five spot positive difference between his DK salary and the odds makers thoughts so he offers a bit of value though he’s uncharacteristically missed three of his last four cuts.

Seung-Yul Noh | $6,300 – Noh has two top 20 finishes sandwiched around a T46 in the last three years at the Valero. Noh comes in cold missing the last two cuts and three of the last five so few players will be interested in this long shot.

Geoff Ogilvy | $6,100 – Ogilvy offers the second best value this week based on the odds/DraftKings salary disparity. He is 3 spots lower in salary than implied by his spot in the odds to win. Andres Gonzales ($5,400) is first with a 26 place difference. He’s played this course twice and has two top 25 finishes including a T11 last year. The Aussie isn’t afraid of poor conditions whether they be rain or wind which are both possible at TPC San Antonio. He’s made three cuts in a row, but no finish better than T46 in those three starts. He won’t be on anyone’s top picks this week, but you can snag him and enjoy the value.

Justin Leonard | $5,200 – Over the last four years, Leonard has finished no lower than T37 and no higher than T30. He’s not going to win, but he’s got a high floor and can be used to fill out a stars & scrubs lineup.

Johnson Wagner | $5,200 – Another, stars & scrubs option, Wagner has had some success here with three cuts made in five trips to the Oaks course. He finished T26 last year and also has a T15 in his past. He currently sits ninth in GIR and should have a shot here.

Colt Knost | $5,100 – You want a long shot? How about Mr. Knost. He enters the tournament on a string of four missed cuts in a row. He hasn’t seen the weekend since the AT&T in the middle of February. However, his accuracy off the tee (seventh this year) and distance from the edge of the fairway (second) means he won’t have a lot of need to pull out his mediocre scrambling skills. He’s in horrific form, but in GPPs he makes a punt play based on the stats.

Down in the weeds Steve Wheatcroft ($5,100) has been making cuts pretty regularly and Justin Hicks ($5,000) has some of the statistics (ninth in driving accuracy, tenth in distance from edge of the fairway) we look for this week, but has only made two of 13 cuts all season long. Hicks did finish solo 15th here last year.

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.