Only 98 options are available for DFS players in this week’s Dell Technologies Championship. Rickie Fowler and Francesco Molinari are sitting this one out and only the top 100 players in the FedEx Cup points standings are eligible to participate. Unlike last week’s tournament, this event has been played at TPC Boston every year since 2003, so there is plenty of course form data to rely on for the second FedEx Cup playoffs event.
Keep in mind, this is a Friday to Monday event, as the PGA Tour tries to highlight the Labor Day holiday by finishing on Monday. It won’t have a big impact this week, but it could have some carryover effect into next week’s BMW Championship at Aronimink, a course that hasn’t hosted a PGA event since 2011.
Once again, it’s tough to find a lot of non-top-10 players that win these kinds of events. Bryson DeChambeau last week was something of an outlier, although he did have eight previous top-10 finishes. As the field narrows, the stars tend to shine more.
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Value Picks
Henrik Stenson ($8,600) – If the Swede was healthy, we wouldn’t be getting this kind of price. Henrik Stenson sat out last week’s tournament with an injury, as he was a late withdrawal from the field. Stenson did not play this event last year and was 41st in 2016, but he was the runner-up in 2015 and won in 2013. The 42-year-old played well at the Masters and the US Open before the injury acted up again, but he’d certainly like to put together a few good tournaments here so that he can be selected as a captain’s pick for the Ryder Cup.
Patrick Reed ($8,400) – Patrick Reed was on the card last week, but he didn’t have a great showing. He did finish top 25, but we expected more from Captain America. Reed has played very, very well at TPC Boston. Over the last three years, Reed has finished sixth, fifth, and fourth in this tournament. He played well enough last week, but just never posted a number, as his best round came in at 4-under. He’s running a streak of 11 straight rounds of par or better at TPC Boston. If it plays to around 15-under like it was from 2014-16, Reed’s going to have a shot to be right there on the leaderboard on Monday. He’s played very solid golf here.
Tyrrell Hatton ($7,700) – This is something of a hunch, but also a course that sets up well for Tyrrell Hatton. Hatton’s final-round 64 may have kept him alive in the FedEx Cup playoffs, so he rides into this one with a little bit more confidence. He doesn’t post a lot of gaudy scores, but he’s gone five straight tournaments without posting double digits in the bogey department. Hatton was 20th last week at The Northern Trust with that final-round 64. Players from England and Northern Ireland have played pretty well here over the last two years. Paul Casey and Justin Rose were both top 10 last year. McIlroy and Casey were top 10 in 2016. Hatton has four top-20 finishes in his last six events and this isn’t a course that particularly plays well for bombers, so his style should play well here.
Kevin Na ($7,400) – Making putts is really helpful at TPC Boston, as a lot of players are able to rack up greens in regulation. Strokes are gained on this course by making your mid-range putting opportunities. It seems like Kevin Na has the flatstick working once again. Na has back-to-back top-20 finishes with 37 combined birdies. He finished sixth in this event last year at 11-under after missing out in 2016. Any time you can gamble on a player that can putt the way Na can at prices like this, it would seem to be worth a crack.
Billy Horschel ($8,100) – One of our better calls last week was Billy Horschel. His price is up $800 this week after a third-place showing at The Northern Trust. Horschel played extremely well with his irons and wedges last week and a similar showing would be helpful here. This is a guy that comes alive at these FedEx Cup playoff events. He’s still top 20 in strokes gained off-the-tee and then parlayed that into some success with strokes gained on approach. Horschel only has three bogies in his last two events, including an 11th-place finish at the Wyndham Championship. He only has one round over par in his last five events and only two in his last six events. That type of consistency is worth betting on.
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The second event of the FedEx Cup playoffs only features 97 golfers, so that means you’re going to have to dig deep to find some of those top values in DFS golf formats. That will be the case next week when the field goes down to 75 for the BMW Championship as well. Some pretty good golfers are available at decent prices this week because of how top-heavy the board is with five five-figure golfers and then others like Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler nearly pushing $10k.
We’ll try to help you with your daily fantasy golf choices by looking for the top values. Everybody can take the top guys and hope for the best, but it’s often that low-cost missing piece that makes all the difference in your GPPs, 50/50s, or H2H matchups.
New to daily fantasy sports? Need to reload? DraftKings or FanDuel are the industry leaders in ease of use and safe, free transactions. Use these tips and the tips from BangTheBook Radio on Wednesdays with our resident golf betting expert Wes Reynolds, who outlines players to take a chance on for this weekend’s event. Also, we have golf previews for the PGA event each week.
Value Picks
Charley Hoffman ($8,300) – Charley Hoffman falls just under the average price in DraftKings formats in order to fill out a roster. Hoffman is a great gamble this week at TPC Boston. He won this even back in 2010 and tied the course record set by Vijay Singh in 2008 at 22-under. Hoffman finished third in 2015, so he’s had some strong finishes since then. He’s also had some good showings lately, with a second at the RBC Canadian Open and a third at the WGC-Bridgestone. Hoffman is a pretty safe pick as well, with 20 made cuts out of 24 events this season.
Branden Grace ($7,800) – Some guys have more on the line than others this week. One of those players is Branden Grace. Grace is in need of a big showing this week because he’s in that dreaded range between 75 and 100 in the FedEx Cup standings. That could be seen as a motivational angle for picking some players this week. Grace has only missed four cuts this year, but two have been in his two most recent events. He’s generally accurate off the tee, which is extremely important at TPC Boston, where the wooded areas and the thick rough can present a huge problem. In his first TPC Boston start, Grace finished at 4-under last year.
Jason Kokrak ($7,400) – Like Branden Grace, Jason Kokrak is currently sitting below that cut line. Kokrak moved up 15 spots by sneaking into the top 25 last week at the Northern Trust. He played pretty well at the Wyndham Championship for the most part two weeks ago. Kokrak has finished in the top 20 twice over the last three years and also has one top-10 finish in that span, so he’s been a solid under-the-radar pick in this event. Hopefully that stays the same this week.
Marc Leishman ($6,900) – Perhaps we’re buying a little bit low on Marc Leishman this week. After missing the cut last week at the Northern Trust, Leishman’s price comes in $1,500 lower than last week. He has two top-15 finishes in his last four events, including the Open Championship, so he’s in fairly decent course form heading into the Dell Technologies Championship. He has not fared well at this event at all, so we’re taking a little bit of gamble, but he did bookend last year’s event with a 68 and a 67. It was the two rounds in between that hurt him. Leishman is safely on to the next two events, but after a lackluster showing last week, he’d certainly like to get some momentum rolling.
Rickie Fowler ($9,700) – If you do want to go up the price ladder, Rickie Fowler is a very good bet this week. Fowler has seven straight top-25 finishes and also five of those are also top-10 finishes. Fowler won this event back in 2015. He’s the best player without a major victory, but he seems to step up in the spotlight for some of these other events. He’s obviously in great form and has some decent finishes on this course in the past. With a reasonable price tag, he’s worth a look at the higher end of the budget.
