The season’s second major championship is upon us as Oak Hill Country Club preps to host this week’s PGA Championship.
A major-championship week means huge prize pools are up for grabs to any DFS gamers.
When dealing with a course rota, we don’t any recent course history to lean on. That puts an emphasis on recent form and course fit. One stat that comes to mind when playing on a major championship venue is the ability to keep up on a tough track. It’s part raw skill and part mental, so let’s see who shines when scoring is tough.
Tough Course Contenders
Oak Hill Country Club has hosted two PGA Championships over the last 20 years.
In 2003, the field averaged 74.3 (+4.3 RTP) while in 2013 the field averaged just under 72 (+2.0 RTP). Only 16 eagles were recorded over the entirety of those events.
The 2019 renovation had a ton of trees removed but it also lengthened the course. We should expect scoring to remain very tough.
Here are the top performers in adjusted strokes gained per round on hard courses, over the last two years:
Scottie Scheffler
Jon Rahm
Rory McIlroy
Patrick Cantlay
Xander Schauffele
Keegan Bradley
Matt Fitzpatrick
Collin Morikawa
Paul Casey
Sungjae Im
Jordan Spieth
Aaron Wise
Max Homa
Tony Finau
Cameron Young
We can also look at performance versus baseline to see who shows the largest increase in performance compared to their typical scores:
Adam Schenk
Keegan Bradley
Phil Mickelson
Scottie Scheffler
Chris Kirk
Kurt Kitayama
Aaron Wise
Rickie Fowler
Davis Riley
Jimmy Walker
Ben Taylor
Paul Casey
Sahith Theegala
Wyndham Clark
Cameron Young
Overlap List: names that show up on both lists include Scottie Scheffler, Keegan Bradley, Paul Casey, Aaron Wise, and Cameron Young.
Keegan Bradley brings regional comfort to the table
Bradley gets very excited to play at TPC Boston because there are so few events in the Northeast. The New England native will be happy to head back to his favorite part of the country for this week’s appearance at Oak Hill, in Rochester, New York. Bradley is a past champ at the PGA Championship and sports a 10-for-12 record overall at the event. His game is well-suited for the way that PGA of America sets up a golf course and the regional comfort should only help as he looks to add another big finish to his tournament resume.
Cameron Young: The Big-Game Hunter
Young was a rookie last year but managed podium finishes in two of the four majors. He added a T7 at the Masters earlier this year. He’s proven early and often that his game holds up on the toughest of courses against the strongest competition. Similar to Bradley, he’ll be comfortable in the region as Young grew up on the other side of New York so the climate and grass types should be very familiar.