Welcome to Playing the Tips!
Each week this will be the one-stop resource to soak in all the picks from our fantasy staffers at Rotoworld.com.
The PGA TOUR is resting this week, but there are still plenty of gamers playing fantasy golf this week on the European Tour.
Page 1 is going to look at European Tour’s Race to Dubai and Daily Fantasy Sports picks.
Page 2 will dig into some potential course-fit angles and provide a Top 25 ranking for the week.
Editor’s Note: With over 15,000 reviews, DRAFT is the highest rated fantasy sports app. For a limited time, DRAFT is giving Rotoworld readers a FREE entry into a real money draft and a Money-Back Guarantee up to $100! Here’s the link.
2018 Fantasy Race to Dubai
Dave Tindall is our main man in Europe. In addition to his weekly previews of European Tour events on Mondays, he’ll share his selections and analysis for the Fantasy Race to Dubai at EuropeanTour.com.
Format: Pick 6 golfers. Players accumulate points based on Race to Dubai (R2D) points earned. Captain’s points are doubled. Unlimited team changes can be made each week.
Team Tindall (Team name: YESSIR!)
Last week: Had both play-off participants but neither as captain. Rise of just under 400 spots.
Pos: 7,312
Eddie Pepperell (captain): Fitzpatrick shook off wildcard disappointment last week and Pepperell can do the same here. Third last year and three top tens in last five starts so those converging trends get him the armband.
Erik Van Rooyen: The Monty design has a links-feel and that will suit the in-form South African.
Joakim Lagergren: Links you say? The Swede has gone 4-4-12 in the Alfred Dunhill Links and posted T20 and T9 at this venue. A winner in Sicily earlier this year.
Chris Wood: Cracked the top 25 with a closing 66 in Switzerland and also made the top ten here last year. Makes sense given his prowess on this type of test.
Lee Westwood: Having a bit of a blast in recent weeks (2-12) and third last year. Vice skipper in Paris soon but showing he still has a bit of game too.
Soren Kjeldsen: Good record in the event and this course looks a good one for the former Irish Open winner. T12 the last two weeks.
Matt Cooper is part of our European team. He contributes to player news, and he’ll share his selections and analysis for the Fantasy Race to Dubai at EuropeanTour.com. He was the winner of the Ladies European Tour’s Fantasy League in 2011.
Team Cooper (Team name: NormanStanleyFletcher)
Last week: Bingo. Matt Fitzpatrick’s win didn’t vault me past many (who didn’t have him on the team last week?), but the armband helped me back into the top 1000.
Position: 898th
Kiradech Aphibarnrat (captain): He scraped the rust from his game last week (T45), but T9 last year and he’s always seemed to like this time of year,
Matt Wallace: Last week will have been a wild mix of emotions and he got through it okay. T9 here last year.
Erik van Rooyen: A superb rookie season rumbles on. He’s proved himself in class fields and also in ones of this stature, but if the links nature of The Dutch is to his taste that’s yet another plus.
Lee Westwood: Tied third last year and pottering along nicely on his European vacation (2-12 the last two weeks).
Eddie Pepperell: Likes playing certain courses well and was tied third last year. No Ryder Cup misting the windscreen any more.
Joakim Lagergren: Another who is worth following when he re-emerges at a favored venue (T20-T9 here).
Chris Wood: T9 last year, will no doubt say hello to old friend Joost Luiten through the week (the Dutchman won’t play but will surely show his face post-injury) and made a nice return to the course last week (T23).
Daily Fantasy Sports [DFS]
I will be giving out selections for one team for each DFS site, per week.
These lineups will be entered into a large-entry Guaranteed Prize Pool. That means we need to take a risk or two, in order to separate ourselves from the field.
The idea is to provide you a list of names to consider. I would not recommend copying these teams, golfer for golfer. Duplicate teams are no fun and don’t help anyone.
DraftKings Picks:
Lee Westwood ($11,700): This old dog still has plenty of tricks. Particularly when it comes to fast starts. Looking at his last 8 Euro Tour starts, he has beat the field average by 2+ strokes during Round 1 in SEVEN of those eight starts.
Erik Van Rooyen ($9,200): The South African can take it low with the best of them. Looking at his 2018 rounds on the Euro Tour he has gained 4+ strokes over the field in 11-of-48 stroke-play rounds.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout ($7,000): The South African is 17-for-22 on the season as he continues his breakout campaign. Doesn’t dazzle from tee-to-green but gets the job done as the 10th ranked putter this season.
Lucas Herbert ($7,200): Ranks 12th on tour when it comes to driving distance vs. the field. The youngster is a scoring machine so I’d look for him to rebound from a missed cut in Denmark.
Matthias Schwab ($7,300): May not be an ideal fit on a links-style track but this young Vandy product is too cheap when you consider his pedigree. He’s top 40 on tour in SG Tee-to-Green but struggles with the putter. The greens should be slower on an exposed layout like this which may help him get the putting going.
David Horsey ($7,500): Had a mid-season slump with three straight MCs a few months ago. He’s back in steady form with cuts made in 7 of his last 8.
~
Finding a Course Fit
For long-time readers of Future of Fantasy, you may recognize this format. I typically do this rundown each week for the European Tour.
With the PGA TOUR taking a break this week, I figured it’d be a good time to give Euro Tour the spotlight here on Rotoworld.
This week’s course is The Dutch which is in The Netherlands. It was designed by Colin Montgomerie and is described as an Inland Links in terms of style.
The Dutch is a par-71 layout that plays just under 7,000 yards. It’s on the short side but the difficulty will be determined by Mother Nature as it’s exposed to the elements. There is also water in play on two-thirds of the holes.
The main attraction, Joost Luiten, is still out of action with a wrist injury so we will need to dig through these numbers to find some other talents to target this week:
Top Performers on Links-Style Layouts (since 2015)
Andy Sullivan
Chris Wood
Joakim Lagergren
Ryan Fox
Eddie Pepperell
Jorge Campillo
Ross Fisher
Julien Guerrier
Richie Ramsay
Paul Dunne
Top Performers in the Summer (since 2015)
Ryan Fox
Andy Sullivan
Lee Westwood
Mike Lorenzo-Vera
Soren Kjeldsen
Thomas Detry
Fabrizio Zanotti
Chris Wood
Erik van Rooyen
Nacho Elvira
Top Performers on Bentgrass (since 2015)
Andy Sullivan
Lee Westwood
Soren Kjeldsen
Ross Fisher
Chris Wood
Paul Dunne
Hao Tong Li
Martin Kaymer
Erik van Rooyen
Alexander Levy
Top Performers on Mainland Europe (since 2015)
Andy Sullivan
Mike Lorenzo-Vera
Lee Westwood
Chris Wood
Soren Kjeldsen
Ross Fisher
Hao Tong Li
Matt Wallace
Martin Kaymer
Thomas Detry
Padraig Harrington
Top Performers against Weak Fields (since 2015)
Alexander Levy
Matt Wallace
Andy Sullivan
George Coetzee
Lee Westwood
Mikko Korhonen
Wade Ormsby
Paul Waring
Thomas Detry
David Horsey
Erik van Rooyen
Golfers that show up on all FIVE lists: Andy Sullivan
Golfers that show up on 4-of-5 lists: Lee Westwood, Chris Wood
Golfers that show up on 3-of-5 lists: Thomas Detry, Soren Kjeldsen, Ross Fisher, Erik van Rooyen
Andy Sullivan has missed the cut in three of his last four starts (two on Links layouts). However, he posted a T30 last week in the Swiss Alps, which could be a sign that he’s ready to return to form. He checks all the course-fit boxes, as well, as you can see above. His spotty form dropped him down the rankings below but the Englishman will be an interesting name to watch this week.
My Top 25 for the 2018 KLM Open
1. Lee Westwood
2. Ryan Fox
3. Erik van Rooyen
4. Thomas Detry
5. Maximilian Kieffer
6. Mike Lorenzo-Vera
7. Chris Wood
8. Matt Wallace
9. Soren Kjeldsen
10. Alexander Levy
11. Andrea Pavan
12. Ross Fisher
13. Eddie Pepperell
14. Kiradech Aphibarnrat
15. Hao Tong Li
16. Matthias Schwab
17. Nacho Elvira
18. Lucas Herbert
19. Hideto Tanihara
20. Andy Sullivan
21. David Horsey
22. Benjamin Hebert
23. Jorge Campillo
24. Padraig Harrington
25. Andrew Johnston
26. Paul Dunne
