Welcome to Playing the Tips!
Each week this will be the one-stop resource to soak in all the picks from our group of fantasy staffers from Rotoworld.com.
Here is a quick rundown of what sites and formats we will cover each week:
Page 1 will feature all of our selections for GolfChannel.com and Yahoo! Fantasy Golf.
Page 2 will go over One-and-Done as well as Daily Fantasy Golf picks.
Page 3 will take a look across the pond with Fantasy Race to Dubai selections.
Dave Tindall has you covered for all things European Tour. Check out his Nordea Masters Preview.
Ryan gives us a great look at the course and provides some power rankings to help us narrow down our list of targets: Memorial Tournament Preview.
To check out what you may have missed last week, Mo Yoshimoto has you covered in his DEAN & DELUCA Recap.
Now for the picks...
GolfChannel.com Fantasy Golf
Ryan O’Sullivan
2016 Earnings: $12,711,796
2016 Rank: 3,435 of 40,197
Group 1: Rory McIlroy
Group 2: Hideki Mastuyama
Group 3: Webb Simpson
Group 4: Roberto Castro
ANALYSIS: Webb is the wildcard here as he broke out of a huge slump last week. Ryan is banking on that momentum to carry over into this week.
Josh Culp
2016 Earnings: $11,821,822
2016 Rank: 5,975 of 40197
Group 1: Rory McIlroy
Group 2: Hideki Matsuyama
Group 3: Francesco Molinari
Group 4: David Hearn
ANALYSIS: Hard to go wrong in groups 1 and 2. Molinari is steady but also has top-10 upside. Hearn is playing well and has three top 30s to his name at Muirfield Village.
Mo Yoshimoto
2016 Earnings: $11,946,183
2016 Rank: 5544 of 40,197
Group 1: Jason Day
Group 2: Hideki Matsuyama
Group 3: Tony Finau
Group 4: Bud Cauley
ANALYSIS: This four-pack possesses an incredible top-25 rate over their careers. Cauley is playing well in limited starts as he looks to earn back his TOUR status.
Yahoo! Fantasy Golf
*Make sure you check our Twitter accounts for any updates before the first tee ball flies on Thursday. Change in weather, tee times, etc. can always lead to last-minute changes and we will let you know through our social media channels.
Josh Culp
“Future of Fantasy”
Spring Points: 1169
Spring Rank: 31779
Full Season Points: 3232
Full Season Ranking: 5818
Group A
Tony Finau (8): Posted a T8 in his debut here. He loves putting on bentgrass greens. If he cleans up his third-round 73 from last year, he could have been hoisting a trophy.
Bubba Watson (8): Had Spieth here originally until I saw his pairing with good buddy Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy. He’s gotten in trouble playing with Rory in the past (trying to get into a long drive competition and going away from his bread and butter). His track record with Thomas is even worse, suggesting they may be trying to outdo each other and not focus on playing good golf. Instead, I’m going with the lefty, Watson, since he’s a scoring machine and I have 8 starts remaining.
SUPER SUBS
Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas
Group B
Kevin Chappell (9): Disappointed last week, but his form is still sizzling. He’s a golfer that can go real low, so if he wouldn’t have missed a three-footer last week, he could have easily snuck up the leaderboard over the weekend. His go-low potential also makes him great in the Yahoo format.
Hideki Matsuyama (5): Won here in his debut and backed it up with a T5 last year. All eight of his rounds here have been red numbers. It’s easy to see why, considering he’s one of the best ball-strikers on TOUR and Muirfield Village would be classified as a second-shot course.
Francesco Molinari (9): The Italian is a stedy cut-maker. He’s not afraid to jump into the top 10, though. In fact, he finished T3 here last year in his Memorial debut.
Rory McIlroy (7): Just won in his home open, and owns three top 15s here. I have plenty of starts remaining, so this is an easy plug-and-play.
SUPER SUBS
Patrick Reed, Russell Knox, Charles Howell III, Luke Donald, Jason Dufner
Group C
Matt Kuchar (4): As steady as it gets, and he’s returned to his top-10 ways recently. He’s won here in the past (2013) and owns six other top 15s. Safe to say he loves the layout so I’m willing to use one of my limited starts for him.
Byeong Hun An (9): Bill Haas was in this spot originally, but I don’t like his style of play for Yahoo. His really strong weeks are usually done by chipping away piece-by-piece. Someone like Ben An has the ability to post some low numbers, and if he falters I can always lean on Kuchar.
SUPER SUBS
Bill Haas, Charl Schwartzel, Paul Casey
Ryan O’Sullivan (O)
“The Golf Aficionado”
Spring Points: 1,371
Spring Rank: 4,833
Full Season Points: 3,298
Full Season Ranking: 2,872
Group A
Jordan Spieth (6) and Jason Day (7)
Group B
Rory McIlroy (5), Hideki Matsuyama (6), Jason Dufner (8), and Russell Knox (7)
Group C
Kevin Na (8) and Matt Kuchar (3)
Mo Yoshimoto
“@BearsGolf3423”
Spring Points: 1,335
Spring Rank: 9,421
Full Season Points: 3,187
Full Season Ranking: 8,425
Group A
Chris Kirk (8) and Jason Day (6)
Group B
Jason Dufner (7), Patrick Reed (7), Hideki Matsuyama (5), and Francesco Molinari (9)
Group C
Daniel Berger (9) and Matt Kuchar (7)
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Daily Fantasy Sports [DFS]
I will be giving out selections for one team each week.
This week I will enter the following lineup into the $3 Drive the Green contest. It brings the opportunity to turn three dollars into 100 thousand, so there will definitely be a lot of entries to contend with.
This contest has a large number of entries, with guaranteed prize payouts, which means we can’t play it safe if we want to see our name at the top!
DraftKings Picks:
Francesco Molinari ($7,400): He’s priced the same as an injured Jim Furyk. When in fact, he performs more like a fully healthy Furyk. This looks like the value play of the week, let’s start our squad here.
Hideki Matsuyama ($10,600): A win and T5 in two trips to Muirfield Village. Sign me up.
Rory McIlroy ($12,200): His course history is not through the roof, but his scoring capabilities are. Let’s load this team up and go bargin hunting.
Ricky Barnes ($5,900): In 2012 he arrived at the Memorial with just one top 30 on the season and proceeded to garb a T25. The year prior he arrived with missed cuts in three of his four strarts leading in... then found a T18 at Memorial. In 2010 he posted a T3 here, so his course history is juicy.
Nathan Holman ($5,700): Staying in the basement, this Aussie is a low risk, high reward option. He’s gained strokes over the field in 15-of-19 Euro Tour starts. That’s steady enough to take a shot at this price.
Kevin Chappell ($7,500): Disappointed A LOT of gamers last week when he missed a three-footer to fall outside the cut line. His form is still superb, and he owns a runner-up finish at the Memorial (2013). Time to jump back on the train and hope he rebounds nicely.
Other Picks to Consider
Tony Finau ($7,800): Grabbed a top 10 in his 2015 Memorial debut. It’s usually a track that intimidates on first glance, so that’s very promising. He’s fresh off a T34 at Colonial, a track that limits driving distance, so that’s also promising.
Matt Kuchar ($9,900): If you don’t want a top-heavy team this week, consider Kuchar instead of Rory (or any of the other big three). He arrives in good form and also sports seven top 15s at the Memorial, including a 2013 victory.
One-and-Done
Each week I think aloud to provide you with my One-and-Done selection as well as a few alternatives. Fade or Follow? You decide!
Kevin Chappell provided another brutal missed cut, whiffing on a short putt to fall under the cut line (just like Leishman the week before). We’re officially in a slump, so let’s see if we can break out in a big way.
The first set of names I want to look at this week are the course horses: Matt Kuchar, Hideki Matsuyama, Charl Schwartzel, Bill Haas, Kevin Na, Jim Furyk, Luke Donald, and Ryan Moore. Of that list, Moore, Furyk, and Charl are the only three available to me. Charl is a possible contender but Furyk and Moore have form issues, so I’ll pass there.
Other candidates with less (or no) course history include Patrick Reed, Francesco Molinari, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Tony Finau, and Justin Thomas. Given my recent slump, I’m going to play it safe with a cut-maker, Francesco Molinari is my man. He finished T3 here in his debut last year, so his upside is still there.
Past Results:
Wins:
1Top 10s: 6
Top 20s: 15
Missed Cuts: 4
Total Events: 23
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2016 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 trebled and vice-captain’s doubled. Unlimited team changes can be made each week.
Team Tindall (Team name: YESSIR!)
Last week: With Wentworth specialists Francesco Molinari (captain) and Shane Lowry (vice-captain) hardly earning a bean between them it was a bad week. A drop of nearly 1,500 spots.
Position: 5,840
This week:
Rikard Karlberg (captain): Swedes have a strong record in their home tournament and Karlberg is the one in best form. Second at Wentworth last week and T10 in Ireland before that, he was fourth at Bro Hof Slott on his last visit so he has course form too.
Alex Noren (vice-captain): The defending champion won this trophy for the first time at Bro Hof Slott in 2011 and was fourth and T10 in his other two starts at this week’s venue. His current form has dipped but this looks the place to spark him again.
Henrik Stenson: You’re testing both logic and loyalty, Henrik. He’s never won a European Tour event in his native Sweden, missed the cut on his only start here in 2011 and crashed out at halfway in both his last two starts on the PGA TOUR. Then again, if something near his best he contends for the title.
Lee Westwood: As a three-time winner of this event who is showing some strong form recently, Westwood picks himself this week. That trio of wins includes a five-shot victory at Bro Hof Slott in 2012. Poor final round at Wentworth was expensive but it was still a third straight top 15.
Nicolas Colsaerts: Has connected four top 25s on a range of different courses so is playing his most consistent golf in a while. The Belgian only managed a single top 10 in the whole of 2015 but, notably, it was in this event. Add in a T11 at Bro Hof Slott in 2010 and he’s on the team.
Scott Hend: Led for 54 holes at Wentworth before putting it in reverse on Sunday but it’s obvious he’s one of the European Tour’s form horses. The Aussie also has a fourth place at this week’s course so another prominent showing is expected.
Matt Cooper joins Dave Tindall as a 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.
Team Cooper (Team name: NormanStanleyFletcher)
Last week: Not a great week by my team in any way whatsoever, in fact I dropped a miserable 1,000 spots on the ladder.
Position: 4,261
Lee Westwood (captain): Boosted by his Masters performance, played well at Wentworth, returning to a course he has won on – can see the strong form continuing.
Alex Noren (vice captain): Course winner – tick. Defending champion – tick. In form – tick. Win might be asking too much but no reason to think he won’t contend.
Thomas Bjorn: A solid pick in Sweden, fourth on his only appearance on the course, chugged along nicely enough last week, might be buoyed by the Ryder Cup VC pick.
Rikard Karlberg: Fourth on the track in 2013 and finished like a train at Wentworth last week.
Peter Hanson: 13-for-15 on the European Tour in Sweden, 10 of those cuts made led to top 35 finishes. Seems a solid pick.
James Morrison: Going to stick with the Englishman. Quite like playing a guy the week after he would have had high expectations – pressure slightly off, game still there, playing a course he’s top tenned on.
