Golf Channel (NBC Sports Predictor App)
The Golf Channel has an exciting fantasy golf game for 2019.
The format is simple as you pick six head-to-head matchups. Then you pick a winner and winning score.
The winner/winners split this week’s top prize of $1,500. Anyone that earns 60 points for the week is also given an entry to the FootJoy $100,000 Championship which is a multi-week elimination-style contest that will take place later in the season.
We will provide our picks for the format below and then provide some notes about why we chose our matchup picks or why we like a certain golfer to win.
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Josh Culp
“@FutureOfFantasy”
Top Weekly Score: 85 pts
Matchups:
Brooks Koepka over Kevin Na
Patrick Reed over Phil Mickelson
Bryson DeChambeau over Charles Howell III
Hideki Matsuyama over Jason Day
Tony Finau over Nate Lashley
Joaquin Niemann over Viktor Hovland
Winner:
Brooks Koepka (-20)
Josh’s Notes:
Na is in the middle of a California to Korea to Minnesota travel stretch. I will gladly take a well-rested Koepka here.
Mickelson looks lost from tee-to-green right now while Reed is rounding into form with a top 5 last week.
CH3 popped back into the mix last week but DeChambeau did that two weeks ago at the Travelers. DeChambeau plays well on these courses with generous fairways so I’d expect him to throw his name near the top again.
Matsuyama versus Day is as close as it gets for me this week. Day brings more winning upside to the table but Matsuyama is as steady as they come. I’ll lean on consistency and choose Matsuyama here.
Lashley arrives off a life-changing win last week. Even though Finau is out of form, I’ll still take him in this matchup as Lashley tries to come back to Earth just a fews days after the big win.
Hovland is the hot item right now but he’s still trying to keep up in the short-game department. We saw Niemann go through similar short-game woes but he appears to have come out on the other side and enters with back-to-back top 5s.
Mo Yoshimoto
“@Bears3423”
Top Weekly Score: 90 pts
Matchups:
Brooks Koepka over Kevin Na
Patrick Reed over Phil Mickelson
Bryson DeChambeau over Charles Howell III
Hideki Matsuyama over Jason Day
Nate Lashley over Tony Finau
Joaquin Niemann over Viktor Hovland
Winner:
Bryson DeChambeau (-20)
Mo’s Notes:
Inaugural events are a bit of a crap shoot, particularly when they’re being contested on a new course.
With no history to draw up, I’m looking at geography, current form, and season-long stats.
DeChambeau won his first of five TOUR titles in this neck of the woods, the 2017 John Deere, where he came from four back (T5) with 6-under 65 and won by one over 54-hole leader Patrick Rodgers (on 18-under total).
He also took top individual honors at the 2015 NCAA’s in Bradenton, Florida, so I don’t mind playing him on a course with a lot of water in play, like this week’s venue, TPC Twin Cities.
The 25-year-old has won once this season, the Shriners in his season-opener, where the winning score was 21-under, and he ranks T5 on TOUR in Birdie or Better Percentage (25.11%), so if the projections of a birdie-fest this week come true, he can take it low.
DeChambeau arrives off a T22 as defender champ at the Memorial, also a Midwest event, a T35 at the U.S. Open, where he opened and closed with 69s, and a T8 at the Travelers two weeks ago (68-70-64-68), where he ranked 5th in Ball-Striking.
The SMU product heads out in R1 at 12:40 pm local time with Charles Howell III and Keegan Bradley. This is a potential drawback, as all five of his TOUR wins have come out of the EARLY/late draw, so let’s see if he can win one from the other side.
