$9,000 and Above
Xander Schauffele & Viktor Hovland
Schauffele: $10,000 | Hovland: $9,100
Welcome to a Major week. You know, the one where you get to eat breakfast when television coverage starts instead of dinner when it’s ending? It’s “Bizzaro-World Golf”!
Before I get into it, let me be perfectly clear, I HIGHLY expect Jon Rahm to be on the first page of the leaderboard and be in contention to win on Sunday. I’m also not dissing McIlroy, Koepka and DJ. But, each of these guys are $400 to $1,300 more than Xander Schauffele. If I’m betting on the prop bet circuit, depending on the odds I can get, I’m all over these four. But, I’m a DFS guy and I don’t like being limited to $7,740 per guy for my remaining lineup. Will I do it? Yes, I probably will with at least one lineup. But, this really only works well during Major weeks on DraftKings. In other weeks, I’d be getting some guys that have made 5 out of 16 cuts as part of my lineup. This week, with Rahm, I can still get Niemann, Ancer, Berger, Poulter and Lowry and still have money left. Optimal? Probably not. Comfortable? Absolutely!
Now, I like to save a little money at the top and still have Top 10, Top 5, and Winner potential. That’s not that hard this week. But I also want guys that think their way through a British Open course as opposed to the bombers (a.k.a. Bryson DeChambeau).
Xander Schauffele – He’s my “rich man’s” Ian Poulter! If you ask me to pick a guy that can play any style of course and adjust his game to fit it, I’m going Tiger Woods! But, since he isn’t healthy, my next pick would be Xander. It also helps that he’s been Top 15 in every event he’s entered since April and only missed two cuts since the beginning of the year. Now, if I have a concern, it’s those cuts. They were Majors/Quasi-Majors in that it was The Players and the U. S. Open. But, a Top 10 at last week’s Scottish Open shows me that his head (and game) are in the right place.
Viktor Hovland – At least I’m consistent. Viktor’s only two missed cuts this year were, you guessed it, The Players and the U. S. Open. However, there are several Top 5s mingled in there as well. Plus, he won his last event played and it was on the European Tour. I always feel like the European guys have an advantage a The Open Championship and I especially feel that way with Hovland’s all-around game.
Trust me, I know, in this tier we are splitting hairs with picks. The ones I list are MY favorites, but anyone at $9K or above can win this – and frankly, below that as well.
Additional Play(s) to Consider
- Brooks Koepka ($10,700)
- Jordan Spieth ($9,700) – Look, Jordan can fit the mold like the two above and I wouldn’t be afraid to start a lineup with him as well. I just think his ownership will be higher.
- Louis Oosthuizen ($9,300)
- Tyrrell Hatton ($9,000)
$7,500 to $8,900
Patrick Reed & Abraham Ancer
Reed: $8,800 | Ancer: $7,600
Short game in an Open Championship isn’t important because of the thick rough or obstacles around the greens. It’s important because you have to have an arsenal of shots to play around the greens. Mounds, slopes, and pot bunkers, oh my! Patrick Reed has the all-around game to win, but he also has one of the most complete short-game skillsets on the PGA Tour. In his 6 years of playing the Open, he’s missed two cuts. However, everything else is Top 30 (and three of those are Top 20). Plus, love him or hate him, Captain America will fight to win!
Abraham Ancer has missed his only two cuts at the Open. He’s also missed two cuts in his last seven events. How am I doing at selling him so far? Look, every golfer misses cuts (except Christiaan Bezuidenhout apparently)! The five events where he’s made the cut? Top 15. Plus, he’s played well at the PGA and the Masters so the big stage isn’t the issue. I’m just feeling like he will have a good week and $7,600 for this quality of player isn’t bad either.
Additional Plays to Consider
- Will Zalatoris ($8,500)
- Shane Lowry ($7,900) – He’s actually another favorite of mine this week.
- Sergio Garcia ($7,600) – same price as Ancer and I have no problem substituting him for Abraham if my sales pitch above doesn’t convince you. Historically, Sergio shows up at the Open as well.
- Phil Mickelson & Lee Westwood ($7,500) – After the way they’ve performed this year, we can’t really count these “experienced” guys out can we?
$7,400 and Under
Christiaan Bezuidenhout & Ian Poulter
Bezuidenhout: $7,400 | Poulter: $7,200
Sometimes, making the cut is all you need and Bezuidenhout has made 20 straight! This usually ends when everyone starts mentioning it, but I’ll play him. This tier is actually pretty full of playable players – that is such good English!
Ian Poulter? Really? You all didn’t think I would play him in a Major? He’s made six straight cuts as well. His history at The Open isn’t great and, frankly, I don’t quite understand that given he cut his teeth on the Euro Tour. Still, at $7,200, I can whistle and confidently walk away from that statistic.
I’ve said it before. I love Major weeks, but I also hate them. The pricing is so reasonable/soft (other than the top tier guys get priced too high sometimes) that a lot of guys are in play. This is apparent in my list below:
Additional Play(s) to Consider
- Daniel Berger ($7,400) – he’ll be popular at this price!
- Garrick Higgo ($7,400) – Hasn’t played well since his win, but he’s back in Europe where he was “on fire” before his stint in the U. S.
- Rickie Fowler ($7,300) – I mention him only because of the price. He lets me down more than not, but he has consistently made cuts at The Open. He is also one of the few who played here in 2011 and finished T5!
- Harris English ($7,300) – Current form is very good!
- Thomas Detry ($7,300) – Has two T2s in his last four and two MCs.
- Matt Kuchar ($7,000) – Did you EVER think you’d see Kuch at $7K other than when he came back to the regular tour after qualifying for the Senior Tour?
- Ryan Fox ($6,600) – Three Top 15s in his last 5 events and made the cut in 3 of 4 attempts at The Open.
- I’m tired! I can’t list any more!
NOTE: I started off by telling you I didn’t like the price spread above Xander. However, this list above is also why I refused to ignore them. This week is about personal choice. You can easily go stars-and-scrubs. You have $8,333 per golfer on DK which is the pricing I use for this article. You have $10,000 per golfer on FD but I’ve always found FD pricing to be easier to get quality plays each week. So, I guess my PSA is, take this information and build your lineup how you see fit.
FADE
Based on the pricing this week, I am refusing to “fade” anyone. Personally, I don’t like Bryson DeChambeau because I’ve never really felt that it made sense to overpower an Open course. I may be wrong, but he’s the guy I am personally avoiding this week.