This article is part of our DraftKings PGA DFS Picks series.
WGC-BRIDGESTONE
Purse: $5.9M
Winner's Share: $1,062,000
FedEx Cup Points: 550 to the Winner
Location: Akron, Ohio
Course: Firestone Country Club (South Course)
Yardage: 7,400
Par: 70
2015 champion: Shane Lowry
Tournament Preview
The third of four annual World Golf Championship events features one of the smallest fields we'll ever see. Sixty-one golfers are in the no-cut event, the smallest on the PGA Tour outside of the Tour Championship and Tournament of Champions. Many more golfers qualified for this prestigious event, but top Europeans have opted to pay homage to the 100th edition of the French Open. Rory McIlroy, Danny Willett, Lee Westwood, and others will be there (Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson aren't competing in either tournament). However, the top three in the world, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, and Dustin Johnson, will be teeing it up at Firestone. Johnson finally broke through for his first major, but it's hard to refocus so quickly after such a life-altering event. Billy Hurley III upped the field to 60 with his Quicken Loans National win on Sunday, and Kiradech Aphibarnrat made it 61 by moving into the top 50 in the world rankings, at No. 49. With such a small field, lineups are bound to overlap and be similar. Your job: find the hidden jewel. Fortunately, you are guaranteed four rounds for your low-priced guy to make his mark. At 7,400 yards, the track is not especially long by professional standards, but when you factor in that it's a par-70, it all of
WGC-BRIDGESTONE
Purse: $5.9M
Winner's Share: $1,062,000
FedEx Cup Points: 550 to the Winner
Location: Akron, Ohio
Course: Firestone Country Club (South Course)
Yardage: 7,400
Par: 70
2015 champion: Shane Lowry
Tournament Preview
The third of four annual World Golf Championship events features one of the smallest fields we'll ever see. Sixty-one golfers are in the no-cut event, the smallest on the PGA Tour outside of the Tour Championship and Tournament of Champions. Many more golfers qualified for this prestigious event, but top Europeans have opted to pay homage to the 100th edition of the French Open. Rory McIlroy, Danny Willett, Lee Westwood, and others will be there (Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson aren't competing in either tournament). However, the top three in the world, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, and Dustin Johnson, will be teeing it up at Firestone. Johnson finally broke through for his first major, but it's hard to refocus so quickly after such a life-altering event. Billy Hurley III upped the field to 60 with his Quicken Loans National win on Sunday, and Kiradech Aphibarnrat made it 61 by moving into the top 50 in the world rankings, at No. 49. With such a small field, lineups are bound to overlap and be similar. Your job: find the hidden jewel. Fortunately, you are guaranteed four rounds for your low-priced guy to make his mark. At 7,400 yards, the track is not especially long by professional standards, but when you factor in that it's a par-70, it all of a sudden becomes much longer. There are only two par-5s, and the signature hole at Firestone is the behemoth 16th, topping out at 667 yards. While it rendered 64 birdies last year, there were also 35 bogeys, 14 doubles, and even 7 triples or worse. Weather-wise, no rain is in the forecast, outside of a small chance on Friday. Temperatures will top out around 80 degrees.
Key Stats to Winning at Firestone
ï Total driving
ï Greens in regulation
ï Par-4 scoring average
ï Putting average
Past Champions
2015 - Shane Lowry
2014 - Rory McIlroy
2013 - Tiger Woods
2012 - Keegan Bradley
2011 - Adam Scott
2010 - Hunter Mahan
2009 - Tiger Woods
2008 - Vijay Singh
2007 - Tiger Woods
2006 - Tiger Woods
Champion's Profile:
In a word, Tiger. Tiger Woods won the tournament an astounding eight times from 1999-2013. Of course, he's not entered this time around. Taking a look at the last half-dozen years, which includes only one victory by Woods, the winners have showcased strong all-around games. All six finished in the top 25 in the field in driving distance, driving accuracy, greens in regulation, and putting average (putts per GIR) -- except Shane Lowry was 37th in accuracy last year and Hunter Mahan was 30th in accuracy in 2010. That's pretty remarkable collective consistency. Despite his inaccuracy off the tee, Lowry recovered to be among the top 10 in GIR and putting average. As we saw at the U.S. Open, Lowry can occasionally get hot with the putter, but it's usually not long before it begins to betray him.
DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS (Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap)
DraftKings Tier 1 Values
Jason Day - $12,100 (Winning odds at golfodds.com: 11-2)
Dustin Johnson - $11,600 (8-1)
Adam Scott - $10,500 (20-1)
Bubba Watson - $10,100 (25-1)
DraftKings Tier 2 Values
Branden Grace - $9,700 (25-1)
Jim Furyk - $9,500 (30-1)
Charl Scwartzel - $8,600 (40-1)
DraftKings Tier 3 Values
Jason Dufner - $8,500 (40-1)
Daniel Berger - $7,900 (50-1)
Russell Knox - $7,500 (60-1)
Jimmy Walker - $6,900 (80-1)
DraftKings Long-Shot Values
Kevin Kisner - $6,800 (100-1)
William McGirt - $6,800 (125-1)
Kyung-Tae Kim - $6,200 (150-1)
George Coetzee - $6,000 (250-1)
MY PICKS THIS WEEK
Lower-Risk Cash Game Lineup ($50K Salary Cap)
Bubba Watson - $10,100
Branden Grace - $9,700
Charl Schwartzel - $8,600
Russell Knox - $7,500
Byeong-Hun An - $7,200
Jimmy Walker - $6,900
Just below the very top of the world rankings and dollar values lurks Watson, who was the runner-up to Lowry last year at Firestone. We think he's good value here, significantly cheaper than Day and Johnson. And, if Watson can get his putter going, another top-five finish is in the cards. Grace has been knocking on the door in big events the past two years, and he was 17th last year at Firestone. Schwartzel has the complete game to compete this week, as his T4 two years ago proves. Ditto, for Knox, even though this is his debut in the event. An was 57th in his tournament debut last year, but his game continues to rise. Walker has fallen hard this year, but at sub-$7,000, we're willing to take a flyer on him, especially with four rounds to make a run on top of a decidedly weaker-than-normal WGC field.
Higher-Risk Tournament Lineup ($50K Salary Cap)
Jason Day - $12,100
Dustin Johnson - $11,600
Daniel Berger - $8,200
Kyung-Tae Kim - $6,200
George Coetzee - $6,000
Steven Bowditch - $5,700
We are loading up with Day and Johnson, the two top dollars on the board. Day was 12th at Firestone last year, and has sat comfortably atop the Official World Golf Ranking for the past 14 weeks in a row. Johnson is a big gamble. Not only has he not performed especially well here -- 53rd last year with zero top-10s -- but he might very well still be amid his U.S. Open hangover (figuratively speaking). But Johnson has always shaken off the bad very quickly; maybe he can do the same with the good. Likewise, Berger could still be enjoying his maiden-victory hangover, but after going all-in on the top guys, we think Berger is a good intermediary pick before going way low. Low as in Kim, who quietly has risen to 40th in the world, but might be overmatched in such a high-profile setting. Coetzee and Bowditch fit our price limitations. The Australian was 12th a year ago, though the way his game has fallen since then, that year could be measured in dog years.
