This article is part of our DraftKings PGA DFS Picks series.
BERMUDA CHAMPIONSHIP
Purse: $4M
Winner's Share: $720,000
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Southampton Parish, Bermuda
Course: Port Royal Golf Course
Yardage: 6,828
Par: 71
2019 champion: Brendon Todd
Tournament Preview
For the first time since golf resumed in June, there will be fans in attendance at a tournament. Unfortunately for those limited number of 500 fans being admitted every day to Port Royal, this is what they'll see: just one player in the top-50 in the world rankings and a mere nine in the top-100. And that one top-50er sorta has to be there -- No. 41-ranked Brendon Todd won last year's inaugural Bermuda Championship, which triggered his golf renaissance. You'd never know from this field that the tournament has been elevated to full-points status for this season. It was scheduled to be played as an alternate event opposite the WGC-HSBC Champions before the China tournament was a pandemic-induced casualty. You'd also never know that the Masters is only two weeks away. Henrik Stenson, Danny Willet, Rafa Cabrera Bello and Max Homa, along with Todd, are the only players in the field who also will be at Augusta.
Maybe the most interesting thing about the 132-man field is that there are two Funks (Fred and son Taylor), two Schniederjans, (Ollie and younger brother Luke) and two Harringtons (Padraig and no-relation Scott). There's even a McNeil (George) and a McNealy (Maverick).
Okay, enough piling on. Bermuda is beautiful so there at least will be "sweeping ocean views from nearly every hole," as the tournament website says, right?
Port Royal is a public course designed by famed architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1970. It is among the shortest tracks the golfers will see all year, shorter even than 7,000-yard Sherwood, which was shredded last week to the tune of a winning score of 23-under-par. Todd won last year at 24-under, four strokes better than Harry Higgs. And that's with only three par-5s, two of which are under 520 yards. There are six par-4s under 400 yards. The signature hole is a long one, the 16th, which is one of the two 235-yard par-3s. As the tournament website says, there is "nothing but the Atlantic Ocean between the tee and the pin." It's actually really cool, with both the tee box and green on cliffs. The green is thin, surrounded by bunkers and on a peninsula.
Since Port Royal is not long, what are its defenses? For one, doglegs -- eight of them. When you combine those doglegs with lots of cross bunkers, driver will not be a popular club this week. There's also water on four holes. There are significant elevation changes. The TifEagle greens are small, averaging only around 6,000 square feet (that's right, they don't use Bermuda grass greens in Bermuda). But the primary defense on an island course, as you can imagine, is wind, wind and more wind.
Weather-wise, temperatures will be around 80 all four days. It looks as if there will be some rain on the weekend. Oh, you want to know about the wind? It's forecast to be light on Thursday but then should start blowing pretty strong the next three days.
Key Stats to Winning at Port Royal
The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.
• Greens in Regulation/Strokes Gained: Approach
• Putting Average/Strokes Gained: Putting
• Birdie-or-Better Percentage (BOB)/Birdie Average
Past Champions
2019 - Brendon Todd
Champion's Profile
There were no strokes-gained stats recorded last year for what was an opposite-field event. No word about this year. Todd, as you can imagine, ranked only 51st in distance, but he was fourth in accuracy. Accuracy would seem to be more important this week than most, even though runner-up Harry Higgs ranked only 36th last year. Todd also was 10th in greens in regulation and tied for third in putts per round. Higgs' other rankings were fourth in driving distance. T31 in GIR and T3 in putting. Four golfers tied for third, including Scottie Scheffler, and they all finished top-25 in GIR. Two of them ranked in the top-10 in putting. Golfodds.com curiously put the over/under on the winning score at 267.5, which is only 16.5 under par.
DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS
Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap
Tier 1 Values
Will Zalatoris- $10,900 (Winning odds at golfodds.com: 12-1)
The co-betting favorite with Brendon Todd, Zalatoris' meteoric run toward PGA Tour membership was sidetracked by a pair of small-field events. But he's back now, on the verge of special temporary membership, after finishing top-10 in three of his past four starts, including the U.S. Open.
Harold Varner III - $10,700 (25-1)
Varner is coming off ties for 13th at the Shriners event and for 29th at the Sanderson Farms Championship -- in this field, that qualifies you for the Hall of Fame. He's normally a pretty bad putter, but not so far in the early going of the 2020-21 campaign. He's ranked 55th -- again, a HOF number in this field. He's also leads the Tour in birdie average.
Doc Redman - $10,400 (25-1)
Redman opened his season with a tie for third at the Safeway Open, four weeks after another T3 at the Wyndham Championship. He then just missed a top-25 at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He's ranked 25th on Tour in both SG: Approach and Tee-to-Green.
Charley Hoffman - $9,700 (35-1)
Hoffman is 43 and his best days are far behind him, but he's had a pretty good past 2 and a half months, finishing top-25 in four of his seven starts, highlighted by a tie for sixth at the Sanderson Farms event. He even tied for 13th at The Northern Trust, showing that he can still get it done on occasion even when it's a quality field.
Tier 2 Values
Cameron Tringale $9,200 (40-1)
Beginning with a tie for third at The 3M Open in last July, Tringale has made four of his past five cuts, outside a DQ at the PGA Championship. He also tied for 29th at The Northern Trust and was T19 last time out at the Shriners event. He's ranked eighth on Tour in SG: Putting and 15th in birdie average.
Peter Malnati - $9,000 (40-1)
Malnati is coming off a pair of top-5s -- a runner-up at the Sanderson Farms Championship and T5 at the Shriners event. He'd never done that before on Tour. He's ranked first in SG: Putting, by far the strongest component of his game. But you can't finish top-5 two weeks in a row with just putting.
Henrik Norlander - $8,900 (50-1)
Norlander cooled off after a strong stretch at the beginning of the restart. But he then tied for fourth at the Sanderson Farms and made the cut at the Shriners. He's ranked 28th on Tour in greens in regulation and was 13th last season.
Justin Suh - $8,700 (40-1)
Suh struggled with an injury upon arriving on Tour last year, forcing him to the Latinoamerica Tour. Now he's starting to show what made him a USC All-American. He's finished top-25 in his past three PGA Tour events, including a tie for eighth last time out at the Shriners. He's ranked fourth on Tour in SG: Approach and 33rd in Putting.
Tier 3 Values
Stewart Cink - $7,900 (50-1)
After winning the Safeway, Cink tied for 12th at the Sanderson Farms and was in line for a decent week at the Shriners before a Sunday 81. He's ranked 16th on Tour in greens in regulation in the early going, and top-50 in SG: Around-the-Green and Putting. Going back to January, Cink has made 11 of his last 13 cuts, most in fields far stronger than this one.
Russell Knox - $7,600 (60-1)
This is the type of course that suit's Knox's game. It's short. He tied for 11th here last year. He tied for ninth at the Safeway earlier this season. Knox is ranked fifth on Tour in GIR this season and was 23rd last season.
Wyndham Clark - $7,400 (80-1)
Clark did not play well at all coming our of the restart. But he's been finding his game lately. He's made three of his past four cuts, including a tie for 29th at the Northern Trust and a tie for 13th last time out at the Shriners. He ranked 16th on Tour last season in SG: Putting and 26th in eagles.
Tyler McCumber- $7,300 (60-1)
McCumber was runner-up at Puntacana last month and followed it up with a tie for sixth at the Sanderson Farms, by far his two best weeks on the PGA Tour. He tied for 41st last year at Port Royal.
Long-Shot Values
Will Gordon - $6,700 (100-1)
Gordon accepted special temporary membership after he tied for third at the Travelers twoard the beginning of the restart. That followed a pair of top-25s before the shutdown. Gordon wasn't able to keep up that pace, but he remained a great greens-in-regulation guy, ranking fourth on Tour last season. He's made four of eight cuts since the Travelers, just missing a top-25 at the Wyndham.
Vaughn Taylor - $6,600 (150-1)
This is a bit of a reach, since Taylor has not looked sharp since returning from a rib injury that cost him more than two months. He's now had three starts under his belt. Last time out, he shot a 66 in the first round of the Shriners before missing the cut. Taylor was very accurate with his irons pre-injury and ranked in the top-50 in putting on Tour last season. He should be able to make it to the weekend in this field.
Kevin Tway - $6,400 (200-1)
Tway is $6,400 for a reason -- he's made only two cuts since Phoenix in February. But the two he made have been recent and in weak fields -- the Barracuda Championship and the full-points event in the Dominican Republic.
Brian Gay - $6,300 (200-1)
Gay is just two years shy of being eligible for the Champions Tour. He doesn't putt like he used to, but he's still better than most on the PGA Tour, ranking 72nd last season. And the rest of his game should be able to keep up on such a short course. He did just that last year, tying for third at Port Royal. He then tied for 14th at Mayakoba, showing an affinty for these types of courses.
