Daily Fantasy Golf Course Primer: Hero World Challenge
This is a unique week for the PGA Tour, as 18 of the world's best head to the Bahamas to play in an unofficial event.
That means no FedEx Cup points, but there's certainly a purse and some Official World Golf Rankings points to pick up along the way. And it's honestly surprising that I took until the third sentence to mention that Tiger Woods is back in tow for this week's event.
Let's break down the course.
Course and Tournament Overview
The 18-golfer field features no cuts (imagine if it did), so everyone gets 72 holes on a par 72 that spans just longer than 7,300 yards. Interestingly, the course offers up five par 3s and five par 5s, so it's got a twist on the usual par 72 in that regard.
It's a coastal course down in the Bahamas, so it's susceptible to wind, and has hosted this event for the past two years. With just a small handful of golfers and only two years, the course data is limited, but some stats stand out based on the small sample.
Key Stats
You can always look to strokes gained: tee to green and putting, but these stats have helped identify strong placement in the Hero World Challenge in the past two years.
| Key Stats for the Hero World Challenge at Albany |
|---|
| Strokes Gained: Around the Green |
| Par 5 Scoring |
| Bogey Avoidance |
| Strokes Gained: Tee to Green |
| Driving Accuracy |
Strokes gained: around the green -- or scrambling -- have been important in the past two years here. Or, more accurately, good scramblers over large samples have fared well here. We're throwing in strokes gained: tee to green because it's always vital.
With the added par 5, fantasy points abound here, and you'll need golfers who can soak up birdies and eagles on the par 5s.
The past history says that accurate drivers and those with better bogey avoidance rates have fared best. So it's a bit of an odd mix with the par 5s and scrambling, but that's what we're going to try to work with for such a small field.
Past History Studs
I may as well just list out all 18 golfers and their round-by-round results here. These guys have course history here and are sorted by scoring average.
| Golfer | Salary | Avg | 2017 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | 2016 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rickie Fowler | $8,500 | 67.75 | T3 | 68 | 70 | 68 | 69 | 3 | 70 | 68 | 65 | 64 |
| Henrik Stenson | $7,700 | 68.00 | 2 | 67 | 71 | 66 | 68 | |||||
| Jordan Spieth | $9,100 | 68.13 | T6 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 70 | 4 | 67 | 66 | 68 | 67 |
| Patrick Reed | $7,300 | 68.25 | 10 | 72 | 69 | 71 | 68 | 2 | 69 | 65 | 66 | 66 |
| Matt Kuchar | $7,100 | 68.88 | T3 | 67 | 67 | 71 | 70 | 14 | 70 | 66 | 69 | 71 |
| Brooks Koepka | $8,200 | 69.13 | T13 | 72 | 68 | 72 | 71 | 7 | 67 | 70 | 65 | 68 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | $7,500 | 69.25 | 1 | 65 | 67 | 65 | 73 | T17 | 75 | 73 | 70 | 66 |
| Dustin Johnson | $9,000 | 69.38 | T3 | 66 | 66 | 72 | 71 | 15 | 68 | 69 | 72 | 71 |
| Justin Rose | $8,000 | 69.80 | WD | 74 | 13 | 71 | 72 | 70 | 62 | |||
| Tiger Woods | $6,400 | 71.00 | 15 | 73 | 65 | 70 | 76 |
Rickie Fowler has two third-place finishes at Albany and has had just two rounds at even 70 (again, it's a par 72).
Henrik Stenson played well last year but lost by 2 strokes to Hideki Matsuyama, who has four of eight rounds at 67 or better here at Albany.
Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed both have had two strong outings at Albany the past two years.
