GOLF

Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: The CJ Cup

In his debut at Nine Bridges, can Brooks Koepka come through for our FanDuel rosters?

By now, you've probably dabbled in daily fantasy sports, but if not, don't worry. Now is a great time to start, especially with FanDuel now offering a revamped version of PGA golf.

Golf can be one of the most exciting DFS sports to follow, as tournaments span four days and allow ample time to prepare each week, so be sure to familiarize yourself with the basics of building a lineup on FanDuel, the scoring setup, and advanced stats to know about the PGA.

But whether you're brand new to the PGA or daily fantasy sports in general, we have you covered -- and we have daily fantasy golf projections and lineup building tools, too.

Let's take a look at some golfers to target this week.

Key Stats

Key Stats for THE CJ CUP at NINE BRIDGES
Strokes Gained: Approach
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee
Par 5 Scoring
Par 4 Efficiency From 400 to 450 Yards
Scrambling


Ball-strikers are the approach that makes the most sense this week, given the course makeup.

This week, five of the par 4s range from 400 to 450 yards, and another two are nestled closely enough (394 and 471) that this is a money range for golfers this week on a course without much data to scrape.

Scrambling was actually less important here than compare to the Tour average, but the top 10 saved par on 57% of opportunities last year, via FantasyGolfMetrics, compared to 49% for the full field. Further, Justin Thomas was 3rd in par 4 and par 5 scoring last year.

For a deeper look at the course this week, check out our course primer from Mike Rodden.

Stats cited below come from FantasyNational and include the past 36 rounds on the PGA Tour unless noted. Ranks are among the field.

Best of the Best

Justin Thomas (FanDuel Price: $13,100 | FanDuel Sportsbook Odds: 11/2) - Thomas, last year's CJ CUP winner, enters with good form yet again. He was T5 at the CIMB last week and, via FantasyNational.com, ranks second in strokes gained: approach and 31st in strokes gained: off the tee over the past 36, ultimately sitting first in strokes gained: tee to green among the field in that span. He's also third in the field in strokes gained on par 5s of late.

Brooks Koepka ($12,300 | 17/2) - Koepka can make good on his distance here, as he's first in the field in strokes gained: off the tee and on par 5s over his past 36 rounds. Brooks has finished 8th, 12th, 19th, 26h, and 7th since winning the PGA Championship. Koepka didn't play here last year, but at 17/2 (or 8.5/1), he's the clear-cut second option after Thomas this week.

Hideki Matsuyama ($11,600 | 13/1) - Hideki will be making his first start here but has the recent stats to suggest he'll come through for our fantasy lineups. He ranks first in the field in strokes gained: approach, sixth tee to green, and seventh on par 5s over his past 36 rounds. He's also been efficient enough on par 4s (25th) to score well in his debut at Nine Bridges.

Gary Woodland: ($11,000 | 20/1) - Woodland ranks 2nd off the tee and 11th in approach, plus 2nd on par 5s, meaning that he could score well if the conditions allow for it to play easier this time around than they did last year. Paying up or paying down is probably the better way to go, but that likely leaves Woodland low-owned in tournaments.

Billy Horschel ($10,300 | 28/1) - Horschel finished 33rd at the CIMB and still boasts some of the strongest stats in the field this week: 2nd on par 4s from our selected range, 5th in both ball-striking stats, and 10th in scrambling. He remains a solid value on FanDuel at $10,300.

Mid-Range Options

Joaquin Niemann ($9,900 | 45/1) - Niemann is one of three golfers in the field to rank top-10 in both strokes gained: approach and strokes gained: off the tee over his past 36 rounds. He missed the secondary cut at the Safeway Open but has 4 top-10s in 14 events in 2018. He's an upside option, given his recent ball-striking and middling price.

Byeong-Hun An ($9,700 | 42/1) - An ranks eighth in strokes gained: tee to green over the past 36 rounds, and he finished 11th here last year, while making 24 birdies (3 more than anyone else and 5 more than the rest of the field). An has made 10 straight cuts and 21 of 23 in 2018, finishing with 6 top-10s in that span. Ranking second in scrambling over recent weeks, he's got some safety.

Ian Poulter ($9,600 | 55/1) - Poulter was 15th here a year ago and is atop the leaderboard in par 4 efficiency from our selected range over the past 36 rounds. Poulter overall has strong tee-to-green numbers but struggled mightily with the putter in his past two outings. He's a plus putter on bentgrass in his career.

J.B. Holmes ($8,900 | 70/1) - Holmes finished 67th here despite putting well when he actually found greens in regulation, which wasn't often. He hit just 63.9% of greens in regulation last year, putting him near the bottom of the field. He enters sixth in strokes gained: off the tee and fifth in par 5 scoring, so he could score well if he finds fairways this time around.

Low-Priced Picks

Abraham Ancer ($8,700 | 55/1) - Ancer's approach game (41st) is concerning, but he's 4th off the tee and 6th on par 4s in that span. Ancer's recent form overall is good, too. He's been 5th at the RBC Canadian Open, 24th at the Wyndham, cut at the Northern Trust, 7th at the Dell Technologies Championship, 51st at the BMW Championship, and 5th at the CIMB Classic last week.

Cheng-Tsung Pan ($8,600 | 55/1) - Pan has played the weekend in 14 of his past 15 events, so it's been a while since he missed a cut (though these include some no-cut events). The results have kept him above any possible cutline, anyway: 11th, 2nd, 60th, 4th, 38th, and 30th in his past six events. Thanks to some low-level putting, he was T47 here last year despite hitting 73.6% of greens in regulation.

Keith Mitchell ($7,900 | 110/1) - Mitchell is 14th in approach and 10th off the tee of late, as he's one of the top ball-strikers in the field. Mitchell has turned that into solid results (given his low FanDuel cost) of late: 20th at the Dell Technologies Championship, 45th at the BMW Championship, and 22nd at the CIMB.

Joel Dahmen ($7,400 | 250/1) - Dahmen ranks 3rd in approach, 11th off the tee, and 8th in both par 4 scoring from 400 to 450 yards and 8th in strokes gained on par 5s. That immediately puts him in play at such a low cost. He was 26th last week at the CIMB.