GOLF

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: Wells Fargo Championship

Rory McIlroy is the only two-time winner at the Wells Fargo Championship. Is he primed to win the title for a third time?

Daily fantasy golf requires a new approach for each and every event.

The course and field change week after week, making no two contests alike. That means you need to refine your approach for each PGA Tour event to try to find golfers who are primed to excel for your daily fantasy golf lineups.

Each week, we have a course primer, and our daily fantasy golf projections and lineup builder can help you get started, but these golfers stand out specifically on DraftKings for the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club.

Key Stats

Key Stats for the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club
Strokes Gained: Tee to Green
Strokes Gained: Approach
Opportunities Gained
Strokes Gained: Par 4s (450-500)
Strokes Gained: Par 5s


Let's get to the picks. For details on why these stats stand out this week, check out the primer.

All stats are from Fantasy National Golf Club and are for golfers in the field over the last 50 rounds, unless otherwise noted.

High-Priced Studs

Rory McIlroy (DraftKings Salary $11,500 | FanDuel Sportsbook Win Odds 6/1) - McIlory has been truly excellent in 2019, with his T21 finish at the Masters his only finish of the year outside the top 6. He is 1st in strokes gained: tee to green, 3rd on par 4s between 450-500 yards, 4th in opportunities gained, 10th on par 5s, and 14th in strokes gained: approach. He has won this event twice since 2010 and has another playoff loss in that span.

Justin Rose ($10,300 | 11) - Rose has the second-best win odds but the fourth-highest price on DraftKings, making him stand out immediately as an elite value. He missed the cut at the Masters and was a disappointing T63 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational back in early March, but the No. 2 ranked player in the world has still put together strong finishes, including a win at the lengthy Farmers Insurance Open. Jason Day won both the Farmers and the Wells Fargo last year, and Rose will look to repeat that feat. He is first in strokes gained: par 4s (450-500 yards), fourth in strokes gained: tee to green, fifth in both birdies or better gained and bogeys avoided, and eighth in strokes gained: approach.

Hideki Matsuyama ($10,100 | 17) - Matsuyama is a great starting point if you elect to fade the very top guys, as he rates out first in both strokes gained: approach and opportunities gained. He hasn't missed a cut since last year's Open Championship, and he gains strokes in all facets except putting. He prefers overseeded bermuda greens, though, and according to Future of Fantasy, he has the fifth best improvement on overseeded surfaces versus his baseline since 2014. As long as he isn't a disaster on the green, a top-10 finish should be in the cards this week. A good performance with the short stick could have him at the very top of the leaderboard.

Mid-Priced Options

Tony Finau ($9,300 | 24) - Finau's game sets up well for Quail Hollow. He is long off the tee, and he doesn't mind difficult courses. He's played here each of the last four years and made the cut each time, though he's due for a top end finish as he's never done better than T16 in his 2015 debut. He is 2nd in strokes gained: par 5s, 9th in opportunities gained, 13th on par 4s (450-500), and 16th in strokes gained: tee to green. Even if he can't get a top finish, he still can outperform his finishing position as he ranks sixth in DraftKings points gained.

Gary Woodland ($9,000 | 32) - Woodland has cooled off a bit since a his torrid start to the season, and his missed cut at the Valspar Championship ended his Tour-best streak of 22 consecutive cuts made. Even with four straight events finishing no better than 30th, his long-term form is rock solid, ranking fifth in strokes gained: tee to green, sixth in strokes gained: par 5s, and eighth in strokes gained: approach. He missed the cut here last year but finished T22 at the 2017 PGA and had three straight top 25s at Quail Hollow from 2014-2016, including a T4 finish in 2015.

Sungjae Im ($8,600 | 46) - Im has struggled to find consistency in his young career and comes off a missed cut at the RBC Heritage, but he is back out there again this week looking for a check in his 14th event of 2019. In that span he has four top 10s and four missed cuts, and he is able to regularly gain strokes tee to green in each of his rounds. Despite not being a long hitter (just 89th on Tour in driving distance), he does well on the longer holes, ranking fifth on par 4s (450-500) and seventh on par 5s. He is also 6th in strokes gained: tee to green, 17th in approach, and 32nd in opportunities gained.

Charles Howell ($8,400 | 46) - Another reliable grinder who was nonetheless flummoxed by Harbour Town, Howell's MC two weeks ago was just his fourth missed cut in the last year. He is 1st in strokes gained: par 4s (450-500). His short game is vastly improved, and what he lacks in iron play (69th in approach, 71st in opportunities gained), he makes up for on and around the greens, ranking sixth in both scrambling gained and strokes gained: putting.

Low Priced Options

Keith Mitchell ($7,800 | 90) - Typically a focal point of lineup construction, the $7k range gets dicey very quickly this week. At the top of the heap is Mitchell, a winner earlier this year at the Honda Classic. Mitchell followed his win with a T6 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational but has just one other finish better than 43rd this year (a T16 at the Sony Open). He too missed the cut at the RBC Heritage, but he rates out very well for this course. He has plenty of distance and is 10th in both strokes gained: tee to green and strokes gained: approach, 15th on par 4s (450-500), 21st on par 5s, and 29th in opportunities gained.

Sung Kang ($7,800 | 100) - Kang's statistics do not exactly jump off the page. Aside from a 12th in strokes gained: par 5s, he does not rank higher than 36th in any key stat. But he's been solid all year, ranking 24th in total strokes gained in his last 50 and missing just one cut in 2019. In a range with some very wide outcomes, Kang is a potential cash game filler or safety valve in an otherwise high upside lineup.

Kevin Streelman ($7,700 | 90) - After a forgettable 2018, Streelman has made an impact on a few leaderboards this year, and he enters this event off back-to-back sixth place finishes at the RBC Heritage and Valero Texas Open. At the former, he was one of just two golfers to shoot all four rounds in the 60s, and in the latter, he rode a Sunday 64 to a near podium finish. He has a reputation as a solid long iron player, but that part of his game has escaped him amidst his slump. The recent results could be a sign that he's regaining that form.

Roberto Castro ($7,600 | 90) - Castro may not have much name recognition, but he has good vibes at Quail Hollow with a solo 2nd in 2016 and a T8 in 2014. He lacks ideal length but has a good blend in other facets of the game. Castro is 3rd in scrambling gained and 22nd in approach but only slightly above average in all the other key stats. This range is a wasteland, but the course history makes Castro an attractive option.

Michael Thompson ($7,400 | 120) - Another early-season star who has faded heading into the spring, Thompson bounced back from his three-event slump with a solid T10 at the RBC Heritage. He is another scrambler who can find his way to the cup even if he misses the green, a scenario that most of the field will face for much of the week. He's 11th in bogeys avoided, 15th in birdies or better gained, 16th in scrambling gained, and 35th in strokes gained: par 5s.

Bargain Basement

Vaughn Taylor ($6,700 | 430) - An incredible long shot, but Taylor's ballstriking and scoring make him an interesting punt play in this range. He is second in opportunities gained, and while his other key stat rankings leave much to be desired, he rates out well in the peripheral stats. He's 12th overall on par 4s, though just 55th in the key range of 450-500 yards, and he is 14th in bogeys avoided. He does his best work from 200 yards or further on approach, from which more approaches are shot than any incremental range below it.

Nate Lashley ($6,200 | 650) - Lashley is a decent long iron player, and at just $200 above the minimum on DraftKings, he piques the interest just a bit with the fifth-most strokes gained on par 5s in his last 50 rounds. He is above average in all the key stats except opportunities gained, where he is 70th.



Mike Rodden is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Mike Rodden also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mike_rodden. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.