Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: Safeway Open

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's daily fantasy golf offering.

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. It's a great balance between time to research and time spent tracking your team.

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

This week, we should still value approach play over everything else, and that rolls up into the importance of hitting greens in regulation, which really tends to separate the field at the Safeway Open.

The fairways are hard to hit, but neither distance nor accuracy really stand out as musts here.

For a more detailed breakdown on the course, check out our course primer from Mike Rodden.

Stats cited below come from FantasyNational and include the past 50 rounds on the PGA Tour unless noted. Ranks are among the field.

Best of the Best

Justin Thomas (FanDuel Price: $12,200 | Golf odds Win Odds: +650) - Thomas' win odds are by far the tops of the week, and he leads the way in my win simulations. Thomas leads the field in strokes gained: tee to green and is one of just two golfers to rank top-10 in all three tee-to-green strokes gained stats. Thomas also has positive poa putting splits. He's a very easy sell for cash games but will come at astoundingly high ownership, so keep that in mind for tournament lineups.

Adam Scott ($11,700 | +1400) - Scott and Patrick Cantlay ($10,900) are both fine plays, but I have to go with Scott here, as he is the field leader in birdie or better rate gained, greens in regulation, and par 4 strokes gained in our sample. He also sits 15th in strokes gained: putting on poa over a 100-round sample.

Collin Morikawa ($10,600 | +3100) - Morikawa ended the last PGA Tour season hot and enters ranked 8th in approach and 10th in greens in regulation gained over the past 50 rounds. He has just a missed cut to his name at Silverado, and with the studs at the top, he should go overlooked in this awkward salary range.

Chez Reavie ($10,400 | +4100) - Reavie ranks ninth in approach and birdie or better rate gained, plus eighth on par 4s over the past 50 rounds. He has around a 70% chance to make the cut, per my simulations, and he's a piece to building a high-floor lineup.

Mid-Range Options

Kevin Streelman ($9,900 | +5500) - Streelman had missed three straight cuts before finishing fourth at the Sanderson Farms Championship last week. He is top-20 in both strokes gained: off the tee (18th) and strokes gained: approach (13th), as well as ranking 4th in greens in regulation gained. His short game has been volatile, but that doesn't matter as much as the ball-striking.

Corey Conners ($9,800 | +5000) - Conners ranks second in strokes gained: off the tee and is fifth in strokes gained: approach among the field. He missed the cut last week, giving us a recency bias edge here, as well. He lost 2.7 strokes putting last weekend. He ranked ninth in strokes gained: tee to green despite playing just two rounds. He's a prime tournament play.

Bud Cauley ($9,400 | +7000) - Cauley ranks 29th in approach and is 4th around the green, but he's 112th in putting on poa. He's finished 50th, 7th, and 46th here the past three years and most recently finished 14th at the Greenbrier.

Vaughn Taylor ($9,300 | +9000) - Taylor struggled last week and lost strokes: tee to green, but his 2019 as a whole is good enough to make him look underpriced at $9,300. Taylor ranks 15th in approach and 27th around the green. There's recency bias after Taylor missed the cut at nearly 20.0% ownership.

Low-Priced Picks

Jim Furyk ($8,900 | +9000) - Furyk is never a fun play, but he does rank 4th in strokes gained: approach in our sample and is 3rd in greens in regulation gained, 15th in par 4 scoring, and 21st in poa putting. While typically an afterthought, Furyk ranks seventh in adjusted stroke average among the field.

Cameron Tringale ($8,800 | +12000) - Tringale's been trending up, culminating in a 16th at last week's Sanderson Farms Championship. Tringale is 25th in the field in adjusted stroke average in 2019 and is 23rd since the U.S. Open. Tringale is also 14th in strokes gained: putting on poa over a 100-round sample and is 29th in the field in strokes gained: tee to green over his past 50 rounds.

Jhonattan Vegas ($8,600 | +12000) - Vegas leads the field in strokes gained: off the tee over the past 50 rounds and is 2nd in opportunities gained, which is a Fantasy National stat that indicates scoring chances. He's a weak putter, and that's true on poa. However, Vegas ranks fifth in greens in regulation gained and has been quite good in 2019 overall, ranking 24th in adjusted stroke average among the field.

Ryan Moore ($7,000 | +4100) - Moore is sixth in approach in our sample and is a plus putter on poa. Moore also has shown a penchant for faring well at this course, finishing 10th, 17th, and 2nd at this course, the runner-up being a playoff loss last year to Kevin Tway. He's just a mis-priced play this week.