Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: Farmers Insurance 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 have two courses: Torrey Pines North and South. Every golfer in the field will play both courses by Saturday. The top 65 and ties will play the South Course twice on the weekend. So that means one round at the North Course and three on the South Course for those who finish the event.

The first thing that comes to mind for me when I think Torrey Pines is driving distance. You need more than just distance, but distance goes a long way.

Really, I'm focusing things down to ball-striking: distance, strokes gained: off the tee, strokes gained: approach, and greens in regulation. I wouldn't fault you for looking at proximity or greens in regulation numbers from 175-plus yards, but finding the right samples can prove difficult.

The South Course has poa greens, and that'll factor into my picks this week, as well.

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

Rory McIlroy (FanDuel Price: $12,200 | Golf odds Win Odds: +600) - The class of the field, McIlroy fits Torrey well despite a lack of history. He finished fifth here last year and enters as the class of the field. McIlroy ranks first in strokes gained: off the tee, fourth in driving distance, and fifth in strokes gained: approach.

Xander Schauffele ($11,500 | +1800) - Schauffele has good putting splits on poa (13th over the past 100 rounds) and is 25th in driving distance in our sample. Xander ranks 10th off the tee and 16th in approach over the past 50 rounds. He's dabbled in small fields of late but has finished 10th, 2nd, 10th, and 2nd in them, including a 2nd at the Sentry Tournament of Champions -- a tough field and an event to kick off January.

Tony Finau ($10,600 | +2900) - Finau is a big hitter with worrisome putting splits, but on poa, he's about neutral in the strokes gained department. His form is rounding out, too, as he has finished 10th, 5th, and 14th over his past three events. This will be Finau's third straight week of golf -- enough to knock off the rust but not enough to be concerned. Finau has finished (since 2015) 24th, 18th, 4th, 6th, and 13th at Torrey Pines.

Others to Consider:
Jon Rahm ($12,000 | +800) - Elite form and a big hitter who can thrive at Torrey. Just priced very close to Rory.
Justin Rose ($11,300 | +1800) - Last year's champ has enough distance to get it done again but hasn't been great off the tee of late.
Patrick Reed ($10,500 | +2700) - A low-owned tournament play who is 13th off the tee despite ranking 75th in distance; great all-around game.
Jason Day ($10,200 | +2200) - Long off the tee (20th) and a great poa putter with two wins at Torrey.

Mid-Range Options

Joaquin Niemann ($9,800 | +4500) - Niemann has been figuring out the flat stick and is up to 27th in strokes gained: putting over the past 50 rounds -- to go along with ranking 11th off the tee and 7th in approach. He was 72nd here last year when he lost 8.0 strokes combined around and on the greens. He's golfing infinitely better than he was a year ago.

Byeong-Hun An ($9,600 | +6000) - I liked An well enough last week at a huge salary, so with a big discount, I'll go back to the well. An is 22nd in distance and 25th in strokes gained: approach. His putting splits are terrible (126th on poa) and 139th on all surfaces in recent samples. But for the price and with the ball-striking profile, we can keep him on the list.

Jason Kokrak ($9,300 | +6500) - He's back to a justifiable price, and that helps a ton. Kokrak has played this event thrice over the past four years, finishing 25th, cut, and 20th. Abnormally, he was carried by his putter here last year en route to the T20. Kokrak ranks 16th in distance, 7th in strokes gained: off the tee, and 19th in strokes gained: approach over the past 50 rounds. His short game is terrible, but nobody is perfect down in this range.

Others to Consider:
Scottie Scheffler ($10,000 | +3700) - Stellar ball-striker with distance but no event experience and an awkward price.
Ryan Palmer ($9,700 | +7000) - Top-30 ball-striking stats but terrible poa putting.
Cameron Champ ($9,500 | +5000) - Field leader in distance and second in strokes gained: off the tee. Worth a dart in tournaments.

Low-Priced Picks

Carlos Ortiz ($8,800 | +15000) - The 28-year-old has some history at Torrey Pines, finishing 11th in 2015, 49th in 2016, and cut in 2019. Last year's missed cut included a 77-69 start. The 77 did come on the South Course, so that doesn't ease all of the concerns by any means. He also shot a 69 in 2016 at the North Course before following it up with a 74-71-80 finish on the South Course. In 2015, he went 73-68-71 at the South Course. Ortiz's recent stats suggest he can come through at the salary: 42nd in distance and 57th in approach.

Cameron Tringale ($8,700 | +15000) - Tringale has been a golfer I've been targeting for weeks. He's 55th off the tee and 12th in approach while rating out top 35 in both short game stats. He's actually 20th in poa putting and has a full 100-round sample on such greens. Tringale has played here 10 straight years, making seven cuts. Tringale's past 10 rounds have been 69-72-74-78; 72-71-73-75; and 71-72. It's not awful even though his best finish in there was 58th.

Sepp Straka ($8,600 | +15000) - Straka was a name I was keeping tabs on last week. He's got great irons and showed that last week with a fourth-place finish at The American Express. Straka gained 5.6 strokes with his approach play -- after losing 5.2 the week prior. The Austrian finished 13th at Torrey Pines last year, as well.

Others to Consider:
Nick Watney ($8,800 | +15000) - 28th in distance and 42nd in approach isn't a bad snapshot.
Danny Lee ($8,600 | +18000) - Irons can get hot, and he's 36th in approach over the past 50 rounds.

Risk/Reward Punt Plays

Xin-Jun Zhang ($7,500 | +26000) - Balanced profile aside from short game and strong birdie rate.
D.J. Trahan ($7,800 | +26000) - Only glaring red flag is the putting.