GOLF

Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: Workday Charity Open

The PGA Tour is at Muirfield Village for the first of two straight weeks. Who stands out in this field for our FanDuel lineups?

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

Key Stats for the Workday Charity Open
at Muirfield Village
Strokes Gained: Approach
Driving Accuracy
Strokes Gained: Around the Green
Strokes Gained: Putting on Bentgrass
Birdie or Better Rate


We're going to get a lot of assumptions this week about how Muirfield Village plays because this course is hosting next week's event as well. The buzz is that it'll have slower greens and easier pin placements than it will next week, so we can probably expect scores to be a bit solid. The rough is expected to grow longer for next week, meaning we'll have some penalizing rough this week, too. For that reason, driving accuracy seems vital to factor in.

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

Patrick Cantlay (FanDuel Salary: $11,700 | Golf odds Win Odds: +1500) - Cantlay was a co-favorite with Justin Thomas ($12,000) before lengthening, and it made sense. Cantlay is a rare golfer who is above-average in all four strokes gained stats, and he's also been a boss at Muirfield Village in his career. He's finished 35th, 4th, and 1st in three tries. Cantlay ranks third in my stats-only model and is fourth in win odds in my simulations. In his only PGA Tour event since the hiatus, he finished 11th albeit from a pretty hot putter and lukewarm tee-to-green play. You have a lot of options at the top, but Cantlay still stands out.

Xander Schauffele ($11,200 | +2100) - Schauffele is another golfer who does everything well tee to green and on the greens, and no golfer has a better stat-only rating in my model. X comes in at 5.4% likely to win this thing, ranking him third behind just Thomas (7.3%) and Jon Rahm (6.2%). I've got nothing against Thomas or Rahm, but Xander is significantly cheaper, and we're getting him on a great putting surface for him.

Others to Consider:
Viktor Hovland ($10,900 | +2200) - Top-three in approach and off the tee with promising putting splits on bentgrass.
Justin Rose ($10,800 | +2600) - Good bentgrass putter and good form at Muirfield with a return to form back with old clubs.
Patrick Reed ($10,500 | +4000) - Volatile option who is the best bentgrass putter in the field.

Mid-Range Options

Joaquin Niemann ($10,000 | +4500) - Niemann's biggest weakness, putting, is less problematic when he's on bentgrass greens, and that's what we have this week. Other than that, Niemann ranks 25th in strokes gained: off the tee and 14th in strokes gained: approach. He's also sixth in opportunities gained, so he's in scoring position plenty. It's a good price for him.

Adam Hadwin ($9,900 | +4500) - Hadwin ranks 17th in putting over a 100-round sample on bentgrass, and he's 19th over the past 50 rounds in strokes gained: approach. A good par 4 scorer, Hadwin has questionable betting odds this low (after being +6000 last week), but the price is mostly the same as it was last week. A balanced lineup is really easy to justify in a field that drops off, so Hadwin should be elevated this week in the ranks.

Others to Consider:
Matthew Fitzpatrick ($9,700 | +6500) - 23rd in tee to green performance over the past 50 rounds and an accurate driver (19th).
Joel Dahmen ($9,300 | +8000) - Made eight straight cuts due to top-tier ball-striking. Not a good putter but hasn't been abysmal.
Corey Conners ($9,200 | +9000) - Average distance with good accuracy and the field leader in greens in regulation gained. Terrible putter.

Low-Priced Picks

Ian Poulter ($9,000 | +15000) - Poulter's really good short game (30th in around the green and 11th in putting over the past 50 rounds) keeps him viable most weeks, and that's something we'll have to look toward, given his modest approach play (68th). Poulter has solid win odds in my sims (1.1%) for the price -- and the same goes for cut odds. In a cash game, I may not be going below $9,000 this week.

Sebastian Munoz ($8,000 | +15000) - Munoz is a good all-around player, aside from his shoddy around-the-green play. He's 34th in the field in approach over the past 50 rounds, and we can't ask for much more than that from someone priced down here. He's also eighth in opportunities gained! He has the ability to to score and make the cut (57.7% in my simulations), well over the expectation at this salary.

Others to Consider:
Ryan Palmer ($8,800 | +13000) - Top-40 in both ball-striking stats with accuracy as well.
Zach Johnson ($8,500 | +15000) - Accurate enough to stay in the mix without a high ceiling.
Carlos Ortiz ($7,600 | +30000) - Cut twice in three starts despite positive approach gained.