Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: PGA Championship

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

TPC Harding Park hasn't been a staple on the PGA Tour. It hosted the 2015 WGC-Match Play. Via FantasyNational, the bentgrass greens were fast that year.

Netting birdies on the par 5s seems to be pretty much a must in order to contend with the big hitters in the field, so distance and par 5 scoring make the list. Driving distance, as opposed to accuracy, should be getting the weight this week.

Other than that, we need to make sure that we're emphasizing overall tee-to-green performance with the most emphasis on approach play. Converting on the bentgrass greens is the last piece of the puzzle.

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 Salary: $11,600 | FanDuel Sportsbook Win Odds: +1200) - Thomas' data is pretty hot lately, and that includes good putting performances. You need to be wary of outlier putting performances, but that's not what's been boosting him. Thomas leads this field in strokes gained: tee to green over the past 50 rounds on the PGA Tour, and he comes at a reasonable salary among the studs.

Xander Schauffele ($11,000 | +2000) - Schauffele is a big name in majors more often than not. He does everything you would want for TPC Harding Park: he's long (18th in distance gained), he scores on par 5s (3rd), and he's an elite ball-striker (11th off the tee and 12th in approach). Pair that with a major in his home state and this discounted price, and Schauffele is a stellar DFS pick.

Others to Target:
Jon Rahm ($11,700 | +1200) - A low-key stellar putter who has the distance (20th) to contend.
Patrick Cantlay ($11,000 | +2800) - Always gaining strokes from ball-striking and a plus bentgrass putter.
Justin Rose ($10,400 | +5000) - Three straight missed cuts will keep draft percentage low, but he lost a ton of strokes from short game.

Mid-Priced Picks

Viktor Hovland ($9,800 | +4000) - Hovland sucks at chipping, and that much we know, but he doesn't suck at the more predictive stats, such as off-the-tee and approach play -- he ranks fourth in each of those. That's wild.

Joaquin Niemann ($9,000 | +10000) - Niemann's top-28 in both off-the-tee and approach strokes gained in the field, and he's 11th in opportunities gained (effectively birdie chances), as well. For the cheap price and the bentgrass boost we can apply to Niemann's putter, he's an easy value play to justify for PGA Championship lineups.

Others to Target:
Tony Finau ($10,000 | +3500) - A big hitter with high-end upside from some spike weeks putting. Just depends if he can get it all together at once.
Matthew Fitzpatrick ($9,300 | +3800) - Too good tee-to-green to hate at this price.
Harris English ($9,300 | +20000) - One of the best adjusted tee-to-green players in 2020.
Bubba Watson ($9,200 | +12000) - Keeps losing strokes from his short game, but the ball-striking is consistently good for the salary.

Low-Priced Picks

Scottie Scheffler ($8,800 | +15000) - Scheffler's trending back up after three straight missed cuts. The reason for the hype on Scheffler was because of his tee-to-green game, and there's a reason to believe that's back. Scheffler's cheap salary in this loaded field doesn't bring safety with it, but there is top-25 upside in his range of outcomes.

Erik Van Rooyen ($8,500 | +20000) - A pricey pick a few weeks ago, EVR is back to the value range. The long-term form on him is good, and he's top-25 in both ball-striking stats. You know how many other golfers can say that? Nine. Corey Conners ($8,500) also fits that, but the other six are all at least $9,600.

Others to Consider:
Max Homa ($8,100 | +10000) - Top-40 in both ball-striking stats and 41st in distance. Concerns are mostly putting based.
Carlos Ortiz ($7,300 | +50000) - Lacks the off-the-tee ability to separate but is a good all-around golfer.