DraftKings Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship

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 Corales Punta Cana Resort & Club Championship.

Key Stats

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

Stats are from Fantasy National Golf Club and are for golfers in the field over the last 50 rounds.

High-Priced Studs

Thomas Pieters (DraftKings Price $11,100 | FanDuel Sportsbook Win Odds +1800) - When we think of the short-tempered Pieters, consistency is not always the first word that comes to mind. But with made cuts in his last three events of 2020 and his first five of 2021 -- including top 15s in each of his last three -- the big hitting German has found a groove. One of those finishes came at the alternate field Puerto Rico Open against many of the same golfers that he'll be facing this week. He spends most of his time on the European Tour, so while Fantasy National's stats are limited to PGA and some Korn Ferry stats we have to look to datagolf's True Strokes Gained tool and European Tour-specific stats. According to the datagolf tool, Pieters is gaining in all three tee-to-green categories on the year. If we are going for a high floor in cash games at the top of the salary pool, Pieters is the one to start with.

Emiliano Grillo ($10,500 | +1800) - Grillo is a staple at the top of these alternate fields, and he rarely disappoints. In his last four alternate events, he finished 11th at the Puerto Rico Open, 34th at the Bermuda Championship, 21st at the fall edition of this event, and 3rd at the 2020 Puerto Rico. He is second in strokes gained: off the tee, third in opportunities gained, fourth in strokes gained: approach, and seventh in birdies or better gained.

Charley Hoffman ($10,200 | +1600) - Hoffman will be the most popular play in this range as he's now the shortest odds at a cheaper price than Pieters, Grillo, and Thomas Detry ($10,800 | +2600). Hoffman has finishes of T17, T10, T52, and T7 in his last four events, and those last two coming at TPC Sawgrass and Bay Hill Club & Lodge against premiere competition gives him the recent form edge this week. The stats tell the same story, as he is 1st in strokes gained: approach and opportunities gained, 3rd in birdies or better gained, 6th in strokes gained: off the tee, and 29th in strokes gained: par 5s. He was 14th here in the fall.

Mid-Priced Options

Tom Lewis ($9,300 | +4500) - Lewis has been up and down on the PGA Tour over the past 18 months, but his highs have been impressive enough to draw some attention this week even at a high price. With the variance already jacked up at a tournament missing world class players, ownership is even more important than normal. Aside from the top three, very few golfers have made-cut equity we are used to seeing in the midrange. Pairing one of the top three with Lewis still allows flexibility in the rest of your lineup with an average of $7,400 - $7,600 remaining salary while starting off with a different construction at the top. Lewis is 12th in strokes gained: off the tee, 24th in strokes gained: approach, 24th on par 5s, and 26th in opportunities gained.

Luke List ($8,900 | +2600) - List was eighth here in the fall, and with a win in his only Korn Ferry Start in 2020 it's clear that he is a cut above in these weaker fields. He is 1st in strokes gained on par 5s, 2nd in opportunities gained, 3rd in strokes gained: approach, 11th in birdies or better gained, and 12th in strokes gained: approach. The putting woes are probably enough to keep List from seriously contending most weeks on the PGA Tour, but his ballstriking and scoring ability make him a strong play against this competition.

Sepp Straka ($8,800 | +3300) - Straka is a streaky scorer who can lap the field with his iron play when he's on. He finished T33 at the Honda Classic, gaining 5.8 strokes tee-to-green after losing strokes in four straight events. If he can carry that momentum forward we should see a good result with a tournament-winning upside in single-round Showdown contests on DraftKings. He rates out well against this competition in all our key stats, coming in 6th in birdies or better gained, 7th in stroke gained: approach, 10th in opportunities gained, 18th in stroke gained: off the tee, and 34th on par 5s.

Will Gordon ($8,600 | +3300) - Having an elite skill in a field lacking elite talent is a huge advantage, and Gordon's driving is a major weapon this week. He is first in this field in average driving distance and sixth on the entire Tour, just ahead of List. He comes in at fourth in strokes gained: off the tee by virtue of his wild inaccuracy, but at a wide-open track like Corales, he should be out of jail fairly easily if he's wayward with his drives. He's 2nd in birdies or better gained and can really fill out a scorecard, and he should be able to avoid his typical bogey runs at an easier course like this.

Low-Priced Options

Tyler McCumber ($7,900 | +3400) - McCumber was the runner up here six months ago and followed it up with a T6 finish at the Sanderson Farms Championship a week later, so we want to ride him when he gets hot. He was also T19 in 2018, so he definitely likes the course. With finishes of T33 and T22 in tough conditions at the Honda Classic and THE PLAYERS Championship the past two weeks plus solid history at this course, McCumber is firmly in play this week.

Adam Schenk ($7,900 | +4800) - Schenk is a quality ball-striker who has made the cut in all four appearances in Puntacana, and he's another golfer who stands out in these alternate fields. He was 56th here earlier this season, though he started hot with rounds of 68 and 69 before struggling over the weekend with a 73 and 74 over his final two rounds. He gained 5.7 strokes via approaches last week at the Honda Classic and 2.1 in just two rounds at THE PLAYERS, the type of form we are looking to target this week.

Joel Dahmen ($7,700 | +4800) - It's been a long year for Dahmen, but he may be turning the corner with a solid tee-to-green showing looking like just another missed cut at THE PLAYERS. His 5.0 strokes gained was his best since his T8 finish at the ZOZO Championship, and his 3.6 strokes gained via his approaches was his bet performance since the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in August. The putting was awful at Sawgrass, however, and he lost 5.2 strokes putting in just two rounds, the third worst performance of his career. In all, he's lost strokes putting in six straight events after gaining in five straight before his current streak began. If he can shake off his cold streak with the putter he will be dangerous.

Josh Teater ($7,000 | +10000) - Teater doesn't make it into very many PGA events so his stat sample is a little out of whack, but he usually plays well in these alternate events. He missed the cut in both the Corales and the Bermuda earlier this year, but he was 22nd in Puerto Rico a few weeks back and was runner up last year and T11 at the Bermuda. He is fifth in opportunities gained and ninth on par 5s.

Bargain Basement

Alex Smalley ($6,800 | +10000) - Smalley does not have a PGA start since finishing 14th at this event last year, and this will be his first official start of the 2021 calendar year. He played the U.S. Open as an amateur while at Duke University in 2017 and missed the cut at the 2020 Waste Management Phoenix Open, but he crushed it on the smaller Tours last year once play resumed in August. His finishes in the LOCALiQ Series (events counted toward the Mackenzie Tour - PGA Tour Canada, the PGA Tour Series-China, and the PGA Tour Latinoamerica) with finishes of T3, MC, T9, T4, T25, T18, and T16. He was a first-team All-American in 2019.

Paul Barjon ($6,700 | +15000) - Barjon has made six straight cuts on between five Korn Ferry events and the Puerto Rico Open, and while none of those were particularly high finishes he displayed an ability to spoke in 2020 with five finishes of T7 or better, most of them scattered between missed cuts. Variance is our friend this week, and if he implodes it won't be the end of the world for this price. But if he can shoot up the leaderboard and make a push over the weekend like he did consistently on the Korn Ferry Tour, he'll return massive value on this price tag.

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.