Following Will Zalatoris’ breakthrough win at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the FedEx Cup Playoffs continue this week with the BMW Championship. For this event – which is the second of three tournaments for the playoffs – we head to Wilmington Country Club (par 71, 7,534 yards, bentgrass greens), marking the first time this venue and the state of Delaware has ever hosted a PGA TOUR event.
After a tornado tore apart Wilmington CC in 2020, the course’s designers used this disaster as an opportunity to make the track more challenging in preparation for this year’s BMW Championship. More bunkers were added – bringing this parkland course’s total up to 91 – and Wilmington CC was lengthened, making it the longest par 71 on the 2022 schedule. On top of this venue’s daunting length, the tree-lined fairways at Wilmington CC are windy, narrow and bordered by penalizing rough, making strong drivers of the golf ball priorities this week. As for the greens, these bentgrass putting surfaces at Wilmington CC are massive and shouldn’t be hard to stick at a high rate. Nevertheless, we still need to be targeting players who come into this week with compelling form with their irons. Plus, we should also be putting a heavier weight than usual on putting stats, as navigating and avoiding three-putts on these overwhelming greens will be critical to contend at Wilmington CC. Lastly, with six of the 11 par 4s falling between 400-450 yards at this par 71, finding players who thrive on this length of hole is a savvy move.
While the top-70 players in the FedEx Cup rankings have earned a spot at this week’s BMW Championship, only 67 golfers will be competing at this no-cut tournament, with Cameron Smith (hip), Tommy Fleetwood (personal) and Lanto Griffin (back) all withdrawing. Following the BMW Championship, the top-30 players in the FedEx Cup standings will advance to the TOUR Championship at East Lake next week.
Below, I have featured four of my favorite bargain plays for the BMW Championship that are all priced under $7.5K on DraftKings.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $1.2M Pitch + Putt [$300K to 1st]
Keith Mitchell ($7,400) – At a course like Wilmington CC that requires an elite driver and putter, Mitchell is an excellent choice. This season, very few have drove the golf ball better than Mitchell, with him ranking third and 19th in SG OTT and driving distance, respectively. Furthermore, Mithchell’s flat stick has been terrific, ranking 40th in SGP. The 30-year-old has also flashed great upside on bentgrass this season, producing three top-20 finishes in five appearances at venues home to this green type. Coming into this week, Mitchell has only missed one weekend in his last nine starts, and he carries very compelling odds to win relative to his cheap price tag. On the DraftKings Sportsbook, Mitchell holds +6500 odds to win the BMW Championship this weekend, which are the same odds as Hideki Matsuyama, who is notably more expensive at $8.4K.
Maverick McNealy ($7,200) – At the FedEx St. Jude Championship this past week, McNealy shot 3-under or better in three of his four rounds, including a 5-under 65 on Sunday, which tied for the lowest score of the final round and the lowest number of McNealy’s season. The lone exception for the Stanford graduate was a 5-over 75 on moving day, which ultimately held McNealy to a T31 finish. Obviously, if the 26-year-old was able to avoid this landmine, he would have found himself in the mix for a win Sunday afternoon, and McNealy will now look to build off that tremendous closing round at TPC Southwind this week at Wilmington CC, which is a perfect course for his skill set. This season, McNealy ranks inside the top 60 in SGP, SG OTT and driving distance. This combination of a top notch driver and putter has translated into nine top-25 finishes for him during the 2022 season, three of which have come in his past six starts. Not only is McNealy a terrific buy at this low price point, he is an enticing bet for a top-10 finish, at +550 on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Wyndham Clark ($6,500) – Clark checks all the boxes for Wilmington CC. First off, his work on the greens has been brilliant, ranking first in SGP when we compare this star studded field’s last 24 rounds. Additionally, Clark has been tremendous with his driver during this time, ranking seventh in driving distance and 15th in SG OTT, and he has also thrived on 400-450 yard par 4s, ranking 14th in SG on this specific length. Clark has supplied four top-30 finishes in his last eight starts, and out producing this low price tag should be an easy task for him in Delaware this week.
Trey Mullinax ($6,200) - Mullinax is playing the best golf of his career right now. Just last month, the bomber picked up the first PGA TOUR win of his career at the Barbasol Championship, booking himself a ticket to the Open Championship the following week. At the Old Course of St. Andrews, Mullinax carded a T21 finish in his Open Championship debut, including a weekend score of -9, which tied for the third best of the major. The 30-year-old then followed up this showing with a T37 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and T5 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. During that latter finish that came just last week, Mullinax ranked fifth in SGT2G at TPC Southwind. The Alabama graduate now sits at a career-best 130th in the world golf rankings, 240 spots higher than where he ranked before his victory at the Barbasol Championship. Mullinax also currently sits 41st in the FedEx Cup standings, meaning a quality finish in Delaware this week is a must if he wants to move onto to his first ever TOUR Championship. Ranking 27th in SG OTT this season and gaining strokes with his flat stick in three of his past four starts, Mullinax’s game sets up well for Wilmington CC and he is arguably the best value of the week at this near minimum salary.
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