PGA National won’t have the same field as it had in past seasons. Usually, The Honda Classic is the first tournament after the West Coast swing and is routinely one of the most demanding courses on the PGA TOUR. Being sandwiched between THE PLAYERS and a WGC-event, most players have elected to pass, making Daniel Berger ($10,800) the highest-ranked golfer (15th) who was originally scheduled to be in the field. However, Berger ultimately withdrew as he is dealing with a nagging rib injury, giving the field a considerable opportunity to snag a win or top performance this week.
PGA National will be a tough test of golf, and rest assured, the golfers who keep the proverbial boat steady and avoid the big numbers with all the water hazards will finish high in DraftKings scoring. The course has played difficult in scoring relative to par over the previous three years. As a challenging, short par 70, it should give the nod to golfers who are playing well tee-to-green this week, especially with a lot of wind in the forecast.
Course history, current form, or your favorite golf tout has pumped up the projected DraftKings ownership for individual golfers throughout the week. This article will look at the projected chalk and pivot in each significant salary range when entering lineups in GPPs on DraftKings.
For a full course preview and who I like in the betting market, please refer to the DraftKings Preview article. Here are the pivots we should be considering this week on DraftKings.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $750K Flop Shot [$200K to 1st]
$10,000+ Range
Projected Popular Golfer: Joaquin Niemann ($10,400)
Pivot: Adam Scott ($10,100)
Niemann is projecting to be the highest-rostered player this week, and rightfully so. His tee-to-green game is fantastic, and he hasn’t lost in said category since October of last year. Unlike previous weeks, we shouldn’t avoid this range altogether with how thin the field is this week, and maybe that means we roster a couple of players above $10,000. Adam Scott has been disastrous off-the-tee, which is abnormal, but his short-game has been fantastic, ranking ninth in putting over his previous 12 rounds. With a couple of wins in Florida, including this tournament, Scott may find more success clubbing down Off-the-Tee and not being forced to hit driver like he has been the last couple of weeks.
$8,000 to $10,000 Range
Projected Popular Golfer: Brendan Steele ($8,700)
Pivot: Doug Ghim ($8,800)
Steele is coming in playing well and has the course history, while everyone watched Ghim completely melt down on Sunday last week. Experience is priceless in those situations, so we shouldn’t feel too worried about his price increase this week. Yes, he was in the low $6,000-range, and now he’s near $9,000, but this is an entirely different circumstance with a weaker field. Over the first three rounds at THE PLAYERS, no one was better T2G than Ghim, gaining 11.85 strokes; zooming out over the previous 50 rounds, the young-professional ranks 15th in T2G.
$7,000 to $8,000 Range
Projected Popular Golfer: Kevin Streelman ($7,700)
Pivot: Alex Noren ($7,700)
Even with two missed cuts, Noren’s game should fit well here, especially when the windy conditions make the course play difficult. His top-three finish in 2018 was in similar scoring conditions, and he’s coming in at less than half the projected ownership Streelman is projected to have this week. Streelman can get hot, especially when he’s putting well, but he’s coming into this week as the highest in this range, which is grounds for a potential disaster if his ball-striking is a little off with how bad he’s putting recently. Streelman is striking the ball well in windy conditions, but so is Noren, ranking 14th in SG: Tee-to-Green over the previous 12 rounds in extremely windy conditions.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $750K Flop Shot [$200K to 1st]
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