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**Editor’s Note: Kevin Dudzinki is ranked in the top 5% of all DFS players, according to Rotogrinders.com, and has made a killing on fantasy since he started in 2013. Learn more about Kev HERE and follow him on Twitter HERE.***
We finally took a pit stop from the incredible run we’ve been on.
Tony Finau took a first round lead on Thursday, and looked well positioned to get us to the winner’s circle, heading into Sunday down just two strokes. After a few early birdies, Finau after 4 holes, had the outright lead. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to hold on, and ultimately faded down the stretch.
With last weeks setback, we need to update our stats on the year. If you bet $100 a week since The Tour returned, you’d be up $991 in seven weeks. If you’ve been following since January when we began, at $100 a week, you’d be up a cool $2,012. In golf, we aren’t going to win every week, but when we do, it covers a few weeks in a row.
The tour heads to Memphis this week for the WGC St. Jude tournament.
This is a World Golf Championship event, which means the field is much smaller (78 players) and there is no cut. So we don’t have to worry about our guys making the cut on Friday. Since there is no cut, in these events, the cream usually rises to the top. Being that everyone is guaranteed four rounds, we typically see some of the studs in position to take this tournament down. So our card is smaller this week, and more top heavy.
Below is a refresher on how I am allocating my bets this week, and who I like to take down the WGC St. Jude.
As far as betting, I’ll keep track of the overall performance for the year each week. The important thing to understand is that betting on golf is hard. Most weeks we are going to lose, but one winning week, can make up for multiple losing weeks. I’m taking a long term approach, and hoping to finish the season up. As you will see, we are going to spread our money out to multiple players, and hopefully grind out a profit.
Each week, I am going to put one unit in play. That unit is going to be divided up between all the players I want to bet on. This unit can be whatever you feel comfortable losing in a week, but should remain consistent throughout the season. If you move the amount all over the place each week, your chances of profiting decrease quite a bit. With that being said, let’s take a look at who I’m targeting to take down this event.
Welcome to part 2 of WGC ST. Jude preview, where today we take a look at players I have the most interest in using on DraftKings in their tournaments. In these articles, I am going to pick two players that I am the most interested in using, from three different tiers. $9,000 and up, $7500-$8900, and under $7500.
Since this is a WGC event, there is no cut. So we don’t have to worry about guys not making the cut, everyone gets four rounds. When this is the case, it makes more sense to go stars and scrubs, as even the cheapest guys are going to accumulate points the whole week.
Let’s take a look at who we should be building our DK lineups around this week
$9,000+
Justin Thomas $10,700
Thomas ranks first in my model this week, but is 4th highest in salary, so we are getting some value here. He won this tournament two years ago, and I think he is primed for another run at taking it down this week.
Xander Schauffele $9,800
Xander ranks as elite in almost every category I am looking at, and is a big time birdie maker. With 4 rounds guaranteed, it seems like a pretty good bet that Xander should have at least one round where he goes bananas and brings a lot of birdies.
$7500-$8900
Hideki Matsuyama $8,900
Matsuyama is a great guy to target in this type of format. He stinks at putting, but with 4 rounds to play, he is just such an amazing ball striker, that he should have more opportunities than most. So he should by sheer volume accumulate birdies, to move him up the board.
Sergio Garcia $8,000
Garcias has been hot recently showing good form by ranking 7th in the field in birdies gained over his last 12 rounds. He’s reasonably priced, and let’s you still use some of the big boys in your lineup.
Under $7500
Eric Van Rooyen $6,800
Van Rooyen is very cheap this week, and let’s us get studs in our lineup. He not only is one of the better birdie makers in the field, but he’s been making a lot recently as well. Since most of your Draftkings points this week aren’t going to come from finishing position, but from birdies made and streaks, we want guys who can go low. EVR fits that description.
Ryan Palmer $6,700
Another guy who is super cheap, but has been playing well, is Ryan Palmer. At the last event we saw Palmer, he was finishing second at the Memorial. If he can continue his form from that week, he should provide us some good value.
Good luck this week, and see you at the top of the leaderboards!