DraftKings Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: Puerto Rico Open
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.
The Puerto Rico Open is an alternate field event played opposite the World Golf Championships event in Mexico. With certain criteria needed to be invited to Club de Golf Chapultepec, the rest of the PGA Tour settles for a lovely trip to Coco Beach Golf & Country Club. The 7,507-yard par 72 features paspalum grass from tee to green and gorgeous coastal views.
A small field (120 golfers) means that more than half will make the cut, but also that ownership will be concentrated in the few names that carry more powerful brand recognition. Finding low-owned pivots off some of the more popular names is always important, and in events like this, we actually have a better idea of who will be popular because we've, well, heard of them.
The proximity to the sea can always bring about strong wind gusts, so be sure to monitor the forecast for any potential wave advantages.
Key Stats
| Key Stats for the Puerto Rico Open at Coco Beach Golf & CC |
|---|
| Strokes Gained: Tee to Green |
| Strokes Gained: Approach |
| Birdies or Better Gained |
| Strokes Gained: Par 5s |
Stats are from Fantasy National Golf Club and are for golfers in the field over the last 50 rounds, unless otherwise noted.
High-Priced Studs
Viktor Hovland ($11,400 | +1000) - Hovland is a beast in this field, ranking 1st in strokes gained: tee to green and birdies or better gained, 2nd in approach, and 12th on par 5s. He has not been playing his best golf of late, but the talent should prevail here. In limited action on the Korn Ferry Tour and in one swing season stop at the Greenbriar, Hovland was simply overpowering. Another resort course should mean we get the best of Hovland, who still has some work to do to qualify for some of the big upcoming events. An alt-field win would get him back on track heading to Florida.
Emiliano Grillo ($9,800 | +2500) - Grillo is a ballstriking wizard, ranking first in strokes gained: approach and second in strokes gained: tee to green. Those ranks are not inflated in a weak field, either -- he ranks third in approach on the entire Tour over the last 50 rounds.
Mid-Priced Options
Scott Brown ($9,400 | +2200) - While some of the best players in the world were stumbling to a finish at Riviera, Brown was steady on his way to a runner up finish at the Genesis Invitational. He'd missed the cut in four prior events so it's not like he came in with legitimate form, and he gained 7.1 strokes with his putter on the week. Typically we'd look for that performance to regress, but another solid performance would be far from shocking for Brown. He's owned this course and event over his career, winning in 2013 and with just one finish outside the top 20 in seven trips to Puerto Rico.
Matthew NeSmith ($9,100 | +3000) - Nesmith missed the cut in four of his first five events as a card-carrying member of the PGA Tour, but since then he has made six straight cuts and has finished inside the top 20 in half of those starts, including his last time out with a T11 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Given how brief his career has been, we can cut his sample into just the last 24 rounds and eliminate the one event per year from 2012 - 2016 that he got exemptions for and focus just on how he's been since earning his car. In that spilt, Nesmith ranks 4th on par 5s, 5th in birdies or better gained, 7th in strokes gained: approach, and 11th in strokes gained: tee to green.
Henrik Norlander ($8,500 | +4000) - Like Nesmith, Norlander started his season off sluggishly, missing the cut in four straight to start the 2019-20 season. Since then he's had higher highs -- notably a T5 at the RSM Classic and a T9 at the Sony Open -- and he rates out as the best performer on par 5s this week.
Low-Priced Options
Chase Seiffert ($7,700 | +7000) - Seiffert has made seven straight cuts on the PGA Tour, with a high mark of T21 at the American Express. A poor final round kept Seiffert off the podium, the only man inside the top 30 to shoot over par at the Stadium Course, thanks to a miserable putting performance. He lost 3.1 strokes putting in just that one round. Typically the short stick has been his friend, as he ranks seventh in this field in strokes gained: putting. He is 29th in strokes gained: tee to green and unique in this field in that he gains he above average in all three metrics -- 35th off the tee, 42nd on approach, and 48th around the greens.
Cameron Percy ($7,500 | +8000) - Percy is third in strokes gained: tee to green and fifth in strokes gained: approach, an elite starting point for anyone. Like Hovland, he closed strong on the Korn Ferry Tour and found a rhythm at some resort courses in the swing season, finishing T11 at the Sanderson Farms Championship and T7 at the Safeway Open.
Shawn Stefani ($7,500 | +6600) - Stefani managed a T11 at the last alternate field event at the Bermuda Championship in the fall, and he will be extremely motivated to earn back his status this year. He has one start on the Korn Ferry so far in 2020, a respectable T32 last week. He profiles as a perfect fit for this course, ranking 4th in strokes gained: approach, 6th on par 5s, 9th in birdies or better gained, and 12th in strokes gained: tee to green.
Tyler McCumber ($7,400 | +6600) - A T21 finish at Torrey Pines put McCumber on the map, and with his profile, he is fit to contend almost any week he rolls it well on the greens. Such is his driving distance, where he bombs it with the big guns and ranks eighth on the entire Tour. In this field ranks seventh in strokes gained: tee to green and eighth in birdies or better gained despite having just 44 office PGA Tour rounds.
Bargain Basement
Zack Sucher ($6,800 | +20000) - Twitter's new favorite golfer is a long shot even in this field, but he's shown some confidence and style on the main circuit including a few Monday qualifiers. He's firmly in this field to start the week, and even though he has just three made cuts this season in nine events he profiles well in our key stats. Sucher is 12th in birdies or better gained, 14th in strokes gained: tee to green, 24th in strokes gained: approach, and 35th on par 5s.
Wes Roach ($6,800 | +11000) - Roach flashed last summer on the resort courses on the mainland, and he's shown that his iron play is strong enough to pick up a decent finish when it goes right. He has three top 10s in the past year, including one this fall at the Houston Open. He ranks 14th on par 5s, 19th in strokes gained: tee to green, and 27th in birdies or better gained.
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.
