Daily Fantasy Golf Course Primer: TOUR Championship
It may not be the Masters. It may not be the U.S. Open or the Open. Heck, it may not even be THE PLAYERS.
But the FedEx Cup is coming to a close this weekend at East Lake, and you're darn right there's some DFS rosters to be built!
With a 30-player field, hitting on the right names will be difficult. Learning some ins and outs of the course could help get an edge.
Course and Tournament Overview
It's a 30-golfer field with no cut (imagine if there was) at East Lake GC in Atlanta. The course is a par 70 that spans just shy of 7,400 yards, making it the third-longest of 12 par 70 courses to be played in 2016.
In terms of difficulty, it's not that bad relative to other courses on tour in terms of playing to par, but take that with a grain of salt given the field that competes here.
Year | Difficulty Rank | Course | Par | Yds | Avg Score | Avg O/U Par |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | 27 | East Lake GC | 70 | 7,385 | 69.615 | -0.385 |
2015 | 17 | East Lake GC | 70 | 7,307 | 70.375 | 0.375 |
2014 | 20 | East Lake GC | 70 | 7,307 | 70.259 | 0.259 |
2013 | 30 | East Lake GC | 70 | 7,307 | 69.383 | -0.617 |
2012 | 20 | East Lake GC | 70 | 7,319 | 70.417 | 0.417 |
2011 | 28 | East Lake GC | 70 | 7,319 | 69.792 | -0.208 |
2010 | 18 | East Lake GC | 70 | 7,319 | 70.275 | 0.275 |
2009 | 16 | East Lake GC | 70 | 7,304 | 70.550 | 0.550 |
2008 | 15 | East Lake GC | 70 | 7,304 | 70.983 | 0.983 |
The real difficulty comes if you miss fairways.
Key Stats
Strokes gained: tee to green and strokes gained: putting are always worth monitoring. This week, these are the most important stats, based on historical data.
Key Stats for the Tour Championship at East Lake |
---|
Strokes Gained: Tee to Green |
Par 4 Scoring |
Scrambling |
Good Drive Rate |
Strokes Gained: Putting on Bermuda |
No surprise that strokes gained: tee to green matters here, as these golfers are good, and it requires a strong all-around game to get to the final 30 in itself. With just two par 5s, we can look to par 4 scoring, which also generally shows us which golfers are strong all around.
The fairways are narrow and difficult to hit, and golfers often vocalize that aspect of East Lake. Scrambling and good drives (fairways hit plus greens in regulation) are paramount this week as a result.
And we have to account for the Bermuda greens (we don't have to, but with so few golfers, why not see where it takes us at least?) and how players putt on Bermuda. (You can do that with the putting splits app on FantasyGolfMetrics.)
Course History Studs
Of the 30 golfers in the field, 22 have played East Lake at least once since 2006. Just keep in mind that there were renovations in 2008.
Golfers who haven't played here include Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm, Pat Perez, Tony Finau, Brian Harman, Adam Hadwin, Kyle Stanley, and Xander Schauffele.
Six golfers have played here just once: Jhonattan Vegas, Kevin Chappell, Russell Henley, Brooks Koepka, Marc Leishman, and Justin Thomas.
On the flip side, three golfers have played here at least seven times in that span: Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson, and Justin Rose.
Chappell did place second here last year in his lone career start at East Lake, and because Rory McIlroy didn't make the final 30, Chappell is the pseudo defending champion. It's either him or Jordan Spieth, who won here in 2015, though Spieth was 17th last year. He finished 2nd in 2013 and 27th in 2014, as well.
Dustin Johnson has four straight top-10s here: 10th in 2012, 5th in 2013, 5th in 2015, and 6th in 2016. Justin Rose has four top-six finishes from 2012 to 2015 (2nd, 6th, 4th, 2nd). Jason Day kind of has a top-10 string going. He withdrew in 2016 but was 10th in 2015 and 4th in 2014.
Paul Casey was 4th at East Lake in 2010, 5th in 2015, and 4th in 2016.
Similar to Chappell in that he has played here only once, Justin Thomas finished sixth last year, for what it's worth.