Weekend Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: RBC Heritage
If you missed out on this week's initial offering of golf on FanDuel, there's no need to fret. You can still get in on the PGA Tour action because FanDuel is now offering weekend contests.
Building a weekend-only lineup is the same as it is for the standard FanDuel golf contests, and the scoring system is the same -- aside from finishing position bonuses. Plus, if you did play the four-round format, you'll see that the pricing is identical for weekend contests.
So the goal is simple: find golfers who will make birdies and avoid bogeys whether they climb to the top of the actual leaderboard or not.
With all that in mind, let's take a look at some golfers to target this weekend -- and be sure to consider our golf projections, which include weekend-only projections.
High-Priced Options
Dustin Johnson (FanDuel Price: $12,800) - The World No.1 is lurking six strokes back heading into the weekend. Johnson’s second round wasn’t the birdie-fest so many other golfers enjoyed on Friday, but DJ has the firepower to go as low as anyone on a course where inferior golfers are posting 64’s and 65’s. According to Fantasy National Golf Club, Johnson is ranked 1st in the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green in Rounds 3 and 4 combined in the last 12 weekend rounds (and 24 rounds...and 36 rounds...and 50 rounds...you get the point).
Matt Kuchar ($11,800) - Kooch must have a thing for plaid. With Luke Donald crashing back to reality Kuchar claims the course horse title going into the weekend. A double bogey on the 17th spoiled an otherwise stellar second round and knocked Kuchar down the leaderboard, but with four straight top-11 finishes (including a win in 2014) at the RBC Heritage, the fan favorite is a safe bet to gain strokes on the field and hang around the top 10.
Webb Simpson ($11,500) - You need only look back to last Sunday at Augusta National to see what Simpson can do on a weekend. Simpson ranks in the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green and Strokes Gained: Approach in weekend rounds over his last six tournaments, per FNGC. His combination of a solid approach game and excellent putting will allow him to continue to convert his birdie opportunities.
Mid-Priced Options
Charles Howell III ($10,500) – CH3 has been accurate off the tee so far at the RBC Heritage, ranking 7th in the field by finding the short grass on 75% of his drives. He has also putted well, posting an average of 1.625 versus his season average of 1.785. He could regress some in both categories over the weekend, but Howell has been sharp closing tournaments recently, posting a red number in each of his last 16 weekend rounds on Tour.
Luke List ($9,900) - As Brandon Gdula pointed out earlier this week, List is not usually someone we target when a course demands accuracy. But he has been passable off the tee this week at 60.71% driving accuracy (compared to 53.94% on the season), and he has been overpowering on the approach. He has a GIR rate of 72.22% through two rounds and scored a bogey-free 64 on Friday to vault himself up to a tie for 3rd. With top-10 ranks in Birdie or Better Gained and Strokes Gained: Tee to Green in his last 12 weekend rounds, List is in peak form and ready to push for his first PGA Tour win.
Scott Piercy (($9,400) - Who is the only player who ranks in the top 5 in both Strokes Gained: Tee to Green and Strokes Gained: Approach over his last 12 weekend rounds (per FNGC)? Obviously, Scott Piercy! Piercy followed up a 4 birdie, 4 bogey first round with a bogey-free 65 on Friday. Despite a 27.8% birdie rate through two rounds, Piercy will likely go underowned on the weekend compared to similarly priced options (Cameron Smith ($9,800), Ian Poulter ($9,500), Chesson Hadley ($9,100)).
Byeong Hun An ($9,400) - Another potentially overlooked option in this range (get it?), Byeong Hun An ranks 1st among players who made the cut in Birdie or Better Gained over his past 12 weekend rounds, per FNGC. He is 12th in GIR so far this week, so he should be able to pile up birdies on Saturday and Sunday. He scored 73-67 in the first two rounds and currently sits at -2 tied for 42nd place. With no finishing bonuses in Weekend Golf, all the lower starting position means is that An gets to tee off before the wind picks up at Harbour Town.
Chesson Hadley ($9,100) - The potential ownership won’t scare me away from Hadley, who at $9,100 offers terrific value in our FanDuel rosters. Hadley doesn’t always make the cut, but when he does he delivers the goods in Rounds 3 and 4. He ranks in the top 15 in both Birdie or Better Gained and Bogeys Avoided in his last 12 rounds, according to FNGC. In that same span he ranks 1st in one of our key stats, Strokes Gained: Approach. Combine the steady approach game with a white hot putter and you have a recipe for low scores.
Low-Priced Options
Scott Stallings ($8,800) - Likely if players foray into this range they will be targeting Si Woo Kim, currently sitting in 2nd place and coming off a second round 65 that included 9(!) birdies. However, Kim leads the field in putting average so far at 1.480, and regression is going to hurt when he starts playing to his 1.798 season average. Stallings is a nice pivot who ranks 5th in Strokes Gained on Par 4s and 4th in Birdie or Better Gained in the last 12 weekend rounds among players who made the cut, according to FNGC.
John Huh ($8,500) - After an opening round 66, Huh stumbled to a 74 on Friday despite playing as many holes under par as over. A double bogey and a triple bogey on his back 9 may have dropped him out of contention, but he can still contribute to our Weekend Golf lineups on FanDuel. Huh is 5th among players who made the cut in Strokes Gained: Approach and 12th in Birdie or Better Gained in the last 12 weekend rounds, per FNGC.
Kevin Streelman ($8,500) – Streelman has hit the green in regulation at a clip of 72.67% on Tour this season but has only hit 61.11% so far this week. Even with the smaller greens at Harbour Links, Streelman is due for some positive regression. He ranks 1st in the field in GIR Gained in the last 24 weekend rounds, according to FNGC. More greens in regulation means more birdies.
Whee Kim ($7,000) - If you want to take a total flier and really stack the deck with the highest priced golfers, Kim is an option to target at the bare minimum price. He is 1st in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting on bermuda grass in his last 12 weekend rounds, per FNGC. He also ranks 2nd in Bogeys Avoided in that span.
