GOLF

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: Valero Texas Open

Who should you target on DraftKings this week for the Valero Texas 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.

Each week, we have a course primer, and our daily fantasy golf projections and lineup builder can help you get started, but these golfers stand out specifically on DraftKings for the Valero Texas Open.

This Week's Course

The PGA Tour heads back to The Lone Star State this week for the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio.

The course is a par 72 that stretches 7,435 yards. TPC San Antonio features Bermuda greens and often windy conditions, making it a tough test year after year.

Kevin Chappell was the only man in the field to score under par in all four rounds last year on his way to his first career win on the PGA Tour. This is a difficult course, and there will be plenty of bogeys out there, so we will need to find golfers who can make up for them and string together birdies like Chappell did last year.

Let’s get into our key stats and targets in each pricing tier.

Key Stats

These stats, which have been important to playing well here in the past, will drive the analysis and recommendations this week.

Key Stats for the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio
Strokes Gained: Tee to Green
Birdies or Better Gained
Par 5 Scoring
Greens in Regulation Gained
Scrambling


Now, onto the picks.

High-Priced Studs

Sergio Garcia (DraftKings Price: $12,000 | bet365 Win Odds: 14/1) - Sergio is playing his first event since his disastrous missed cut at The Masters and should feel right at home at a course he helped design. According to Fantasy National Golf Club (FNGC), Garcia ranks third in the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green over his last 24 rounds (excluding the Masters, as Augusta National does not track strokes gained), and he ranks first in Birdie or Better Gained in that span. The Spaniard will look to return to the form that led him to consecutive top-10 finishes before The Masters.

Charley Hoffman ($10,900 | 18) - Hoffman has good form and course history on his side this week. He ranks a respectable 15th in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, 16th in GIRs Gained, and 21st in Birdies or Better Gained in his last 50 rounds, per FNGC. To crack the top 10 and have a shot at winning this tournament, you must make the most of your opportunities on Par 5s, and Hoffman is third in the field in Par 5 Strokes Gained in the past 50 rounds. He won the event in 2016 and has three more top-11 finishes in his last five trips to TPC San Antonio.

Luke List ($10,000 | 25) - We are all waiting for Luke List to turn back into a pumpkin, but until he does, we must continue to ride with him in our DFS lineups. He navigated a wonky course fit at the RBC Heritage to an impressive third-place finish last week, and he finds himself now at an event where his length off the tee will give him an advantage on the majority of the field. List ranks in the top five in his last 50 rounds in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, Birdies or Better Gained, and Par 5 Strokes Gained, per FNGC.

Mid-Range Options

Kevin Chappell ($9,300 | 28) - The defending champ has had some spotty form over the past few weeks with back-to-back missed cuts at The Masters and RBC Heritage, but Chappell carded seven top-25 finishes in his 10 prior Tour events. He has three other top-15 finishes to his name at this event but is not without some risk if the back issue that caused him to withdraw from the WGC-Match Play has been affecting him more than he’s let on.

Brendan Steele ($8,900 | 33) - Steele is sharp and getting sharper, ranking 13th in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green in his last 50 rounds and 8th in his last 24 rounds, per FNGC. He is ninth in Birdies or Better Gained and third in GIRs Gained in his last 50. He was 62nd here last year but finished T13 and T8 in 2016 and 2015, respectively. Steele has finished inside the top 30 in all but two events this year, including a win at the Safeway Open.

Pat Perez ($8,400 | 40) - Perez has decent rankings in our key categories, as he is no worse than 21st in the field (last 50 rounds) in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, GIRs Gained, and Par 5 Strokes Gained, but where he really pops is when it comes to scoring. He is fifth in Birdies or Better Gained and third in Bogeys Avoided. His last two appearances here came in 2015 and 2014, when he finished T20 and T11.

Ryan Palmer ($8,300 | 50) - The native Texan has performed well here recently, finishing T6-T4-T6 in the last three years. He has struggled lately despite a strong tee-to-green game (17th in the field, last 50 rounds per FNGC), mostly due to his deficiencies with the short stick. He is 150th in the field (that’s out of 151 golfers) in Strokes Gained: Putting in his last 50 rounds, though it is worth pointing out that he does his best work on Bermuda.

Beau Hossler ($8,100 | 40) - The 23-year-old was cut last year at his only appearance at the Valero, but Hossler is coming off two terrific efforts at the Houston Open (2nd, lost in playoff) and the RBC Heritage (16th) thanks in large part to his hot putter. He is 22nd in the field in GIR Gained, but when he misses, his putter can get him out of trouble. Hossler returns great win odds value at his price, and he should be comfortable in this climate, as he attended the University of Texas and looks like he just stepped right off campus onto the course.

Low-Priced Options

Keegan Bradley ($7,900 | 50) - Bradley is never going to become consistent with his putter, but his tee-to-green and specifically approach game have been very strong of late (fourth and fifth in the field, respectively, in the last 50 rounds). Not surprisingly, he ranks sixth in GIRs Gained in that span. If he can sink some putts and stay out of trouble, the former major winner should be in the mix come Sunday.

Jamie Lovemark ($7,700 | 50) - Lovemark ranks 6th in the field in his last 24 rounds in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, 2nd in Scrambling Gained, and 20th in Par 5 Strokes Gained, according to FNGC. He has made six straight cuts and has finished top-26 in four of those events, including a seventh at the Honda Classic.

Keith Mitchell ($7,400 | 100) - Mitchell comes into this week off a 55th place at the RBC Heritage, but prior to that event, he logged consecutive top-10 finishes at the Houston Open and the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship. He is well-suited for the Texas climate and, in this field, is ranked 5th in Par 5 Strokes Gained and 11th in Birdies or Better Gained, per FNGC.

Bargain Basement

Tom Lovelady ($7,100 | 175) - The big hitter ranks 15th in the field in Par 5 Strokes Gained in the last 24 rounds and 20th in GIRs Gained. He will not be able to salvage par if he gets in trouble (147th in Scrambling Gained), but if he can find his way to a green in regulation, he can convert, as he ranks fourth in the field in Birdies or Better Gained in the last 24 rounds. At this price, a missed cut is always a possibility, but Lovelady offers some upside at a low price and low ownership.

Kevin Tway ($7,000 | 125) - Tway ranks first in the field in Par 5 Strokes Gained in the last 50 rounds. At this price, you really just need him to make the cut, and Tway has made four straight. He had the best finish of his career last year, finishing in third place.



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.