GOLF

Daily Fantasy Golf Helper for The Open Championship

Dustin Johnson is back atop the world rankings and is the most expensive golfer on FanDuel for The Open. Is he a no-brainer daily fantasy option?

By now, you've probably dabbled in daily fantasy sports, but if not, don't worry. Now is a great time to start, especially with FanDuel now offering a revamped version of PGA golf.

Golf can be one of the most exciting DFS sports to follow, as tournaments span four days and allow ample time to prepare each week, so be sure to familiarize yourself with the basics of building a lineup on FanDuel, the scoring setup, and advanced stats to know about the PGA.

But whether you're brand new to the PGA or daily fantasy sports in general, we have you covered -- and we have daily fantasy golf projections and lineup building tools, too.

Let's take a look at some golfers to target this week.

Key Stats

Key Stats for The Open Championship at Carnoustie GC
Par 4 Scoring
Bogey Avoidance
Scrambling
Strokes Gained: Tee to Green
Strokes Gained: Links-Style Courses


For more information on why we're focused on these stats, check out our course primer.

Stats cited below come from FantasyGolfMetrics and include the past 50 rounds on the PGA Tour. Ranks are among the field with at least 10 rounds in that span.

Best of the Best

Dustin Johnson (FanDuel Price: $12,500 | Paddy Power Win Odds: 10/1) - Johnson is the odds-on favorite to win, and it's pretty easy to make the case for the world's top-ranked golfer. Over the past 50 rounds on Tour, he ranks sixth in strokes gained: tee to green and in approach. He's the top scrambler in that sample and is seventh in bogey avoidance. DJ has made eight straight cuts at The Open, including five top-15 finishes. He's also had success on links courses in the past, via Future of Fantasy.

Justin Rose ($12,200 | 14) - Rose leads the field in strokes gained: tee to green and is fourth in approach over the past 50 rounds. Rose also sits 5th in par 4 scoring and 15th in bogey avoidance. Rose does have some rocky form at prior Open Championships but has four straight made cuts, including three top-25 finishes. The current form is there, and he's coming off a T9 at the Scottish Open after a 67-66-67-67.

Rickie Fowler ($11,400 | 16) - Fowler's stats aren't overpowering, which is odd, but he did finish T6 last week at the Scottish Open (64-66-68-68). Fowler has good form on links courses and ranks 23rd in strokes gained: tee to green over the past 50 rounds on the PGA Tour, as well. Rickie was 22nd at last year's Open, after a 46th, 30th, and 2nd. Fowler also finished 5th in 2011.

Patrick Reed ($11,400 | 33) - Reed wound up T23 last week at the Scottish Open (65-69-69-67). He's been hit-or-miss at The Open, though, with missed cuts in 2014 and 2017. In between, he was 20th and 12th. Reed ranks 26th tee to green and 8th in approach over the past 50 rounds on tour. His win odds aren't as great as others in this pricing range -- such as Rory McIlroy ($11,500 and 16/1) -- but that could leave the green jacket winner underowned.

Paul Casey ($11,000 | 30) - Speaking of underowned, Casey should be just that, as Jordan Spieth costs just $100 more. But the recent track record suggests that Casey is the better DFS play. The Englishman is 18th in strokes gained: tee to green, 10th in approach, and 23rd in bogey avoidance. Spieth is just 43rd in tee-to-green play and 73rd in approach. I can't emphasize enough that you shouldn't ignore Spieth (who has finished 44th or better in all five Open events) entirely when making lineups. It's just that Casey is a nice pivot from last year's Open champ.

Mid-Range Options

Francesco Molinari ($10,400 | 28) - Molinari enters second in strokes gained: tee to green and first in approach. That's spicy for the Italian. Molinari also has a recent win under his belt and ranks top-20 in bogey avoidance and scrambling, so he's got the floor and the upside this week. He had made five straight cuts at The Open until a miss last year

Matt Kuchar ($10,400 | 66) - Kuchar has ripped off six straight made cuts at Open Championships and finished runner-up last year to Spieth. If not for finishing three strokes behind Spieth, Kuchar would have won it by three strokes himself. Kuchar enters 16th in tee-to-green performance and 26th in approach. He's also 18th in bogey avoidance and 23rd in scrambling. He's almost always a safe bet.

Branden Grace ($10,000 | 33) - Grace has made the cut in all seven attempts at Open Championships since 2009, most recently finishing sixth last year -- thanks to a third-round 62. Grace is 27th in strokes gained: tee to green and in bogey avoidance and grades out as a stud on links courses. Still the 35th-ranked golfer in the world, Grace should be on our radars.

Zach Johnson ($9,700 | 66) - Nobody likes to play ZJ, but he's 11th in the field in average stroke differential over the past 10 Open Championships. He's made 10 straight cuts and since 2011 was 9th, 6th, 47th, 1st, 12th, and 14th. Johnson is solid across the board in our key stats, as he's 27th tee to green, 22nd on par 4s, 25th in bogey avoidance, and 29th in scrambling. He's also got the form on links courses.

Adam Scott ($9,400 | 70) - Scott always shows up to The Open, making 9 of 10 cuts, with an average finish of 17th in his made cuts. Just one of his made cuts was worse than 27th (43rd in 2016), and he wound up T22 last year. Scott ranks 8th in strokes gained: tee to green and 12th in approach over the past 50 rounds, and he's top-20 in bogey avoidance and scrambling, as well.

Low-Priced Picks

Jimmy Walker ($9,100 | 175) - Walker's win odds are way out there relative to some others in this price range, but he's got strong stats, grading out 24th in strokes gained: tee to green. Walker missed the cut at the 2013 and 2016 Opens but was 26th, 30th, and 54th in the three others in that span.

Russell Knox ($9,000 | 55) - The knock on Knox is that he's been playing a lot of golf, and this course is no pushover. Knox finished second in the French Open (Open de France if you want to get technical and French), won the Irish Open, and was on par for another strong finish at the Scottish Open until the final round (66-67-66-75). Still, Knox is 15th in strokes gained: tee to green on the PGA Tour over the past 50 rounds and is also running hot overseas.

Tyrell Hatton ($8,900 | 33) - Hatton could wind up a popular value pick this week, given the win odds. He parlayed a 65-64-70-68 into a T9 at the Scottish Open last week. The recent PGA Tour sample is small for Hatton, and he's made just one cut in five tries at The Open over the past five years. Hatton, though, has won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship two straight years. I'm not saying he's a slam dunk (or even a lay up), but the value is there given the hefty win odds at this price.

Emiliano Grillo ($8,700 | 100) - Grillo churned out a T12 in his Open debut in 2016 but missed last year's cut (76-73). He's 19th in tee-to-green play and 21st in approach, plus 18th on par 4s, 9th in bogey avoidance, and 17th in scrambling. That stat profile puts him on par with some studs this week, and he's a clear value pick. His past four finishes include a 3rd, 23rd, cut, and 19th. Of course, the cut was at the U.S. Open.

Bronson Burgoon ($7,000 | 500) - Burgoon is a punt play who opens up pretty much everything (no pun intended). Albeit against some watered-down fields, Burgoon has finished 6th, 30th, and 2nd in his past three events and ranks 14th in strokes gained: tee to green. He's 3rd in bogey avoidance and 22nd in scrambling, too. Don't load up on him, but he's in the punt play conversation. So is Matt Jones ($7,100 and 400/1), a good links player with three straight made cuts at The Open.