GOLF

Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: WGC-Mexico

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 WGC-Mexico at Club de Chapultepec
Strokes Gained: Approach
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee
Driving Accuracy
Greens in Regulation
Proximity


Ball-striking is the name of the game this week (is it ever not?) again at Chapultepec, of which we have two years of data now. Really, though, it's 140 golfers, so it's kind of close to one year of a normal field of data.

Of the eight golfers to finish tied for third or better, three were top-seven in approach, and all but one finished top-24 in approach out of the roughly 70-man field. Similarly, three were top-seven in off-the-tee strokes gained, and six of the eight were top-26. Seven were top-25 in greens in regulation gained, and it's paramount to get to the poa greens in regulation.

Pairing driving performance with approach play and culminating in not missing greens in reg is basically "play the best golfers," but is that really a bad bit of advice in a loaded field anyway?

Elevation changes make this course unique, so we can perhaps factor in past performance here.

Stats cited below come from FantasyNational and include the past 100 rounds on the PGA Tour unless noted. Ranks are among the field.

Best of the Best

Jon Rahm (FanDuel Price: $11,700 | FanDuel Sportsbook Win Odds: 15/1) - Yes, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson are firmly in play, but they're a given each and every week at this point. JT and DJ have finished top-seven here in each of the two years at Chapultepec. Moving on: Rahm ranks third in strokes gained: off the tee over the past 100 rounds and finished 3rd and 20th here at Chapultepec in his two tries. Rahm ranks first among the field in total strokes gained over the past six events, a span during which he has finished 6th at the Desert Classic, 5th at the Farmers, 10th at the Waste Management, and 9th at the Genesis.

Xander Schauffele ($11,100 | 29/1) - Xander has a penchant for these small-field, no-cut events, and that matters given the unique format. Xander finished 18th here last year, though he ranked 10th in strokes gained: tee to green and 6th in approach in that event -- he just was 44th in putting. Xander ranks eighth among the field in career strokes gained: putting on poa.

Phil Mickelson ($11,000 | 29/1) - Last year's winner, Phil leads the field in career strokes gained: putting on poa and finished seventh here the year prior. Phil ranked top three in putting both years here but was 12th and 27th tee to green.

Hideki Matsuyama ($10,900 | 31/1) - Hideki ranks fourth in approach over the past 100 rounds and is a mid-level poa putter in his career. That works. He didn't play here last year because of his wrist injury but put up a 25th in 2017, while ranking 10th in strokes gained: tee to green.

Mid-Range Options

Tommy Fleetwood ($10,300 | 37/1) - Fleetwood leads the field in strokes gained: tee to green at Chapultepec, using that to finish 14th last year and 2nd in 2017, falling short to Dustin Johnson. Fleetwood ranks 25th in approach over the past 100 rounds but is 11th off the tee, 12th in fairways gained, and 2nd in greens in regulation gained.

Sergio Garcia ($10,000 | 41/1) - Garcia has a pair of top-12s here (12th and 7th) and has graded out well tee-to-green (16th and 8th, respectively). He ranks 4th in greens in regulation gained and top-18 in both ball-striking strokes gained stats, putting him on pace for a get-right spot after his blowup in Saudi Arabia and a 15th at the Genesis.

Webb Simpson ($9,800 | 41/1) - Webb's approach play has been elite of late, ranking eighth over his past 100 rounds and first over his past eight rounds. A 37th here last year gives him some course knowledge, though he did lose nearly five strokes tee to green.

Ian Poulter ($9,500 | 65/1) - A course debutant, Poulter doesn't get the advantage of having played in the altitude before, but we can't just load up on studs and not worry about it. His price helps out a good bit this week, and he grades out 13th in approach and 26th in fairways gained over his past 100 rounds. He's also 11th in strokes gained: approach in a short sample on the European Tour this season.

Tyrrell Hatton ($9,200 | 80/1) - Hatton is one of three golfers (along with Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson) to finish top-10 here both years (3rd last year and 10th in 2017). Hatton is a great putter, generally, and checks out well on poa. He has ranked 2nd and 21st tee-to-green here.

Low-Priced Picks

Matt Wallace ($8,800 | 90/1) - Wallace is 37th in the Official World Golf Rankings, and he ranked 38th on the European Tour in strokes gained: tee to green last season (29th off the tee, 114th in approach, and 33rd around the green). His ranks are similar this season, too. Ideally, the approach play would be better, but but the form has been great: 5th, 2nd, 15th, 18th, 16th, 2nd, cut on the Euro Tour.

Shubhankar Sharma ($8,100 | 190/1) - Sharma made a push here last year before ultimately finishing ninth. He has spotty results of late: 6th, cut, cut, 29th, cut, 2nd. After finishing 5th in strokes gained: approach on the European Tour last season, he is 64th through 12 rounds in 2019.

Kyle Stanley ($7,900 | 250/1) - Stanley posted a T25 here a year ago and was third in approach during it, plus 26th off the tee. That ball-striking was plagued by his usual weak short game. We know Stanley can hit fairways, so he's not the worst four-day bet at sub-$9,000.

Joost Luiten ($7,800 | 100/1) - Luiten has strong win odds for his price. The stats just say that he can't putt on poa, as he has ranked 3rd and 27th tee to green here but finished 25th and 37th overall (73rd and 57th in putting). He was top-three in fairways gained both years, so if he can be even a baseline putter, he'll pay off for our lineups at his salary.