DraftKings Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: The Genesis Invitational

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, our daily fantasy golf projections and lineup builder can help you get started, but these golfers stand out specifically on DraftKings for the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Key Stats

Let's get to the picks. For details on why these stats stand out this week, check out the course primer.

Stats are from Fantasy National Golf Club and are for golfers in the field over the last 50 rounds, unless otherwise noted.

High-Salaried Studs

Dustin Johnson (DraftKings Salary: $11,300 | FanDuel Sportsbook Win Odds: +550) - You were expecting someone else? DJ is laughably short in the betting market, which strictly from the standpoint of correlation to DraftKings salary makes him a massive value, even at $11,300. That, of course, assumes the betting markets are efficient, and at half the odds of the next-closest golfer, Vegas is clearly not messing around with Johnson in his current form. It's hard to argue -- he's first in strokes gained: ballstriking, birdies or better gained, and strokes gained: par 4s, and oh-by-the-way he won last time out in Saudi Arabia in a performance that isn't even captured in PGA stats. Throw in terrific course form, including a win in 2017, and you can't go wrong with Johnson. If we're looking for any reason to fade him, it's that his rostership will dictate that he basically has to win to pay off.

Jon Rahm ($10,400 | +1200) - Rahm is 2nd in ballstriking, 4th on par 4s, 5h in scrambling gained, 13th in birdies or better gained, and 16th in strokes gained: putting on poa. He's the total package, and at the lowest salary of the three golfers available at 12/1 alongside Justin Thomas ($10,700) and Rory McIlroy ($10,500), he jumps out as a value. Of the top four, he's also the most reliable in difficult conditions, having won at the Memorial at 9-under par and bested Johnson in a playoff at the BMW Championship after both finished 4-under. In two trips to Riviera he's finished 9th and 17th, and we've seen him shine at other West Coast courses.

Bryson DeChambeau ($10,100 | +1700) - DeChambeau has played a pretty light schedule to start 2021, and he's made just four starts worldwide since winning the U.S. Open in September. He ranks 3rd in ballstriking -- a mile ahead of the rest of the Tour off the tee but just 62nd in approach -- 6th in birdies or better gained, 8th on par 4s, and 13th in scrambling gained. His driving rightly grabs headlines, but it's been the putting that has been the most impressive aspect of his game. He ranks third in the field over the long sample of putting on poa greens, buoyed by his recent PGA finishes of first, first, sixth, and second at courses with poa greens. He gained 4.5, 7.8, 5.0, and 6.3 strokes putting those weeks. He actually lost 1.6 here last year but still finished fifth.

Mid-Salaried Options

Daniel Berger ($9,400 | +3400) - Berger picked up the victory last week at Pebble Beach, and while we can safely say it would be a shock to complete the back-to-back this week, that doesn't mean he isn't a great play on DraftKings. He may be a popular pairing with one of the $10,000 golfers, but especially in cash lineups, he offers tremendous safety. His missed cut in Phoenix was just his third in the past 18 months, and there's no concern of a letdown as he cruised to a third-place finish coming off his last win. He is 5th in putting on poa, 8th in scrambling gained and birdies or better gained, 10th on par 4s, and 21st in ballstriking.

Tony Finau ($9,300 | +2900) - Finau picked up two top-five finishes in California already this year, and he has plenty of experience here, including a runner-up finish in 2018. With good form at both of our primary course comps, Augusta National and Torrey Pines (South), Finau is firmly in play this week at a salary that fits any roster strategy on DraftKings. He ranks 11th on par 4s, 12th in ballstriking, and 14th in birdies or better gained.

Joaquin Niemann ($8,800 | +4800) - Niemann fits into a strange slot this week, so close in salary to a load of higher profile golfers, including just $100 cheaper than three-time winner Bubba Watson ($8,900 | +4300). But coming in off consecutive runner-up finishes in Hawaii and top 25s in 8 of his last 10 events, Niemann is in the midst of the best form of his young career and holding his own against loaded fields. He's been able to do that thanks to consistently excellent ballstriking. He ranks seventh in that category, and looking into round-by-round data on Fantasy National reveals elite performance both off the tee and on approach. In the eight events so far this season (28 measured rounds), he's gained off the tee in all but four rounds and on approach in all but six.

Low-Salaried Options

Russell Henley ($7,800 | +8500) - Henley has gained in approach in all but one event in the past 12 months, and a T17 at Riviera last year turned the tide for his entire season. Coming off 5 straight missed cuts and 11 events in a row outside the top 30, Henley shot 67, 69, and 68 his first three rounds at The Genesis Invitational before flopping with a 75 on Sunday. Since then, he has six top-10 finishes and just four missed cuts over 18 events. He is third in scrambling gained and strokes gained: par 4s, and fifth in ballstriking, and more recently, he ranks sixth in scoring average so far this season.

Matthew Fitzpatrick ($7,600 | +8000) - Fitzpatrick picked up his first win in over two years with a victory on the European Tour's DP World Tour Championship in Dubai at the end of 2020, and his game is best suited to courses like Riviera where scoring is at a premium and saving par is more important than piling up birdies. In the two difficult events mentioned above to advocate for Rahm's merit, the Memorial and the BMW Championship, Fitz managed to finish 3rd and T6. He was 30th here last year in his Riviera debut.

Corey Conners ($7,500 | +11000) - A runner-up in his Augusta debut raises the eyebrows toward Conners, a ballstriking stud who has seven top 25s in his last nine events. He may not be quite the caliber of player we're accustomed to seeing win here, but at this salary, we don't need him to be. He ranks 10th in strokes gained: ballstriking, 17th in birdies or better gained, 30th in strokes gained: par 4s, and 45th in scrambling gained.

Sam Burns ($7,400 | +11000) - Burns will continue to be a staple in this space for as long as he keeps making cuts and giving us a floor option viable in both cash games and tournaments. Burns ranks 12th in birdies or better gained, 15th on par 4s, and 23rd in ballstriking. He was 23rd here last year, and since then he has just 5 finishes outside the top 40 in 18 events.

Bargain Basement

Harold Varner ($6,700 | +19000) - The volatile Varner has three top 15s over his last eight events, but the other five were four missed cuts and a T71 that was dead last among cutmakers. He is 16th in strokes gained: ballstriking, 35th on par 4s, and 43rd in birdies or better gained. He was T13 here last year coming in off four straight missed cuts, so don't sweat the iffy form coming in. Varner has fond memories here, where he made his first regular PGA Tour start on the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption, awarded annually to celebrate diversity in the game of golf.

Doc Redman ($6,600 | +23000) - Redman is 13th in strokes gained: par 4s and 17th in ballstriking, first in the $6,000 range for the former and second behind only Varner for the latter. His West Coast dry spell is due largely to an uncooperative putter, with finishes of MC, MC, T70, and MC his last four times out coinciding with poor putting marks across the board and worse than 2 strokes lost to the field in all four events. We last saw him in Phoenix gaining 3.8 strokes via his approaches.

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.