DraftKings Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: Puerto Rico 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.

The Puerto Rico Open features 124 golfers who did not qualify for the WGC-Workday Championships being held this year at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida. The field features a few familiar names from the PGA Tour, though some of their prices may be jarring as regulars in the $7k range are at the top of the list. We also see a few bigger names from Europe who are outside the criteria for the WGC, as well as a few Korn Ferry risers getting an exemption for a cup of coffee on the big stage. Well, a bigger stage but still not the big stage.

Stats only tell a part of the story every week, but in a field with golfers who either split their time between measured and unmeasured Tours we have to be extra careful with our 50 round PGA Tour sample. The stats are still valuable to serve as a control on the field, but it's something to keep in mind as we go through our picks.

Coco Beach Golf and Country Club is a 7,506-yard par 72 that plays a bit shorter thanks to its elevation. Paspalum grass from tee to green calls to mind Corales Golf Club in the Dominican Republic and El Camaleon GC in Mexico.

The course is very beatable when the wind is down, though it poses plenty of challenge to those unlucky enough to face the gusts off the Atlantic Ocean. Be sure to monitor the forecast for any potential wave advantages.

Key Stats

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

High-Priced Studs

Emiliano Grillo (DraftKings Price: $10,600 | Betting Odds: +1800) - We'll forego the top two golfers in the DraftKings lobby and start our "stud" section with Grillo, and undeniably good ballstriker not just for this field but for any field. He is 3rd in strokes gained: tee-to-green, 6th in strokes gained: approach, 10th in birdies or better gained, and 30th in strokes gained: par 5s. Thomas Pieters ($11,400 | +1400) and Matt Wallace ($10,800 | +1800) may be higher class overall, but when it comes to slumming it we know Grillo can shine. He's played well here a few times, including a runner-up in 2015 and a third-place last year, compared to Pieters and Wallace who have never played at Coco Beach.

Byeong-Hun An ($9,700 | +2500) - Like Grillo, An is a tee-to-green beast even against good competition, but he falls short often enough with the putter that he rarely factors into the Sunday afternoon drama. His skills and experience are more pronounced in an alternate event, and An ranks 6th in strokes gained: tee-to-green, 8th in strokes gained: approach, 11th on par 5s, and 18th in birdies or better gained.

Mid-Priced Options

Jhonattan Vegas ($9,300 | +4500) - Vegas is excellent off the tee, and while distance is not necessarily the most valuable skill here given the elevation boost that the entire field gets, overall driving is still important. Vegas is eighth on the entire Tour this season in strokes gained: off the tee, one of just five golfers in the field inside the top 30 in that statistic. He was T9 here last year, firing the best round of the week with a Sunday 62.

Greyson Sigg ($9,100 | +3500) - With five straight top-15 finishes on the Korn Ferry Tour, Sigg will be making his way into more PGA Tour events as early as the summer. The 26-year-old Georgia native has toiled mostly on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada and now the Korn Ferry Tour, improving every year and showing off a consistent all around game. He was fifth on the KFT in scoring average and sixth in greens in regulation percentage.

Sam Ryder ($8,500 | +4500) - Ryder was electric with his irons to bust out for a top 10 at the Farmers Insurance Open a few weeks ago, though in truth it's been a rough go over the past year. He was T3 here last year (though still five strokes behind champion Viktor Hovland), but since then has made just six cuts on Tour. The condensed schedule post-COVID layoff led to stronger fields and squeezed Ryder out aside from a T7 at the Workday Charity Open where he putted the lights out. Even the swing season events were packed with top players, but this week Ryder has little risk of being outclassed and can take a more confident approach.

Low-Priced Options

Joseph Bramlett ($7,900 | +7000) - Bramlett has produced his best results in weaker fields, with top 15s here last year and the Barracuda Championship. Last time he stepped down the Korn Ferry Tour he put up back to back top fives. He surprised with a T18 at the Farmers, which should give him some extra confidence this week.

Cameron Percy ($7,600 | +5500) - We've seen enough of Percy in full field PGA events to know the book on him -- solid ballstriker, capable enough with the putter, and really just bad around the greens. Last year's winner Hovland showed us that the former two really outweigh the latter here, and Percy has plenty of experience at Coco Beach. He's played here seven times, making the cut six times and finishing inside the top 30 four times.

Adam Schenk ($7,400 | +5500) - Schenk has two solid finishes at this event, a T16 in 2019 and T14 in 2020. He's been a bit of a dry spell since then, like Ryder outgunned by the Tour's elite. He still gets out often enough, and at 14th in strokes gained: tee-to-green and 23rd in birdies or better gained we can do worse than Schenk at $7,400.

Scott Brown ($7,300 | +9000) - With a win here in 2013 plus four other top 10's to his name, Brown is the unquestioned course horse this week. Despite a T67 last year, the track record is long enough that we can ride Brown at this price. Most recently he was 30th at Pebble Beach.

Bargain Basement

Zack Sucher ($6,900 | +25000) - Sucher is easy to root for given his penchant for sharing his signature hashtag #DontFadeMeBro, and a T27 here last year makes him worth a look as he tries to keep his eligibility.

Chris Baker ($6,500 | +10000) - Baker is one of the five and is actually just behind Vegas in strokes gained: off the tee at 14th on Tour. That hasn't translated to results yet against the full strength fields, but a drop down at least makes Baker interesting at Coco Beach. He was 26th and 30th at the Mayakoba Golf Classic the past two years, two of his best results as a pro.

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.