The Players Championship starts on Thursday, May 9th. It’s one of the biggest events of the PGA Tour season, and the biggest names in golf are all entered. It’s still fairly early in the season, but there’s more than enough information on the golfers entered to draft a smart daily fantasy golf team. Before you draft your team, be sure to look at our analysis. We’ve looked at five of the top names in the PGA for you, and listed their strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, we’ve supplied our two cents on whether they are worth drafting, or if you should look for somebody else.
Dustin Johnson: Johnson is the number one seed in this tournament with a salary of $12,000. He has the lowest stroke count per round of any of the top 10 ranked golfers at 69.3, and already has two wins to his credit. At the Wells Fargo Championship, he returned a second place finish. His most disappointing part of the season is thanks to withdrawing from the Masters after injuring himself, but he’s already shown us that he’s capable of doing some serious damage on the course since then. Johnson’s big drawback is that he’s expensive. You will see a good performance from him, but it’s likely to hurt the rest of your roster as a result.
Rory McIlroy: McIlroy has the highest average fantasy point total of any golfer entered this weekend. At DraftKings, this number is up over 100. His worst performance of the season so far is a T7, which he did at the biggest event yet: the Masters Tournament. That was also his lowest fantasy point performance of the season at 72.0. He’s made 4 of 4 cuts, and has an average stroke count of 69.5 per round. McIlroy is poised to do well here, and at $11,200, he is a far better value as your number one pick than Johnson is.
Jordan Spieth: Spieth is also having a monster year in 2017. He’s made the cut in 8 out of 9 tourneys and has an average stroke count of 69.4. He has made 5 top tens, and has returned an average fantasy point total of 91.3. Much like McIlroy, he has a lot going for him, and he’s a touch cheaper at $10,800. The advantage of drafting Spieth is that he has more tourneys under his belt than some of the other considerations for your top draft pick, but history has also shown us that he’s a little less consistent.
Sergio Garcia: Garcia emerged as the darling of the PGA after winning the Masters. This will have a lot of people drafting him this weekend, but we suggest staying away from this trend. He has played in 5 tourneys and has made all 5 cuts, but with a higher average stroke count of 69.9 and an inflated price tag at $10,200 because of his quick start to the season, Garcia is overpriced in this particular situation. Be cautious drafting him. While there’s likely to be a good return on drafting him, that return is going to be higher in other places. This is not the weekend to draft him. He is worth keeping your eye on as the season progresses.
Jon Rahm: Rahm is ranked in the top ten going into this tournament, but we think he’s still flying under the radar when it comes to price. He has a tag of $9,600, but has made 8 of 8 cuts and has an average stroke count of 69.4. These are all very strong showings. If there is room on your roster, he is a strong #2 pick for your roster and is likely going to be one of the top contributors this weekend when you evaluate fantasy contribution in comparison to price. He’s already averaging 88.7 points per tournament and has 5 top ten finishes. He is primed to keep this same route going.
