This weekend is the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the next leg on the PGA Tour. With the Master’s only a few weeks away, this is one of the bigger prep events for the best golfers in the world. As you get ready to draft your daily fantasy golf team for this tournament, we’ve taken a look at five of the top golfers entered to play.
Rory McIlroy: McIlroy has to be the biggest name entered in the tournament this weekend. He’s certainly the most expensive when it comes to fantasy salary, according to DraftKings. His price of $12,000 makes him a tough roster choice, if only because he hasn’t performed that well yet this season. True, the season is young, but McIlroy has only finished in the top ten in 1 of the 5 tournaments he’s played in. He’s only made the cut 4 times. His average stroke count of 69.6 is not nearly as good as one would hope for at this price level, either. McIlroy is a good golfer, but he’s not worth drafting at this price.
Adam Scott: Scott is the much better choice if you are looking for a top performer. He’s cheaper than McIlroy at $11,700, has made 7 of 7 cuts, and has appeared in the top ten 5 times. He is averaging 105.6 fantasy points per tournament, and already has a couple wins to his credit. He’s won his last two tournaments, so the odds are not great for him to win a third time in a row, but that’s certainly not impossible considering the field here. He has momentum, and he’s the only player in the field that is averaging over 100 fantasy points per weekend. He’s a little pricey, but there’s no reason to believe he’s not worth that cost.
Henrik Stenson: Stenson is ranked third in this tournament. He has some strikes against him, so it’s worth taking a look at him before you decide whether he’s worth it or not. First, consider his salary. He costs $11,100, which isn’t bad, but it’s enough that you want guaranteed results for choosing him. His average stroke count of 70.5 is also pretty high. He’s played in 4 tourneys this season, making the cut in all 4, which is a strong point. However, he has zero top ten finishes so far. He has a decent fantasy point average at 76.3, but the supporting stats do not justify drafting him yet as far as we are concerned. Maybe later in the season.
Jason Day: Day is the number four golfer here, with a salary of $10,800. Like Stenson, if you’re going to spend that amount, you want results. Day has made the cut in 3 out of 4 tournaments this season, with 1 top ten performance. He has an average stroke count of 70.6 per round, which is weak, as is his average fantasy score of 69.3. And just like Stenson, we’re going to pass on Day until he can show us later in the season that he’s worth this price. He will be, just not quite yet.
Justin Rose: Coming in at the number five slot is Justin Rose. He’s pretty cheap at $10,500, and he’s certainly talented. He is averaging 78.0 fantasy points per tournament, has a stroke average of 69.9, and he has made 5 of 6 tournaments this season. There have been 2 top ten finishes. He has room for improvement, but he’s also shown more success this season when it comes to fantasy golf than anyone ranked above him other than Adam Scott. We’ll be turning to Rose instead of Day or Stenson to help round out our top tiered golfers. He’s also cheap enough that your mid-tier golfers will be of as high of a quality as you wish them to be. Just make sure that you are getting a good enough value from them that you’re not wasting your salary dollars there instead.
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