DraftKings is running a fantasy golf game associated with US PGA Championship offering a first prize of $1million out of a total fund of $3.3million. Players can draft up to 100 teams at $20 per entry and must select six players with a salary cap of $50,000 which means the average cost of each player is $8,333. Salaries range from $12,500 for Jordan Spieth to $5,300 to some of the PGA professionals that don’t play on the main Tour.
Player Salaries
For each player in the tournament DraftKings displays stroke averages, top 10s and cuts made. The FPPG rating measures each player’s fantasy score since the start of the season and the top players will have the best rating. Jordan Spieth leads in this category and is the only player in the field with an FPPG above 90 out of 100. Rory McIlroy’s figure is just above 80 but he has missed six weeks due to injury. Fantasy players can see detailed statistics for each competitor from over the last two seasons.
Course Features
The US PGA Championship is being played at Whistling Straits for the third time in eleven years. It is a specially designed links type course on the banks of Lake Michigan that opened in 1998. There are over 1,400 bunkers on a course that puts a premium on long driving and hitting the greens in the correct number of shots. The following players have been selected on the basis of their current form and suitability to the course.
PGA Championship Team
Justin Rose ($10,000) is a proven major champion having won the US Open in 2013 and is good enough to add to his tally of the four most prestigious golf prizes. He would have won the US Masters in most years and was only beaten by the record breaking Spieth. Rose scored points in the Open and has a game suited to this week’s host course as he is above average in length for driving and scores well for greens hit.
Bubba Watson ($9,900) lost in a playoff to Martin Kaymer when Whistling Straits last staged the championship in 2010. He is another player with a good profile in the context of the course. Watson is in the top 50 for driving distance, greens in regulation and scrambling and those skills can offset average putting. He is a mood and momentum player and looks in a good place to add to his two US Masters titles.
Hideki Matsuyama ($8,000) looks a future major champion and he could win one of the big ones in the next few years. He has made the top ten in several majors without looking like winning one and he will soon take his game to the next level. Matsuyama is in the top 20 for greens in regulation and scrambling and is a top 50 player for average putts per round which gives him a good skills profile for this week’s test.
Brooks Koepka ($7,800) has been learning his trade on the European Tour but is now making an impact in the States with several high finishes. He has finished six shots or fewer behind the winner in three of the last four weeks during which he has played in a major and WGC event. He is currently in the top 20 for driving distance and greens hit and though winning may be beyond him he can contribute some points.
Justin Thomas ($7,200) is in the top 50 for all the key skills of driving distance, GIR scrambling and putting average. He does not excel in any one area but has the type of solid all-round game that can help him prosper in majors. He is a contemporary of Spieth but is looking to make an impact in his own right and contending in the final major of the season would take his game to the next standard.
Danny Lee ($7,100) has been the most consistent player on the PGA Tour in the last six weeks, winning one tournament and contending in three others. He did not play on the course five years ago and is no more than average for fairways and greens hit. However, those areas can be offset by his putting average and aptitude for scrambling. A good short game can repair the damage of not always hitting greens in regulation.
