This weekend, the PGA Tour brings us The Memorial Tournament, presented by Nationwide. It’s just a couple weeks before the U.S. Open Championship, and the tournament looks like it will be quite a competitive one. Before you draft your daily fantasy golf team, we’ve run some analysis on a few of the top golfers for you in order to give you a head start when it comes to dominating your fantasy league.
Jason Day: According to DraftKings, Day is the top ranked golfer in the field, with a salary of $12,400. Day is a great golfer, but in this field, that price might be too high. He’s made 8 out of 9 cuts this season, and has made the top ten five times, which is really impressive. However, he scoring fewer fantasy points on average than many golfers in the field, and he is averaging 70.1 strokes per round, both of which are big strikes against him. We like Day, and he might even be worth drafting at this price, but we think there are better options out there.
Jordan Spieth: Spieth finally had a great tournament this past weekend, having his strongest finish yet of the season. Is Spieth back in top form? Probably not. But, he doesn’t need to be at his peak to regain the top spot in the world, he just needs to keep winning. And after a win last weekend, he has the momentum on his side. However, Jason Day is playing much better than him so far this season, and Day has a stronger chance of playing better. Spieth has a higher fantasy ceiling though, and he’s cheaper, so for the first time this season, Spieth could be the best pick in the field. We can see this going either way, but at $12,300, he’s a better pick here than Day.
Rory McIlroy: Rounding out the top three golfers in the field is Rory McIlroy with a salary of $12,200. He is pretty comparable in statistics to Spieth, but his season has been a bit unpredictable. He has an average stroke count of 69.7 per round, is putting up 87.0 fantasy points per tournament, and has made the cut 11 out of 12 times. He even has 6 top ten appearances this season. So why not draft him? The tough part about McIlroy is that when he’s bad, he’s really bad. We think he’s a shoe-in for the cut here, but Spieth has more recent success, and McIlroy has struggled to show that he’s healthy since last year. Again, we can see him being a great pick, but Spieth is a bit more reliable right now.
Dustin Johnson: Now that we’ve got the top three out of the way, you need a supporting top tier golfer, and Johnson is the guy to fill that role. His salary of $10,100 is pretty low considering that he has the highest average fantasy point contribution per tournament in the field at 87.8. His stroke count of 69.9 makes him a top contender on any course, and he’s made 10 out of 10 cuts. That’s near perfection, and we can’t think of a single reason not to draft him. He also has made the top ten 5 times this season. He’s cheap, he’s great, why wouldn’t you draft him?
Bubba Watson: Watson has had a rough year battling injury. But when he’s healthy, he’s one of the best golfers in the world. He’s listed at $9,600, which is exceptionally cheap for his talent level. He has a win, has made 9 out of 9 cuts, and has 4 top ten appearances. His stroke count per round is a little high at 70.1, and in this field that could hurt him, but he’s cheap, and he always steps up his game. He wouldn’t be entered here if he didn’t think that he could win it all, and that’s a great asset to have on your side.
