This weekend is The Players Championship and a lot is on the line to kick the season in high gear. The PGA Tour is finally hitting full stride for the season, and this is one of the biggest tournaments of the season. Choosing a strong daily fantasy golf team is necessary if you want to have a shot of winning your fantasy league. Here, we’ll take a look at five of the top rated golfers going into the tournament, and give our take on whether they are worth drafting for your fantasy roster or not.
Rory McIlroy: We like McIlroy a lot, but not as the number one seed for the tournament. His salary of $11,700 isn’t too high, but it’s more expensive than we’d like to see him at. $500 cheaper and he’s a strong pick, but not here. He did finish T4 last weekend, which was better than we expected from him after a lackluster start to the season, so there is a chance we could be proven wrong, but that’s not something we’re willing to take a risk on. He has played in 8 tournaments this season and has made the cut 7 times, which is impressive, but he’s only made the top ten 3 times. There are several golfers out there that have more impressive track records this season, and they’re a lot cheaper.
Jordan Spieth: Spieth is a bit cheaper than McIlroy at $11,400, but our feelings are almost exactly the same for him. If he were $500 cheaper, we’d like to draft him, but not here. He’s made 8 out of 9 cuts, and has 4 top ten finishes. His fantasy point total per tournament is a lot higher than McIlroy’s at DraftKings with his 91.3, so if you’re going to choose between one or the other, we recommend you go with Spieth. However, there’s better odds of high finishes for a lot cheaper. Many of his fantasy points came from The Masters where he finished T2, but his weak finish and no tournaments since then doesn’t bode well for us. We’d like to see endurance, and he hasn’t shown that yet this year. In a strong field, that’s not good.
Adam Scott: There’s one golfer in the field that has a better fantasy point average per tournament than Spieth, and that’s Adam Scott. His salary of $10,000 is low enough that we can draft him without guilt, and we still look forward to his 94.2 fantasy points. He’s a strong fundamental golfer, too, averaging a stroke count of just 69.7 per round. Only one other in the top ten—Rickie Fowler—is competitive with this. Oh yeah, and when it comes to the cut, he’s made it 10 out of 10 times with 5 top ten finishes. He’s the best value pick you can make with a top tier golfer.
Rickie Fowler: We think Fowler could have a place on some rosters. He’s one of the best in the world, and he has a strong fundamental game right now. He’s averaging 81.5 fantasy points per tournament, backing that with a consistent 10 out of 12 cuts made. He has 7 top ten finishes, showing that when he’s on, he’s going to be a contributor. There’s no reason to believe he won’t be on for this tournament. The only prohibitive factor for him is his salary of $10,600. That’s about exactly where he should be, so that’s not a huge value pick, but we’re okay with that.
Phil Mickelson: Mickelson finished T4 last week, turning a lot of heads. What we like most about him, though, is the fact that he’s always better in bigger championships. This is a tougher field than last weekend, but he’s playing well now, and he’s likely to do better than he has yet so far this season. With a price tag of $9,100, we’re having a really hard time thinking of a reason not to draft him.
