After Justin Rose’s impressive Olympic gold medal in golf, regular PGA Tour action is back with the Wyndham Championship. The field is pretty strong now that the Major Championships are over and the Olympics are behind us. As the season winds down, the tournaments will become more and more competitive, and that means that it will be tougher than normal to draft a high quality daily fantasy golf roster. Here, we’ll look at a few of the top ranked golfers to try and make your job a little bit easier.
Patrick Reed: Reed has had a hugely impressive season, but he has 0 wins to show for it. Still, he is consistently one of the best fantasy golfers out there, and is ranked number one in the field here with a salary of $12,200. He has made the cut in 21 out of 24 tournaments this season, has 9 top ten finishes, and has averaged 70.9 fantasy points per tournament. His stroke count per round could be improved, but at 70.3, he is certainly competitive enough to pull out the win here. If you look at his last four tournaments, he has two T11 finishes, a T12, and a T13. These four tournaments include two Majors, the Olympics, and the Travelers Championship. In other words, against the best in the world, he is very competitive. Most of that competition that finished ahead of him in those tournaments will be absent in this next championship.
Jon Rahm: The newcomer Rahm has had a strong season. He has made 7 of 7 cuts, and has had 3 top ten finishes. His salary of $10,400 is a bit lower than we’d expect, but because he has so little PGA experience, the small salary makes sense. He’s an easy top ten threat here, but he is still a bit of an X factor in our minds. So far though, he’s shown us that he’s worth this and more, which means although he is likely a high value pick here, there’s a lot that could go wrong with drafting him. It really all depends on how much risk you’re will to take on with him. The 68.2 strokes per round average is probably his most impressive stat, so take that into account when making your decision.
Rickie Fowler: Fowler is ranked number two in this tournament according to DraftKings, with a salary of $11,700. There’s no question that Fowler is a good golfer, and he might even be the best in the field. His average stroke count per round is the second lowest in the field, behind only the inexperienced Rahm, with a 69.6. He has made 15 out of 20 cuts, and has 8 top ten finishes. From a fantasy perspective, he’s ranked pretty high in this field with an average score of 67.4. For us, what it comes down to is who is most likely to perform well in this tournament, Reed or Fowler. Both are great, both are pretty equal in statistics this season, but Fowler is cheaper. For us, that puts Fowler as a higher priority for our roster than Reed, but that’s a decision you will need to make for yourself.
Rafael Cabrera-Bello: Cabrera-Bello has an abnormally low salary for a golfer of his background, which is why we’ve included him here. His $8,900 is about $800 or so cheaper than we think he should be priced, so he’s a contender for our roster. He has made the cut 17 out of 18 times and has 6 top ten finishes. His stroke count is competitive at 70.4, and he has averaged 73.4 in fantasy points per tournament. Perhaps his competitors haven’t been as strong as some of the other people entered in this tournament, but he is priced at mid-tier talent and is almost a shoe-in to make the cut. That might not make him an automatic draft pick for a roster, but it makes him a strong consideration.
