Daily Fantasy Golf:  The Arnold Palmer Invitational

The Majors aside, this is my favorite golf tournament of the year.  I mean, come on.  Who doesn’t want to stand on the 18^th green on Sunday at Bay Hill with the great Arnold Palmer handing you the trophy.  Outside of a Green Jacket, it just doesn’t get any better than that. 

This is why he always draws such a great field including all the top golfers in the world.  This is a tournament that will most likely always be won by a big name in golf.  Tiger Woods, for example, has won this eight times since 2000.  That’s what the tournament wants. 

No Tiger this year?  Shitty, but ok.  I don’t blame him.  He has been so great for so long, and now his short game looks similar to mine around the greens.  Great for bloopers, not so much for Sunday afternoon on NBC. 

So let’s bring in the new name of golf Rory McIlroy to take his place as the face of the tournament.  Will he be as successful?  Doubtful, but with the new age of golf, it will be hard for any single golfer to be as dominant as Tiger was.  We shall not see another double digit major winner in a long time in my opinion.  Just way too much competition these days for any one person to dominate.

Ok.  Let’s get on to the picks.  

Raising the Cup:

1. Bubba Watson:  Hmmm.  Let’s think about this.  Tiger dominated the par 5s every year he has won this tournament.  What does Bubba do well again?  I will be shocked if he is not on the first page of the leaderboard come Sunday. 
2. Henrik Stenson:  Across the boards he is a favorite to win this tournament.  Everywhere I look he is being picked as the favorite.  It makes sense.  Great ball striking, great power of the tee.  I will be pairing him with Bubba in a lineup for sure.
3. Ricky Fowler:  He is just a straight up gamer.  He lives for high quality fields like this.  He was the only player last year to finish in the top 5 of all the majors and only the thrid person all time to do it along side Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.  That’s impressive.  I think he would be exited and honored to shake Arnie’s hand Sunday afternoon.  FYI, he gets a great pairing with Jason Day and Rory McIlroy as well.
4. J.B. Holmes:  Current form and course record has him on the top page.  Have to say I am holding my breath a bit picking him though, but I am also excited that his price jumped enough to scare people off.  I’m scared, but excited.  Clear as mud right.   I just liked him a lot more as a value play with high upside.

Playing the Weekend:

1. Shane Lowry:  Love the price tag and the low publicity he gets.  He should be low owned and is a very high value.  Oh yea, he is from Ireland too.  Isn’t this St. Pattys week/weekend?  Ever hear of a superstious golfer?  Haha.  I will be waiting for the leprechans to carry him to victory.  
2. Francesco Molinari:  He has been fantastic ever since the British Open Championships last year.  He had a T5 here last year, and his game has only gotten better. 
3. Martin Laird:  He was off for a month and returned last week to make the cut and T33 coming back.  He is 3^rd on tour in GIR, 33^rd in driving distance, and 2^nd in par 3 scoring.  His combination of distance and ball striking will have him approaching a top 10 this weekend.
4. Graham DeLaet:  He plays the par 5s under par the third best on tour, and is top on tour in Par 3 scoring.  He will be under owned and overlooked.  His skill set put him in a great spot to go deep in this tournament.

Tin Cuppers:  I will be adding a couple of very low priced guys, since a higher percentage of the players will make the cut this week it will be important to top load your team with studs and find cheap players to fill. 

1. Shawn Stefani:  Sound familiar?  Well, he is either going to flop or explode with his ability to make birdies in a tournament.  He is cheap enough to not kill you if he flops and he is an extreme value if he goes off.  I am going to ride him until he does one or the other.
2. Angel Cabrera:  Love watching this guy golf.  He pretty much just grips it and rips it, with only giving himself enough time to puff a stogie in between shots.  He ranks 11^th on tour in par 5 scoring, time for him to make his run.
3. Tony Finau:  His distance won’t be the factor this weekend as he is in the top of the list for driving distance and par 5 scoring.  It will be whether or not he can avoid blow up holes.  I like his chances for success this weekend.
4. Matt Every:  Dude won this tournament last year and is only $5200.  Why not pull the trigger on this guy to fill a lineup.  He obviously can go on a run here.
5. Davis Love III:  He finished T26 last year here and still has the length off the tee to compete with the big hitters on the par 5s.  His experience will get him over the cut line.  His age may hamper his endurance to keep pace for 72 holes.  At $4100, heck yah I am in.
6. Vijay Singh:  I wanted to pick him last week and decided not to, of course he makes the weekend and gets a top 10 finish.  He was T20 here last year, so I won’t make the same mistake twice.  Current form and course form are undeniable.

My Six some:  Well, my “Break the Bank” idea kinda bombed.  No one commented last week to challenge me.  So, instead I will pick a six some every week and report back on how it does in a DraftKings GPP. 

This weeks contest will be the 

PGA $20K APPROACH SHOT [$20,000 GUARANTEED]  $12 entry fee. 

Henrik Stenson: $12,500

Bubba Watson:  $12,300

Graham DeLaet: $7,900

Martin Laird: $7,800

Tony Finau: $5,400

Davis Love III: $4,100

Like I said earlier, I think with the cut percentage so low it is important to stack at the top and take risks at the bottom to fill lineups as I have done here.  Hopefully, I can report back next week that this lineup took down a GPP tournament.

Golfer: “I’d move heaven and earth to break 100 on this golf course!!”

Caddie:  “Try heaven.  You have already moved most of the earth. “

Happy Drafting,

Perry04.