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DraftKings PGA Recommended Plays: The Players Championship

DraftKings PGA Recommended Plays: The Players Championship

TPC Sawgrass is home to the Players Championship, and the tour will make its way to Ponte Vedra, Florida this week to tackle the course that hosts what is often referred to as “the fifth major.” With one of the largest purses on tour and some of the largest galleries anywhere, the stakes are always high at the Players. Being a resident of Atlantic Beach, Florida, I’ve been lucky enough to see this tournament in person countless times. It’s hard to get an appreciation for difficult courses from TV viewing, but being here provides an entirely new perspective. The rough is up to your shins, the crowd is suffocating and loud, and the fairways look twice as narrow. I often look at this tournament as a survival of the fittest. Who can withstand the numerous challenges that await, especially late in the back nine? This tournament rewards those who can avoid mistakes, and punishes those who are over aggressive. It’s gonna take a major championship-like performance to claim victory this week, as it always does. Before examining the field at TPC, let’s take a look at the Wells Fargo results from last week.

Justin Thomas: T-21
Rickie Fowler: T-21
Louis Oosthuizen: MC
Tony Finau: T-21
Webb Simpson: T-21

I’m afraid that everyone I write about this week is gonna finish tied for 21st. That’s seriously strange. Obviously, we were looking for some much higher finishes, but T-21 isn’t awful. All of these players are pretty reliable and consistent, so none of the finishes surprise me, aside from Oosthuizen’s missed cut, which rarely happens. Let’s move on and find a winner this week in Ponte Vedra.

Top-Tier Recommendations

Rory McIlroy ($11,600)
Rory is the most expensive option in the field this week, but I think he’s gonna be worth it. He’s a few made putts or a few hit fairways from another breakthrough (won at Bay Hill), and he’s played well enough on this course for it to be the site of that breakthrough. His last top-10 here was a T-8 in 2015, but he also finished T-12 in 2016. He’s followed up his recent victory with really solid play in the last two weeks, including a T-5 finish at the Masters and a T-15 finish at the Wells Fargo. In fact, erase the Friday 76 off the scorecard last week, and Rory is probably sitting somewhere inside the top 5 at the end of the week. I think the stars are aligning for his second win in his last four regulation starts.

Jason Day ($11,400)
Jason Day is the kind of player that is a must-play when he’s in form. When he is, he doesn’t just sneak out victories, he dominates the field. This very event two years ago is a perfect example of that when he coasted to a four-stroke victory after an opening round 63. Day was dominant last week, using four rounds in the 60’s to snatch his second win of the season (first at Farmers Insurance Open). Usually, I wouldn’t recommend using a player who won last week, but Day has proven capable of winning back to back tournaments, as he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and WGC-Match Play in consecutive weeks in 2016. Day is the second most expensive option this week, and I actually think DraftKings got it right. McIlroy and Day need to be in your lineups.

Mid-Priced Plays

Henrik Stenson ($8,800)
I was pleasantly surprised to see Stenson so cheap this week, as usually it’s impossible to find a past champ below $9,000. It’s most likely because his win was way back in 2009, but he’s still been effective at Sawgrass since then. He has a T-17 finish in 2015, and also finished T-16 last year. However, the main reason I’m recommending Stenson is because of his current form. Before the pairs format event in New Orleans, his three previous individual finishes were all 6th or better, including Bay Hill, the Houston Open, and the Masters. Stenson, like Day, is a very dangerous player when he’s in form, and capable of running away with tournaments. I love the trends that are working in his favor this week.

Patrick Reed ($8,700)
It really is a testament to how deep the field is when you can find the Masters champion for $8,700. When this happens, take advantage of it. After winning a major, especially your first one, it’s easy to have a let down over the next few starts. Reed has instead done the opposite. He followed up his Masters win with a T-7 finish as Patrick Cantlay’s partner at the Zurich and then went -6 on the weekend to finish solo 8th last week in Charlotte. Reed has never played excellent at Sawgrass, but he does have two top-24 finishes in the last three years. Most importantly, this course takes a lot of confidence and focus. At this point in his career, I don’t think Reed has ever had more of either.

Sleeper for Cheaper

Ian Poulter ($7,800)
I really like the way this week sets up for Poulter. He’s quietly playing his best golf in quite some time and is on a course that he’s had some recent success on. Poulter broke through for a huge victory at the Houston Open earlier this year and then finished T-7 at Harbour Town two weeks later, which was his last individual start. Poulter rarely misses cuts at Sawgrass and did more than just make the cut last year, when he finished T-2. Poulter is a fiery guy, and I can see him feeding off the huge, energized galleries en route to another high finish. A price less than $8,000 is outstanding for a guy who won just a handful of starts ago.

Nick Swantek is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Nick, check out his archive and follow him @nick_swantek.

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