It was an exciting finish last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship, as Sebastian Munoz birdied the last hole of his day to force a playoff with Sungjae Im. Munoz was able to win it on the first playoff hole to claim his first-ever PGA Tour victory. Munoz was 66/1 in most books prior to the event, so this was a huge breakthrough for the young Colombian.

The PGA Tour will now head to Nappa, California for the Safeway Open. The third event of the new PGA seasons is its strongest yet. World Class golfers such as Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, and Bryson DeChambeau will be in the field this week. We can expect another low-scoring event this week with plenty of fireworks come Sunday.

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Course Preview

This tournament will be played at the Silverado Resort and Spa, located in Nappa Valley, California. The North course is a par 72, 7,203 yard-long track that features Poa-Annua greens. Though it is a relatively short course, the fairways are tree-lined and there are plenty of dog-legs. Golfers will have to plot their way around the course appropriately to give themselves the best angle into the greens. It is a very scorable course, as it recorded the 10th most birdies out of any course last year on Tour.

Key Stats

Precision off the tee will be crucial this week, so golfers with elite ball-striking numbers will be in play here. Driving accuracy will be needed here to avoid bogeys, but the rough is not playing too penal, so good scramblers could get away with errant tee shots. Par 5 scoring will be a key stat, as the course features four of them. Since there are plenty of birdie opportunities here, the stat “birdie-or-better” will be taken into account. As always, in-form golfers who are popping in “strokes gained: approach” will get a bump.

• Strokes gained: ball striking
• Driving accuracy
• Par 5 scoring
• Birdie-or-better
• Strokes gained: approach
• Course history

Salary Analysis

You’re going to have to pay up big time if you want to play Justin Thomas this week. He has a hefty $18,600 price-tag and is the highest priced golfer by $900. Thomas has elite course history here and is coming off a big win at the BMW Championship. The next three highest priced golfers are Patrick Cantlay ($17,500), Adam Scott ($16,800), and Hideki Matsuyama ($16,600). After these high-end golfers, the pricing is well balanced and gives you plenty of flexibility with your roster construction.

Recommended Plays

Hideki Matsuyama ($16,600)
It’s surprising Matsuyama did not get a win last year with the way he was playing. Over his last 10 starts in his 2018-19 season, Matsuyama had four top-10 finishes. He started to figure out his putter, and this is a great sign for one of the best ball-strikers in the game. Matsuyama ranked fifth in strokes gained: approach, third in strokes gained: tee-to-green, 12th in strokes gained: around-the-green, last year.

Byeong Hun An ($15,600)
Last week, An continued to show he has become a better putter with a third-place showing at the Sanderson Farms Championship. An gained an average of 1.04 strokes putting on the field. He was also seventh in strokes gained: tee-t0-green, and this shows that all aspects of his game is dialed in at the moment. I like this number for an in-form golfer who has figured things out with the putter.

Collin Morikawa ($15,300)
Morikawa will have familiarity with this course as he is a California native. He had his first-ever win on Tour last year at the Barracuda Championship. In my custom model, he is the fourth-best player in this field in birdie-or-better percentage. He is also first in the field in Par 5 scoring. I really like him to go well here this week.

Kevin Streelman ($14,400)
In his last two outings at this event, Streelman has finished 25th (2018) and 13th (2017). He is not the longest off the tee, but he is one of the most accurate. He should be able to find plenty of fairways and set himself up for good approaches. Ranking 15th in Greens-In-Regulation percentage last year, Streelman is a safe bet to see plenty of birdie opportunities this week.

Dylan Frittelli ($14,300)
Frittelli was first in both strokes gained: approach, and strokes gained: off-the-tee last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship. If he is able to knock a few more putts down this week, he should be in the mix. Frittelli won the John Deere Classic in July and knows how to deal with the pressure.

Harold Varner ($13,900)
Varner has two top-15 finishes year in his last three outings. He has been playing some good golf recently, including a T-3 showing at the Northern Trust Open. He is exceptional with his long-irons and this should benefit him this week.

Cameron Tringale ($13,000)
Tringale is playing some of the best golf of his 10-year career right now. In his last four outings on Tour, Tringale has three top-20 showings. He played really solid at the Sanderson Farms Championship last week with a T-16 outing. He is very consistent in all aspects of his game and puts up plenty of fantasy points each event.

Adam Long ($12,300)
If Long could find more consistency with his putter, he would have finished much higher in his last two events. He has a T-14 and a T-23 showing in his first two outings this year and his approach and tee-to-gree numbers were incredible. He continues to lose strokes putting, but this is a fickle stat and will be due for positive regression soon.

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Nic Turner is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Nic, check out his archive and follow him @sportzbandit.