The PGA Tour stays in Las Vegas for the second straight week after a three-man playoff last week at the Shriners Open. This week, Las Vegas plays a temporary host to the CJ Cup before it goes back to South Korea next year. The world’s top-five ranked golfers are scheduled to tee it up in this week’s no-cut event. FanDuel has eight golfers priced at $11,000 or above for the CJ Cup. FanDuel provides DFS players with a salary cap of $60,000 to select six golfers for an average roster spot of $10,000.

In only his second appearance since winning the FedExCup Championship, Dustin Johnson is the only golfer in the 12K range priced at $12,000. Jon Rahm and Rory McIlory are close behind at $11,900 and $11,800, respectively. Justin Thomas ($11,700) and Xander Schauffele ($11,500) round out FanDuel’s top-five highest priced golfers.

Work at having a solid process week in and week out as opposed to getting bogged down by recency bias or the ups-and-downs of the weekly golf grind. Any golfer is capable of winning (e.g. Martin Laird won last week after having only eight top 10s in the last three years). Likewise, even the best golfers can miss the cut (e.g. Harris English, Rickie Fowler, Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa, and Scottie Scheffler last week). Whether you win or lose, golf is one of the most entertaining fantasy sports to follow because you get four days of action. Good luck and, most importantly, have fun!

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Tournament Notes

• Note: Even though this tournament is played in 2020, it is considered part of the 2021 PGA Season. It is part of the wraparound season (Fall swing). This can get confusing when looking at course history or past events. The years referenced in this article will refer to the actual year the event was played as opposed to the PGA season it was a part of.
• The CJ Cup is normally played at Nine Bridges Golf Club on Jeju Island in South Korea, but this year will be played at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. The par 72 course measures 7,527 yards. Remember that it’s 2,000 feet above sea level so the course plays shorter than the listed distance.
• The bentgrass greens rate out as a 12 on the stimpmeter and average 5,500 square feet, which is smaller than PGA average of around 6,500 square feet.
• The very exclusive course was designed by Tom Fazio in 1989 and is owned by MGM Resorts and Casinos. Even though this course is in the desert, it has beautiful holes filled with creeks, waterfalls, gardens, trees, and luscious valleys.
• Shadow Creek hosted “The Match: Tiger vs. Phil” in 2018.
• There are only 78 golfers scheduled to tee it up this week’s no-cut event.
• Generally speaking, the top-60 finishers in last year’s FedExCup standings were invited plus some of the top Asian players. With some of the top-60 players passing on this week, there are some notable sponsor exemptions such as Tommy Fleetwood, Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, and Sergio Garcia.
• There are four Par 3 holes, with three of them measuring more than 200 yards (including the 257-yard 13th). The shortest is the 17th hole at 154 yards.
• There are four Par 5s with the shortest (18th) measuring 529 yards and the longest (16th) measuring 622 yards.
• All 10 of the Par 4s are between 400-500 yards except for the 11th (324 yards) and the 6th (507 yards).

Course Fit & Key Statistics

Overall Statistics
My customized overall stat model measures all stats (driving, approach, short game, putting, etc…) from both a short-and-long-form standpoint. It should be noted that I consider putting but it is weighted lower than the other factors. The best golfers, in terms of stats, for my customized model this week (in ranked order) are Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Matthew Wolff, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, Corey Conners, and Harris English.

Recent Form
The golfers that rate out the best in my customized recent form model (in ranked order) are Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Matthew Wolff, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Mackenzie Hughes, Sungjae Im, Harris English, Rory McIlroy, and Louis Oosthuizen. Rory McIlroy leads the field with 20 straight PGA made cuts. Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland are the closest to McIlroy with 15 and 13 straight made cuts, respectively. Jon Rahm is the only other golfer with a double-digit consecutive cut streak. Xander Schauffele and Matthew Wolff come in as the only golfers with back-to-back top-five finishes. DJ, Rory, and JT each come into this week with back-to-back top-10 finishes in their last two events.

No-Cut Events
In a no-cut event, scoring matters more than cut-making ability. Each golfer is guaranteed to play four rounds of golf. One bad round doesn’t necessarily doom a golfer (or your lineup). In looking at the last 18 no-cut events played the past two years, the best golfers (in ranked order) are Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Hideki Matsuyama, Brooks Koepka, Byeong Hun An, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, and Scottie Scheffler .

Official World Golf Ranking
All the statistics and course history are good to know but sports (in particular, DFS golf) oftentimes comes down to betting on talent and playing the best overall players. Sure, salary is involved but fitting as many of the world’s best golfers in your lineups increases your chances for success. According to the OWGR, the best ten golfers in this field (in ranked order) are Dustin Johnson (No. 1), Jon Rahm (No. 2), Justin Thomas (No. 3), Rory McIlroy (No. 4), Collin Morikawa (No. 6), Xander Schauffele (No. 8), Tyrrell Hatton (No. 10), Brooks Koepka (No. 11), Matthew Wolff (No. 12), and Daniel Berger (No. 13).

Favorite $11,000+ Plays

Dustin Johnson ($12,000)
My actual two picks from this range come Thursday morning will most likely be the two guys that project for the lowest ownership. Other than Patrick Cantlay and Brooks Koepka, I will be using each of the six highest-priced golfers in my MME lineups. A case can be made for each of them winning and it’s hard to find a legitimate reason that they would fail this week.

With all that being said, I will go with the world’s number one player as my pick to win. Three wins in the last eight starts, including two FedExCup Playoff events, is a pretty strong resume. He also has two runner-ups during that time. He was T6 at the U.S. Open the last time we saw him.

Matthew Wolff ($11,200)
I assume that Xander will be popular since he is amazing at no-cut events and actually had the lowest raw score at the TOUR Championship. But I am going to go with the guy that is second in this field in both fantasy scoring and total strokes gained in the last 24 rounds. Wolff is really starting to come into his own as an all-around player. He still is a little shaky with the putter, but it is getting better. In his last five events, he has a T4 at the PGA Championship and now runner-ups in back-to-back events with the Shriner and the U.S. Open.

Favorite $10,000 Plays

Tyrrell Hatton ($10,900)
Last week’s win at the Euro Tour’s BMW PGA Championship was his third in his last 13 worldwide events. When he is feeling it, he can go low. Even though he finished T7 at the TOUR Championship, he had the fifth-best raw score for the event. He has been incredibly consistent in the last year finishing in the top 20 in 12 of his last 17 starts. Eight of those were finishes of T6 or better.

Hideki Matsuyama ($10,500)
His reputation for playing well in no-cut events is justified. He has top-20 finishes in nine straight events. Four of those events during the streak resulted in top-five finishes, including the BMW back at the end of August. He is a world-class ball-striker that has been putting a little better lately. He is one of my favorite plays this week.

Matt Fitzpatrick ($10,000)
Inconsistency has plagued Fitzpatrick since the restart. He seemingly has been really good or has missed the cut. Fortunately, this is a no-cut event. Since the restart, he has played in 12 events worldwide. He has five top-15 finishes, including four of those resulting in T7 or better. He also has four missed cuts during that time. He will get all four rounds to get something going this week. He has excelled in no-cut events recently with a T6 at the BMW and a T6 at the WGC-St. Jude.

Favorite $9,000 Plays

Scottie Scheffler ($9,800)
Hopefully, his missed cut last week lowers his ownership a little bit. He is one of the best scorers on the PGA Tour and is an elite player if his short game is clicking. He just finished up with seven top-10 finishes during his rookie campaign, including a fifth at the TOUR Championship and fourth at the PGA Championship. Those are two elite fields and he more than held his own. In the last 24 rounds, he is sixth in total strokes gained and eighth in fantasy scoring in this field.

Harris English ($9,600)
Similar to Scheffler, I am hoping his MC at the Shriners holds down the ownership that he has been seeing recently. He just finished up a great 2019-2020 season in which he had 13 top-20 finishes. These weren’t just weak fields, either. He did it at Majors (U.S. Open and PGA Championship), FedExCup playoff events (TOUR Championship and Northern Trust), and other prestigious events (API, Memorial, and Honda). In the last 24 rounds played, he is seventh in total strokes gained and 10th in fantasy scoring. He also has a strong short game that can help him go low.

Abraham Ancer ($9,400)
In his last three WGC no-cut events, he has finished 15th, 12th, and fourth. He didn’t fare so well during the playoffs but still managed an 18th place at the TOUR Championship. He is a very ball-striker and if his putter is on, then he can really make some noise as he did at the Shriners last week finishing T4.

Favorite $8,000 Plays

Brendon Todd ($8,900)
He is probably more of a cash game play that will most likely not hurt your lineup but could provide some upside. He seems to hit every fairway and make every putt, which normally is a good thing. He is not long, which can be an issue at times. He has finished in the top-25 in seven of his last 10 starts. During that streak, he had a T8 at the BMW, a T15 at the WGC-St. Jude, and a T20 at the TOUR Championship, which were all no-cut events.

Mackenzie Hughes ($8,200)
He is ranked seventh in fantasy scoring and eighth in total strokes gained over the last 50 rounds played. He is an elite putter, but his ball-striking has been improved during the last few months. Six of his last 10 events have resulted in top-15 finishes. I love his price this week for the way that he has been playing and scoring. In the last 50 rounds played, he ranks 10th in this field for birdie or better percentage.

Sebastian Munoz ($8,000)
In his last two no-cut events, he had back-to-back eighth-place finishes at the BMW and TOUR Championship. Before that, he was T14 at WGC-Mexico and T17 at the Tournament of Champions. Top-20 finishes in his last four no-cut events are pretty impressive. He has a solid all-around game but can get hot and go low with his scoring. At this price, he is definitely in my GPP core and might end up in some of my single-entry or 3-max tournament rosters.

Favorite $7,000 Plays

Byeong Hun An ($7,900)
His form isn’t great as he’s missed three straight cuts, but this world-class ball-striker can pop at any time, especially if he can make some putts. The last time he missed multiple cuts in a row was back in July and then he finished T12 at the WGC-St. Jude. The time before that in which he missed multiple straight cuts was right before last year’s CJ Cup and he proceeded to finish T6. In other words, I am not concerned with him at this price point. I like his ability to score for a full tournament. He can recover from one bad round and has shown an ability to really go low. In his last six no-cut events, he has finished 12 > 12 > 29 > 14 > 8 > 6.  Other 7K golfers I will be considering are Ryan Palmer ($7,800), Cameron Champ ($7,700), Adam Long (7,600), Tom Hoge ($7,100), and Mark Hubbard ($7,000).

Watch the tournament live on Golf Channel with FuboTV

Whether you’re new to daily fantasy golf or a seasoned professional, be sure to check out our Daily Fantasy Golf Glossary. You can get started with The Stats That Matter Most or head to more advanced strategy — like How To Use Vegas Odds To Generate Your Lineup  — to learn more.

Jamy Bechler is a regular contributor to FantasyPros for NBA, NFL, and PGA. You can send him questions and follow him on his DFS twitter @WinningDFS101. When he is not playing DFS, Jamy is an author, host of the “Success is a Choice” podcast, and a leadership consultant, working with businesses and teams across the country (including the NBA). Even though he offers his advice on players and contests, after additional information and consideration, he may end up using different players and strategies than what he recommended in this article.