The best golfers in the world will compete at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England in the 146th edition of the Open Championship. This will mark the tournament’s 10th edition at this course. We broke down the field for this week’s event in order to determine the best combination of star players and value picks for this week’s DraftKings competitions. Here is a look at the optimal lineup for this week’s DraftKings PGA fantasy competitions.
Dustin Johnson, $12,000
D.J. was historically good for the first part of 2017. While it was only a matter of time before he slowed down a bit he still has the potential to dominate at the Open Championship. Johnson has a strong history at this tournament with three top-10 finishes in the third major of the year. Look for D.J. to break out of his recent funk and contend for the win at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club as the highest-price option in DraftKings competitions once again this week.
Henrik Stenson, $9,600
The defending champion should have a good chance at repeating at the Open Championship this year. Stenson hasn’t registered a victory since he won here last year but he has recorded six top-10 finishes in 2017. As long as he continues to strike the ball well he should be in the mix to repeat here. The fact that he is available at under $10K in DraftKings competitions makes him an even better value for this week.
Adam Scott, $8,500
Scott had a forgettable performance at last year’s Open Championship. That said, he has performed well here in the past including top-10 finishes here every year between 2012 and 2015. Scott hasn’t been the most consistent golfer in 2017 but he does have four top-10 results to his name and he has missed the cut on only two occasions so far. Scott should bounce back from last year’s disappointment with a strong outing. If he can find the form he played with between 2012 and 2015 he will be well worth the investment at $8.5K.
Daniel Berger, $6,700
After loading up on exceptional picks at over $8K, it’s time to dig a little deeper for some smart sleeper plays for the Open Championship. Berger is an excellent option at $6.7K. The veteran golfer has placed in the top-five in four of his last five starts with the lone exception being a missed cut at the U.S. Open. Still, Berger bounced back from that outing when he placed second in the Travelers Championship and then followed that up by finishing fifth in the John Deere Classic. He should be able to parlay that momentum in to a strong performance at the Open Championship.
Ross Fisher, $6,700
Three double bogeys destroyed Fisher’s chances to compete at the Scottish Open. However, he was pretty good for the most part last week and should be fine if he can avoid the type of big numbers that wrecked his opportunity in Scotland. Fisher has the potential to be one of the more accurate players in the field this week and could be a strong value pick if he can be more consistent at Royal Birkdale Golf Club this week.
Xander Schauffele, $6,500
How about the rookie Xander Schauffele as a smart sleeper pick for the Open Championship? Schauffele won his last time out at The Greenbrier Classic and he finished tied for fifth at the U.S. Open. Schauffele has been outstanding as a rookie and it won’t be a major surprise if he exceeds all expectations at the Open Championship this week.
It hasn’t just been the U.S. Open and the Greenbrier for him either. He tied for 14th at the Travelers Championship, 11th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and tied for fifth at the Sanderson Farms Championship as well. He’s had some good moments and hopefully comes through for us again here. We don’t necessarily need a win but a Top 25 finish would be nice.
2017 Open Tee Times:
1:35 a.m. – Mark O’Meara, Chris Wood, Ryan Moore
1:46 a.m. – Maverick McNealy, Phachara Khongwatmai, Stuart Manley
1:57 a.m. – Stewart Cink, Sandy Lyle, Jeunghung Wang
2:08 a.m. – Paul Broadhurst, Thongchai Jaidee, Roberto Castro
2:19 a.m. – Tom Lehman, Ben An, Darren Fichardt
2:30 a.m. – Soren Kjeldsen, Billy Horschel, Danny Willett
2:41 a.m. – Matthew Fitzpatrick, Steve Stricker, Emiliano Grillo
2:52 a.m. – Jason Dufner, Branden Grace, Bryson DeChambeau
3:03 a.m. – Alex Noren, Russell Knox, Ian Poulter
3:14 a.m. – David Duval, Prayad Marksaeng, KT Kim
3:25 a.m. – Younghan Song, David Horsey, Dylan Frittelli
3:36 a.m. – Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Charles Howell III, Shiv Kapur
3:47 a.m. – Russell Henley, Fabrizio Zanotti, Peter Uihlein
4:03 a.m. – Alexander Levy, Brendan Steele, Webb Simpson
4:14 a.m. – Wesley Bryan, Anirban Lahiri, Alfie Plant
4:25 a.m. – Darren Clarke, Gary Woodland, Harry Ellis
4:36 a.m. – Padraig Harrington, Pat Perez, Thomas Pieters
4:47 a.m. – Henrik Stenson, Si Woo Kim, Jordan Spieth
4:58 a.m. – Louis Oosthuizen, Justin Rose, Justin Thomas
5:09 a.m. – Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, Tommy Fleetwood
5:20 a.m. – J.B. Holmes, Brandt Snedeker, Shane Lowry
5:31 a.m. – Richard Bland, Shaun Norris, Luca Cianchetti
5:42 a.m. – Yikeun Chang, Chan Kim, Mark Foster
5:53 a.m. – Sung-Hoon Kang, Tony Finau, Matthieu Pavon
6:04 a.m. – Alexander Bjork, Joe Dean, Robert Streb
6:15 a.m. – Robert Dinwiddie, Julian Suri, Adam Hodkinson
6:36 a.m. – Andrew Johnson, Adam Hadwin, Todd Hamilton
6:47 a.m. – John Daly, Adam Bland, Connor Syme
6:58 a.m. – William McGirt, Toby Tree, Jamie Lovemark
7:09 a.m. – Matthew Griffin, Austin Connelly, Matthew Southgate
7:20 a.m. – Cameron Smith, Bill Haas, Callum Shinkwin
7:31 a.m. – Michael Hendry, Brian Harman, Martin Laird
7:42 a.m. – Ernie Els, Ross Fisher, Bernd Wiesberger
7:53 a.m. – Tyrrell Hatton, Martin Kaymer, Aaron Baddeley
8:04 a.m. – Zach Johnson, Jason Day, Sergio Garcia
8:15 a.m. – Andy Sullivan, Joost Luiten, David Lipsky
8:26 a.m. – Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott, Paul Casey
8:37 a.m. – Matt Kuchar, Richie Ramsay, Ryan Fox
8:48 a.m. – Kevin Kisner, Charley Hoffman, David Drysdale
9:04 a.m. – Jimmy Walker, Hideto Tanihara, Thorbjorn Olesen
9:15 a.m. – Jhonattan Vegas, Brandon Stone, Sean O’Hair
9:26 a.m. – Daniel Berger, Pablo Larrazabal, Yuta Ikeda
9:37 a.m. – Paul Lawrie, Kevin Chappell, Yusaku Miyazato
9:48 a.m. – Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Charl Schwartzel
9:59 a.m. – Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Lee Westwood
10:10 a.m. – Phil Mickelson, Francesco Molinari, Marc Leishman
10:21 a.m. – Scott Hend, Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Bubba Watson
10:32 a.m. – Paul Waring, Kyle Stanley, Kevin Na
10:43 a.m. – Giwhan Kim, Xander Schauffele, Andrew Dodt
10:54 a.m. – Haotong Li, Kent Bulle, Haydn McCullen
11:05 a.m. – Jbe Kruger, Nick McCarthy, Ashley Hall
11:16 a.m. – Ryan McCarthy, Laurie Canter, Sebastian Munoz
Click here to get all of the latest golf betting lines at BetDSI including head-to-head matchups, props and odds to win each tournament!
