The PGA Tour continues its California swing this week with the Northern Trust Open from the Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades. Some of the best golfers in the world will make the trip to Los Angeles, including two of the top three in the world in Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy. However, we disagree with the idea of having either of those two players in DraftKings fantasy lineups this week. With hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line including the PGA $250K Best Ball that will award $50K to first place, you will want to pay close attention to the following advice. Here is a look at the optimal lineup for this week’s DraftKings PGA fantasy tournaments.
Hideki Matsuyama, $11,100
McIlroy is playing at the Riviera for the first time in his career and is coming off an underwhelming performance at Pebble Beach. Meanwhile, Spieth also struggled at Pebble Beach and while he has a decent resume this year, it’s still not enough to convince us that he is worth upwards of $13K. With almost $2K separating McIlroy and Spieth from the rest of the pack, we feel much more comfortable rolling with Matsuyama, who is the fourth highest priced option on the board behind McIlroy, Spieth and Dustin Johnson. Matsuyama outdueled Rickie Fowler for his first win of the year at the Phoenix Open on Super Bowl Sunday and he has been one of the most consistent golfers on the PGA Tour over the past couple of seasons. He also finished tied for fourth at this event a year ago after tying for 23rd in his debut at the Riviera the year before. The combination of his recent success, tournament resume and price tag makes him the absolute optimal play for this week’s Daily Fantasy Leagues.
J.B. Holmes, $9,800
There are too many smart value options on the board to completely blow our salary cap on the highest priced players on the board and Holmes fits the bill as another ideal option. Holmes has registered top-12 finishes at each of his last three events, including T-11 last week at Pebble Beach. He has registered five top-25’s in his last eight years at this event. Holmes has the potential to shine again this week and he is an absolute steal at under $10K.
Keegan Bradley, $7,800
Bradley’s poor play of late has really driven his price tag down on DraftKings, but that makes him that much more valuable of a play heading in to this week. Despite his lack of overall success, Bradley has a strong history at this tournament including when he tied for fourth here last year after narrowly missing out on the playoff by a single stroke. A top-25 finish at the Phoenix Open gives us enough confidence to buy in to Bradley’s stock this week, especially considering he is available at under $8K.
James Hahn, $7,300
$7.3K seems at least a little bit low for the defending Northern Trust Open champion even if Hahn is coming off his first missed cut of the season. Hahn has already registered a pair of top-25 finishes this season including T-17 at the Phoenix Open. When you consider that he beat Paul Casey and Dustin Johnson in a playoff to win this event a year ago, it makes him that much more attractive as a strong value option.
K.J. Choi, $7,100
The veteran Choi has made the cut in every single one of his 15 appearances at Riviera and he hasn’t finished outside of the top 35 at this course since 2004. Those are pretty good stats for a golfer that is listed at just $7.1K in this week’s DraftKings contests. Choi should be a safe play and strong value pick again for this year’s Northern Trust Open.
Adam Hadwin, $6,900
There is no way we would be able to have so many strong options throughout our lineup without being able to bank on Hadwin at under $7K. He appears to be an absolute steal at this price tag. Hawdwin has already registered a T-6 at the CareerBuilder Challenge and a T-17 at the Phoenix Open, so look for him to keep on rolling with another strong performance as an excellent sleeper play this week.
