The PGA Tour returns to the United States this week for the Valspar Championship from the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida. While the field isn’t as deep as it was at last week’s World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship, it could be a little easier to navigate from a fantasy perspective with a strong balance of top talent and sneaky good sleeper options. Here is a look at the optimal lineup for this week’s PGA DraftKings daily fantasy competitions.
Matt Kuchar, $10,200
Kuchar enters this week’s tournament on fire as he has registered three top-22 finishes over his last four events. He also has an excellent record at this course where he has recorded four top-15 finishes in seven career starts. Kuchar ranks 10th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained on hard courses and 11th in strokes gained on less-than-driver courses so all signs point towards a strong performance this week. Considering he is available at just over $10K, it makes a lot of sense to roll with Kuchar as our top pick.
Patrick Reed, $9,700
Reed has struggled in each of his last two starts at the Genesis Open and the WGC-Mexico Championship but he is right back at it this week with the chance to do some serious damage. Prior to that, though, he had been playing very well. He registered a tie for 23rd at Pebble Beach, was tied for 68th at the Phoenix Waste Management Open, tied for 12th at the Career Builder, tied for sixth at the Tournament of Champions and placed 10th at the World Challenge. He still has just two top-10 finishes in eight events this season but he has the tools to compete for the outright win this week and at $9.7K we think he is worth the risk with the hope that he produces a strong result this week. If he can get back to the way he was playing prior to the last two tournaments, he should be in contention for a Top 10 result at the Valspar Championship.
Graham DeLaet, $8,400
After an inconsistent start to the season, DeLaet caught on fire in February when he registered three consecutive top-20 finishes. DeLaet should be in line for another strong finish at a tournament where he has had success before. DeLaet finished 17th, eighth and fifth in his last three appearances at this event so look for him to put together another strong week as a reliable veteran pick at the Valspar Championship.
Luke Donald, $7,800
Donald struggled earlier in the season with a couple of missed cuts but he has placed in the top-30 in each of his last three starts and could be on the verge of breaking through this weekend. With a relatively mediocre field, Donald should be an excellent option at under $8K. He’s often an up-and-down player depending on the week but we like him in this spot. Not having a number of the big boys around should help his and our cause.
Kyle Stanley, $7,000
Stanley is an intriguing option since he ranks seventh on the Tour in strokes gained off the tee and 11th in strokes gained approaching the green. Stanley hasn’t fared well in his last two appearances here but he did improve his overall result from the first year to the second and based on his skill set there is a decent chance he puts it all together as a strong value option this time around.
Adam Hadwin, $6,800
Speaking of strong value options, Hadwin joins Stanley as a sneaky good sleeper tandem that allows us to spend big on Kuchar, Reed and DeLaet at the top of our lineup. The second Canadian on this list has finished in the top-50 in eight straight events including a runner-up finish at the CareerBuilder Challenge and a 12th place finish at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. At under $7K, Hadwin is the perfect sleeper option to fill out our lineup. We don’t need a lot from Hadwin this week. We’re just looking for him to make the cut and possibly contend for a Top 25 finish. That would really help out our roster if our least expensive player could deliver that at the Valspar Championship.
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