The Olympics are underway in Tokyo and the golf competition gets going on Wednesday evening at 6:30pm eastern standard time (lineups lock). It’s still strange to me to think that golf is on the Olympic stage but here we are for the second time after Justin Rose took home the gold for England back in 2016. Henrik Stenson of Sweden won the silver and Matt Kuchar of the United States took home the bronze in Rio.
This Olympic golf competition will take place at historic Kasumigaseki Country Club which is one of the oldest clubs in Japan and one of the most exclusive in the world. This is a big course, nearly 7,500 yards and in impeccable shape with very lush green all over the course. There is little to no water, only two holes feature it. We will see close to 70 deep bunkers spread throughout the course. They will cause problems for these players. The fairways are wide when you look at PGA Tour standards but they are tree lined, so accuracy will be at a premium. The greens are absolutely massive with crazy undulations everywhere. Our pros shouldn’t have a problem landing most of these greens but putting will be a struggle.
The field is ok, but not great. It took a big blow earlier this week when both Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm were forced to withdraw from the event after testing positive for COVID-19. Patrick Reed took the U.S. spot in place of Bryson. We’ve still got the likes of Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Xander Schauffele and Paul Casey. Players like Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka both elected to sit out the Olympics. The cache’ of winning an Olympics medal just doesn’t bring the biggest names in the world in to compete.
Let’s get into the format of this event, we’ve got 60 of the world’s best golfers competing for Olympic glory for their home country. This will be a no cut event, so your golfer will play all four rounds no matter what happens this weekend. You should go into it like you would a WGC event, but the field will not be as strong as one of those tournaments. You can take risks with your lineups because you know. I would also focus my attention on tournaments this weekend, stay away from cash especially with no much unknown about this course.
This will be a shortened playbook being that there is only 60 players in the field.
GOOD LUCK!
| GOLFER | DRAFTKINGS | FANDUEL | ANALYSIS |
| Collin Morikawa | $11,200 | $12,000 | I feel like I have to give you reasons not to play Collin because he’s just that darn good. Fresh from his Open Championship victory at Royal St. George’s, he’s the odds on favorite. He’s tops of the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Approach, Tee to Green and 2nd in Greens in Regulation. Pay up for the man, easy decision when you look at this field. |
| Hideki Matsuyama | $10,500 | $11,300 | He’ll be crazy owned but Hideki is the biggest lock button play of the week. Besides being the reigning Masters champ, he’s also playing at home. Hideki is the only golfer with a history on this course winning the 2009 Japan Junior and 2010 Asia-Pacific Amateur. He ranks 15th in Strokes Gained: Approach and 17th in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green on the PGA Tour this season. He should be well rested after testing positive for COVID-19 in Detroit. |
| Viktor Hovland | $9,900 | $11,400 | It’s been a very up and down season for Hovland but luckily he’s on an upswing right now. After withdrawing from the U.S. Open, he won the BMW International Open and finished Top 15 at the Open Championship. We all know about his supreme ball striking skills ranking 6th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 9th in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, and 19th in Strokes Gained: Approach. Putting has always been his weakness but it is slowly it has improved. |
| Sungjae Im | $9,000 | $10,000 | Sungjae Im opted out of the Open Championship to focus on the Olympics for his home country of South Korea. This is a huge week for him and fellow countrymen Si Woo Kim as earning an Olympic medal would make them exempt from mandatory military service. I’d call that a pretty good narrative. The 27 ranked player in the world has had a down year according to his standards but still ranks 14th in Driving Accuracy, 16th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 38th in Strokes Gained: Putting and 52nd in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green. He has the ability to put up some low numbers. |
| Cameron Smith | $8,900 | $10,500 | Admittedly, he’s not in the best form coming into these Olympics but that won’t stop me from rostering him. Between the Genesis and PGA Championship, he made seven straight cuts with four Top 10 finishes including a win with his fellow countryman Marc Leishman at the Zurich. Despite his ranking on the PGA Tour, in this field, he’ll be one of the elite when it comes to Strokes Gained: Tee to Green and Approach. On the greens has been the strongest part of his game this year ranking 12th in Strokes Gained: Putting. |
| Guido Migliozzi | $8,400 | $8,900 | The PGA Tour was introduced to Guido at the U.S. Open where he finished 4th. Not many people realized that he had finished runner up in two European tour events prior to arriving at Torrey Pines. While he missed the cut at the Open Championship, I love his value this weekend playing for Italy at the Olympics. He ranks 4th in Stroke Average, 24th in Greens in Regulation, and 54th in Driving Distance on the European Tour. |
| Thomas Pieters | $8,100 | $8,700 | You could call Pieters the Si Woo Kim of the European Tour. He has the capability to put together birdies in bunches but he could also blow up on any hole. This format with no cut is perfect to play Peters. This Belgian ranks 20th in Driving Accuracy, 38th in Driving Distance and 57th in Greens in Regulation this season on the European Tour. He’s made the cut in three straight events coming into the Olympics including a Top 15 at the Irish Open. Pieters just missed the medal stand in 2016 finishing fourth. |
| Si Woo Kim | $7,800 | $9,000 | Just like his countryman, Sungjae Im, Si Woo opted out of the Open Championship to focus on the Olympics for his home country of South Korea. This is a huge week for him and fellow countryman Sungjae Im as earning an Olympic medal would make them exempt from mandatory military service. I’d call that a pretty good narrative. The three time PGA Tour winner ranks 22nd in Strokes Gained: Around the Greens, 42nd in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, and 45th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee. Kim is such a boom or bust player, perfect for your tournament lineups. |
| Jhonattan Vegas | $7,400 | $8,500 | We all should know by now what Johnny Vegas does best, drive the ball. He ranks 4th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and 9th in Driving Distance. He’ll have no problem with the size of Kasumigaseki. The 36-year-old played his college golf at Texas but he’ll be representing his home country of Venezuela at the Tokyo Olympics. He would like to have a better showing in 2020 than he did in 2016 finishing 50th. Vegas has made the cut in eight straight events heading into the Olympics with Top 11 finishes in four of those tournaments. Finished in a tie for second last week at the 3M. |
| Mito Pereira | $7,200 | $7,800 | He paid off for us at the 3M, why not keep riding Mito while he’s hot? He won back to back events on the Korn Ferry Tour back in June and after missing the cut at the Rocket Mortgage, he finished 34th at the John Deere, 5th at the Barbasol and 6th at the 3M. Heading into the 3M last weekend, he ranked Top 20 in Birdie Average, Total Driving and Greens in Regulation on the Korn Ferry Tour. This will be a bigger challenge with a tougher field but at his price point, I’ll take the shot. |
| Henrik Norlander | $6,800 | $7,800 | When you are looking in the under 7K range this weekend, there is not a lot to like. I’m looking for any kind of stability and I think you can get that with Norlander this weekend. He has made the cut in his last five starts including a 5th place finish at the Barbasol in his last tournament. Despite being ranked 122nd in the world, he’s still a premiere ball striker sitting Top 35 in Strokes Gained: Approach. He’s also 31st in Driving Accuracy as well. Henrik will look to best his Swedish countryman Henrik Stenson’s silver medal at the Rio games in Tokyo. |
| Adri Arnaus | $6,600 | $7,600 | Here is a European tour player you may not know unless you play European Golf DFS on a regular basis. This young Spaniard will have a lot of eyes on him after his countryman Jon Rahm was forced to withdraw. Their homeland is about the only thing that they have in common, Arnaus is more known for his ability on the greens ranking 14th in Putts per Greens in Regulation and 17th in Average Putts per Round. He’s also a stellar bunker player ranking Top 30 in Sand Saves which will serve him well at this course. When you are looking for some under the radar value in your tournament lineups, he makes for a nice play. |
| DRAFTKINGS EXAMPLE LINEUP | |
| GOLFER | SALARY |
| Collin Morikawa | $11,200 |
| Sungjae Im | $9,000 |
| Thomas Pieters | $8,100 |
| Jhonattan Vegas | $7,400 |
| Mito Pereira | $7,200 |
| Henrik Norlander | $6,800 |
| FANDUEL EXAMPLE LINEUP | |
| GOLFER | SALARY |
| Collin Morikawa | $11,200 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | $10,500 |
| Viktor Hovland | $9,900 |
| Sungjae Im | $9,000 |
| Cameron Smith | $8,900 |
| Guido Migliozzi | $8,400 |