DFS PGA PLAYBOOK - SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPEN
Published: Oct 31, 2017
WEEKEND OPTIMALS UPDATED AT 8:45PM ET
VEGAS BABY! The PGA Tour fall schedule heads to Las Vegas, Nevada for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. You know these players love a chance to throw some cash at the tables but also play golf on one of the best courses in the country.
The tournament is played at TPC Summerlin which was designed by Bobby Weed and consulted on by Fuzzy Zoeller. Summerlin was named by Golf Digest as one of "America's Best" golf courses and ranks as one of the "Top 100 Modern Golf Courses in the United States."
The course itself stretches out 7,223 yards and is a Par 71. Now, that length is deceiving because of the thin air in Las Vegas, it plays a lot shorter than the actual distance. The 280 hitters hit it 300, the 300 hitters can stretch it to 320 and so on. Rod Pampling of all people came out and smoked the course to the tune of 20 under par last year. Players have got to finish 3-5 under par each day to even have a shot at finishing in the Top 20. Putting is a vital stat every single week but on a birdie making course like this one, a little less stock is put into it. In this tournament, the greens in regulation for even the worst golfers are very high.
Chesson Hadley is NOT in my playbook because I did not like his DraftKings price but Fanduel is a different story. The price is great and I’ll use him in my Fanduel Optimal Cash & GPP Lineups. Please feel free to use him on Fanduel.
It should be a fun week in the desert for these players and hopefully we all can bring home big cash in DFS. Good luck!
WEEKEND OPTIMALS:
GPP #1
Chesson Hadley $9100
Gary Woodland $8900
Luke List $8600
Kevin Streelman $7900
David Lingmerth $7700
William McGirt $7700
GPP #2
Tony Finau $9900
Patrick Cantley $9600
Kevin Streelman $7900
Patton Kizzire $7500
Brandon Hagy $7500
Robert Garrigus $7300
DFS PGA PLAYBOOK:
| PLAYER | DRAFT KINGS | FANDUEL | BREAKDOWN |
| Tony Finau | $11,700 | $9,900 | Home Game for his being from Utah. 2 Top 20s & a 68.3 scoring average in his last 12 Rounds at TPC Summerlin |
| Webb Simpson | $11,000 | $9,600 | Winner here in 2013 & two 4th place finishes. 2nd on Tournaments All-Time Money List. Top 20s in 5 of his last 6 starts |
| Patrick Cantlay | $9,700 | $9,100 | 14/14 with 7 Top 15s since his return. Up and down week last week but still finished T15 in his 1st WGC event. |
| Ryan Moore | $9,400 | $9,300 | UNLV Product won here in 2012 & put up 2 Top 15s since then. Top 20s in his last 2 starts. |
| Jamie Lovemark | $8,700 | $8,200 | CRUSHED IT off the tee here in 2015 finished T13 (Ranked T6 in Proximity & 4th in Scrambling). T5 at CJ Cup. |
| Kevin Streelman | $8,400 | $7,300 | 7/7 cuts made with 5 Top 25s (Best Finish being a 2nd in 2014). T13 at the Safeway & T10 at the SFC. |
| Luke List | $8,300 | $5,600 | T13 at CIMB, T5 at CJ Cup & finished T15 last year here despite at 73 Third Round. Love his bomber value |
| Smylie Kaufman | $8,200 | $5,900 | Winner here in 2015 (Shot at 61 that week). T4 last week at SFC is his 2nd best finish in 59 TOUR Starts. |
| William McGirt | $7,700 | $7,600 | T25 at Sanderson Farms last week. 4/6 at TPC Summerln with 2 Top 20s (T8 in 2015, shot a 62 that week) |
| Nick Taylor | $7,600 | $5,300 | Started his season T9-T13-T23 keeping that 2016-17 consistency. 3/3 Cuts Made at TPC Summerlin |
| Austin Cook | $7,500 | $5,100 | Rookie Debuted with a T25 in Mississippi last week. T9-T11-T8 finish to the Web.com Tour Finals. BALL STRIKER! |
| Scott Piercy | $7,400 | $6,600 | 6 Top 25s at TPC Summerlin since 2009. Lots of narratives here with it being in his hometown & his birthday weekend |
| Shawn Stefani | $7,400 | $5,300 | Runner Up at the Web.com Tour Championship & Finished T10 at last week's SFC. Finished T10 at TPC Summerlin last year |
| Tom Lovelady | $7,200 | $4,900 | Justin Thomas' roommate at Alabama has the skill set to be rewarded at TPC Summerlin. T18 last week at SFC. |
| Tyrone Van Awegen | $7,000 | $5,700 | 2 Top 25s to start the 2017-18 season. That makes 4 Top 25s in his last 6 starts. Great Approach Player (Proximity Machine) |
| Adam Wise | $6,900 | $4,700 | 4/6 Cuts Made on PGA Tour Last Year highlighted by T10 at TPC Summerlin (7th in Proximity & T3 in Par-5 Scoring that week) |
| Cameron Tringale | $6,800 | $5,100 | Cashed 5 Times in 8 Trips to TPC Summerlin with a 2nd Place in 2015. Scoring Average 67.89 last 9 rounds here |
DRAFTKINGS OPTIMALS:
| DRAFT KINGS CASH | PRICE |
| Webb Simpson | $11,000 |
| Jamie Lovemark | $8,700 |
| Kevin Streelman | $8,400 |
| William McGirt | $7,700 |
| Scott Piercy | $7,400 |
| Cameron Tringale | $6,800 |
| DRAFT KINGS GPP | PRICE |
| Patrick Cantlay | $9,700 |
| Kevin Streelman | $8,400 |
| Luke List | $8,300 |
| Smylie Kaufman | $8,200 |
| William McGirt | $7,700 |
| Nick Taylor | $7,600 |
FANDUEL OPTIMALS:
| FANDUEL CASH | PRICE |
| Webb Simpson | $9,600 |
| Ryan Moore | $9,300 |
| Jamie Lovemark | $8,200 |
| William McGirt | $7,600 |
| Kevin Streelman | $7,300 |
| Scott Piercy | $6,600 |
| Chesson Hadley | $6,300 |
| Adam Wise | $4,700 |
| FANDUEL GPP | PRICE |
| Tony Finau | $9,900 |
| Webb Simpson | $9,600 |
| Jamie Lovemark | $8,200 |
| Kevin Streelman | $7,300 |
| Scott Piercy | $6,600 |
| Chesson Hadley | $6,300 |
| Smylie Kaufman | $5,900 |
| Tyron Van Aswegen | $5,700 |
Player News
Justin Thomas arrived at the Travelers Championship amidst a bit of a slump but left with 25 birdies to manage a T9 finish, his first top 10 since March.
Thomas is known for his stellar rate of big finishes over the course of his career but that changed recently with six straight finishes landing outside of the top 10. A cold putter has been the culprit for much of the downturn but he managed to fight through the flat-stick woes this week. Thomas lost 1.9 strokes putting at TPC River Highlands but ranked 3rd in strokes gained tee-to-green. It was a promising result to rebuild some confidence but he still has some work to do in the putting department. Despite the nice finish this week, Thomas is just 66th in the FedExCup race.
Brian Harman tossed together a 6-under 64 on Sunday at the Travelers Championship, posting a piece of second place on the final leaderboard (-20).
Harman entered the week with just one top 25 in his last 14 stroke-play events. It's been a slump for the straight shooter but TPC River Highlands was the perfect cure. The Georgia Bulldog gained 4.4 strokes on approach, 3.5 strokes around-the-green, and 4.9 strokes putting. All three ranked 13th or better for the week. This was far from his first taste of success at the course, going in the books as his sixth career top 10 at TPC River Highlands.
Chez Reavie started the day just one shot off the pace but stumbled with a 1-over 71 to drop back to a share of fourth place on the final leaderboard.
Reavie and overnight leader Keegan Bradley were in a tier of their own to begin the day. Reavie dropped a rung with seven pars and two bogeys before the turn. His driver remained steady (12-of-14 fairways) but lost strokes in each of the other three categories of strokes gained today. It was a day to forget but a week to remember for Reavie who still managed a T4 finish, vaulting him from 114th to 95th in the FedExCup race.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler steadied a 5-under 65 on Sunday at the Travelers Championship, ending the week on 19-under 261, good for a slice of fourth place.
The Texan piled up 21 birdies and a pair of eagles this week at TPC River Highlands. He ended the week ranked second in strokes gained tee-to-green (+11.08). He's now gained at least 10.6 strokes in that department in six straight events. Scheffler carded three sub-66 rounds this week but a two-birdie 70 on Friday is what held him back from truly contending. The World No. 1 now has six straight top-5 finishes and you have to go back to October to find the last time he finished worse than 12th. It's safe to say he's been the most consistent golfer on the planet over the last nine months.
Rory McIlroy raced out of the gate on Sunday at the Travelers Championship before slowing his pace to record a 6-under 64, ending his week in a share of seventh place (18-under 262).
McIlroy circled birdies on five of the first seven holes today. He couldn't maintain that pace but still bettered the field average by more than three shots today. McIlroy tossed together four sub-69 rounds this week at TPC River Highlands but didn't even sniff contention over the weekend. "I don't particularly like when a tournament is like this. Unfortunately technology has passed this course by, right? It sort of has made it obsolete, especially as soft as it has been with a little bit of rain that we had." The Northern Irishman now has five straight top-10 finishes and has his game trending back toward the winner's circle just in time for the season's final major and the FedExCup Playoffs.
Patrick Cantlay gave the leader a small scare down the stretch was swallowed two late bogeys to finish on 19-under this week at the Travelers Championship, four shots off the winning tally of Keegan Bradley.
Cantlay was slow out of the gate with eight pars and a birdie before the turn. He applied some pressure with four birdies on the next six holes, all while Keegan Bradley was starting to leak with three straight bogeys. That shrunk the lead to just three shots be Cantlay stumbled home with two bogeys and a par. "I thought I struck the ball very solid all day. Played smart. Not the finish I wanted obviously, but my game is in a good spot and a lot of big tournaments left this summer." The UCLA alum carded four sub-69 rounds this week and led the field in strokes gained tee-to-green. Cantlay now has six straight top 15s at TPC River Highlands. He collected two victories last season but still searching for his first win of the 2022-23 campaign.