DFS PGA Playbook - Zurich Classic

It feels good to be back after a successful week in San Antonio.  Lets keep the good times rolling as the PGA Tour rolls into the Big Easy for the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.  Who wouldn't love to be on Bourbon Street right now with a hurricane in one hand and a handful of beads in the other?  I mean come on!  You know these players circle this week on the calendar every year.  

Have you spent an evening living it up in the French Quarter?  If you have, you know what I'm talking about.  I actually had a bartender on Bourbon Street cut me off and he later said it was the first time in 10 years he had to do that to a paying customer.  I was completely embarassed when I was told that story the next day but I wear it as a badge of honor now.  Lets just hope that the players you select for this weekend's tournament, don't get as drunk as I was that night before they tee it up on Thursday.  I'm looking at you Mr. Fowler!  Just check out his Snap Chat over the past week and you'll understand why I'm concerned about Rickie this week.   

We've got 156 players heading to Louisiana with the Top 70 plus ties making it to the weekend.  There are only three in the field that you would consider world class talent and that's Jason Day, Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler.  You might have a guess as to which one of them I left out of my playbook this week.

TPC Louisiana has played host to the Zurich Classic since 2005, except in 2006 when Hurrican Katrina ripped through New Orleans.  This course is not known to be one of the tougher on the PGA Tour schedule actually, it's regarded as one of the easiest.  The course is a par 72 that stretches out 7,425 yards and features a variety of very short par 4's, long par 3's and long but reachable par 5's.

An interesting fact about this event, in the last 11 tournaments, there have been seven first time winners and we could see that happen again with so few top tier golfers participating.  Just look at the names of players who have had success at this event: Boo Weekley, Jeff Overton, Lucas Glover, Cameron Tringale and K.J. Choi, not exactly star studded.  

Driving distance is not necessarily an advantage at TPC Louisana because of the long par 3's and reachable par 5's.  Great ball strikers are almost always good with their long irons which is why Justin Rose and Lucas Glover have had a great deal of success in this event.  Long par 3's will require golfers to use long irons or hybrids to attack the greens and the reachable par 5's will force players into 175 to 200 yard approach shots.  You'll notice a lot of players in my playbook with that skill set in their bag.

Our friend and spiritual guide through this PGA DFS season, Paige has came under attack for gracing the cover of the most recent edition of Golf Digest.  Players and fans voiced their displeasure that a non professional golfer was featured so prominently in the magazine.  No, she is not a professional and no, she has not accomplished anything on the professional level, but yes, she did bring in a whole new generation of fans with the use of her social media accounts and that cannot be a bad thing.  Paige has said in multiple interviews that her goal is to one day play on the pro tour and play alongside all of her heroes on the LPGA.

There's one more thing I'd like to discuss about this week's pricing on Draft Kings for the Zurich Classic.  There is such a gap in talent from the top three players to the rest of the field, that you are going to be forced to roster guys at 10K, who should be at 8K and guys at 8K that should be 6K and that makes it difficult..  You need to invest wisely and really decide which players are worth the money and which ones are not.  

Good luck this week!

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