The Tour is heading back stateside to St. Simons Island in Georgia after a week in Mexico. It’s a split week for the golfers where everyone in the field will play both the Seaside and Plantation course before the cut happens on Friday night. Then, they’ll turn their attention to the Seaside course for both rounds over the weekend.
The Seaside Course is where we’ll spend most of our attention since cutmakers will play 54 holes there. It’s a par 70 course that plays just a shade over 7,000 yards. The field averages right around 283 yards off the tee, meaning that you can club down but drivers are in play. Ball-striking is relatively easy on the Seaside course where the field averages 70.1 percent of fairways hit and 73.7 percent of greens in regulation hit. Golfers average about 15.1 DK points per round, not counting bonuses, on this side.
The Plantation Course is a par 72 that plays around 7,050 yards. We’re looking at a similar number off the tee with an average of 282.3 yards. Ball-striking numbers are similar as well, with golfers hitting 71 percent of fairways and 70.4 percent of greens in regulation. On the Plantation Course, golfers average 0.14 eagles per round, compared to 0.05 on the Seaside Course. That means more DK scoring, with golfers averaging 17.6 DK points, not counting bonuses, on the Plantation side.
Past Winners
| Golfer | Year | Winning Score | DraftKings Points |
| Mac Hughes | 2017 | -15 | 118 |
| Kevin Kisner | 2016 | -20 | 126.5 |
| Robert Streb | 2015 | -14 | 119 |
| Chris Kirk | 2014 | -14 | 110 |
| Tommy Gainey | 2012 | -16 | 119 |
OFF THE TEE
When we’re looking at off the tee stats, this tournament is one of the few where distance and accuracy are pretty even. In fact, they both explain about 4 percent of total DK points for the tournament.
There’s been 15 golfers that have broken 100 DK points at this event. Of the group, 14 of 15 have gained strokes off the tee. Based on the correlations between driving stats and DK scoring, it should come as no surprise that it’s pretty tight between distance and accuracy for the most prolific DK scorers here. Nearly 50 percent (7 of 15) finished the week in the top 25 of driving distance compared to just over 50 percent (8 of 15) who finished within the top 25 of driving accuracy.
| SG: OTT Rank (Last 50 Rounds) | Golfer (Salary) |
| 1 | Luke List ($9,200) |
| 2 | Joaquin Niemann ($8,900) |
| 3 | Keith Mitchell ($7,500) |
| 4 | Cameron Champ ($10,900) |
| 5 | Corey Conners ($6,900) |
| 6 | Trey Mullinax ($6,600) |
| 7 | Lucas Glover ($9,900) |
| 8 | Alex Prugh ($6,700) |
| 9 | Tom Lovelady ($6,500) |
| 10 | Bronson Burgoon ($7,700) |
ON APPROACH
With the winning score hovering somewhere between 14-under and 20-under, birdie opportunities are important here. Over 90 percent (14 of 15) of golfers who broke the century mark in DK scoring gained strokes on approach. Golfers in that group have averaged 57.5 greens in regulation hit.
| Greens in Regulation Rank
(Last 50 Rounds) |
Golfer (Salary) |
| 1 | Joaquin Niemann ($8,900) |
| 2 | Tyler Duncan ($6,100) |
| 3 | Kevin Streelman ($7,000) |
| 4 | Stewart Cink ($7,700) |
| 5 | Luke List ($9,200) |
| 6 | C.T. Pan ($9,700) |
| 7 | Shawn Stefani ($7,000) |
| 8 | Corey Conners ($6,900) |
| 9 | Sam Ryder ($8,600) |
| 10 | Vaughn Taylor ($7,100) |
SCORING HOLES
On the Plantation side, the closing holes allow quite a bit of scoring. The 16th hole is a par 5 that plays just over 555 yards. Nearly five percent of golfers will eagle the hole and over 50 percent will at least card a birdie. The 18th hole is another par 5 but is just a shade over 500 yards. Nearly eight percent of the field will eagle that hole while over 60 percent will have a circle on their card there.
Over on Seaside, where three rounds will be played, only one hole allows over one percent of the field to card an eagle. The Par 5 15th is 565 yards but is reachable and allows eagles at a 3.8 percent rate and over a 50 percent birdie rate.
| DK Scoring Rank (Last 50 Rounds) | Golfer (Salary) |
| 1 | Sam Ryder ($8,600) |
| 2 | Cameron Champ ($10,900) |
| 3 | C.T. Pan ($9,700) |
| 4 | Joaquin Niemann ($8,900) |
| 5 | Harold Varner ($8,800) |
| 6 | Tom Lovelady ($6,500) |
| 7 | Zach Johnson ($9,000) |
| 8 | Webb Simpson ($11,800) |
| 9 | Henrik Norlander ($7,000) |
| 10 | Sam Burns ($7,200) |
KEY STATS
Here are the stats I’m focusing on, in order of importance, for this week’s slate:
- DK Points
- Greens in Regulation
- SG: Off the Tee
- Par 5 Scoring
