I hope each and every one of you reading this enjoyed the offseason . . . but golf is back! That’s right. The season “ended” on Sunday but1 we’re onto the Safeway. The tour is heading back to Silverado Resort and Spa North Course in beautiful Napa, California. It’s a par 72 that plays just under 7,200 yards. No offense to Si Woo Kim ($10,800), but you can tell how weak this field is the moment you see his price. What Type of Week Is This? This past year has seen plenty of new PGA Tools here at RotoViz. The optimizer is one of the most useful tools, especially if you’re trying to build multiple lineups in a short timeframe. The PGA Range of Outcomes app (RoO) is powered by my simulator and allows you to do a whole host of things to see who you should include in your lineups…...

After an odd year, we’re heading into the finale of the regular season. The Tour Championship, as always, is being held at East Lake Golf Club. The course is a long par 70, playing just over 7,300 yards. The field of 30 will be forced to deal with 74 bunkers and a half-dozen water hazards. For those that don’t know, this week features a “head start” or bonus based on FedEx Cup standings. Top of the Board With the “head start,” there’s obviously a ton of win equity at the top of the salary scale this week. The issue with that, though, is that you’re obviously paying for it. Typically, the most expensive golfer is right around $11,000 – $12,000. This week, Dustin Johnson ($15,200) is a bit more expensive than that. Starting two strokes clear of the rest of the field is apparently worth a few thousand dollars.  As…...

As the PGA Tour Playoffs come to a close, we’re getting smaller and smaller fields. This week we’re down to 69 golfers in the field.1 The BMW Championship is also the first round of the playoffs that doesn’t feature a cut so we’re all guaranteed 6/6 from our lineups. That means we should be chasing a bit more upside and we need to be a bit careful with eating too much chalk.  We’re going to switch up the format this week and start with a closer look at what the optimizer is telling us to do. In no-cut weeks, I really lean into the PRK Scores and like to see how the optimizer is allocating my exposure throughout the smaller field.  Hands-Off Run Our first cash-lock of the week is Harris English ($8,300). The optimizer — with no inputs or constraints for 100 lineups — decided to play 100% English…....

After an abbreviated season, the Tour heads into TPC Boston for the first event of the FedEx Cup [*Jim Mora Voice*] Playoffs. TPC Boston is a par-71 course that plays nearly 7,300 yards. If you’re looking for general course fit angles, distance has a slight bump in importance here relative to an average tour stop, but it’s not a total bomber’s paradise. The leaderboard will likely be a mix of different styles.  We’ve spent much of the year focusing on game theory, but it’s important to remember that the conclusions drawn from that series were specifically for full-field cut events. This week features a slightly smaller field so while ownership considerations are still important it’s not the only thing we should be worried about.  Buy or Sell Bryson DeChambeau ($11,100) is one of the most discussed golfers on Tour and he is trending towards popularity this week. He’s gaining just…...

After an exciting week out in San Francisco for the PGA Championship, the tour heads cross-country for the final event of the regular season. Sedgefield Country Club has played host to this event every year since 2008.1 The track for the Wyndham Championship is a par 70 course that plays right around 7,130 yards.  Buy or Sell It was very tough to play the ownership game last week. The PGA Championship boasted the highest 6/6 percentages of the year, but the numbers still back up fading the most expensive chalk. Webb Simpson ($11,200) is shaping up to be one of the highest-owned golfers in the field. His course history coupled with the home game narrative will push his ownership percentage quite high.  It was also held here from 1938-1976.  (back) It was also held here from 1938-1976…....

After months of waiting, the PGA Championship tees off this week as golf’s first major of the year. TPC Harding Park is the course golfers will be faced with starting Thursday. It’s a par 70 playing somewhere in the vicinity of 7,250 yards. The greens are fairly large and the field will have to navigate just 47 bunkers. There are two water hazards listed on the GCSAA fact sheet but they are allegedly not in play.1 Buy or Sell I hate to sound like a broken record but you probably know what’s coming when we mention a top-priced golfer that’s going to be popular. The margins are just far too thin up at the top of the salary scale each week to confidently eat a ton of chalk. Xander Schauffele ($10,000) is trending towards high ownership this week. The simulator isn’t in love with him relative to his salary range,…...

The Tour turns its attention to TPC Southwind this week for the WGC FedEx St Jude’s Invitational. Seeing that WGC in the name of the event should send your mind to a couple of places right away. The first place is that we’ll be seeing many of the best golfers in the world. The second is that we’re looking at a much shorter field with no cut. These types of events are exciting because of the swings that can happen in your “Currently Winning” tab on your DK account. Most weeks, we have an idea1 of how we’ll end up. No-cut events can give you a sweat out of nowhere and, conversely, can snatch a sweat away from you in the blink of an eye.  Buy or Sell Patrick Reed ($8,800) looks like he’s going to be a popular option this week. Just casually scrolling PGA Twitter, you’re sure to…...

The Tour is heading north to TPC Twin Cities for the second year in a row. The course is a par 72 that plays a touch over 7,160 yards. The field this week certainly has less star power than we saw at the Memorial. Still, there’s another Millionaire Maker on DraftKings and plenty of other great GPPs available across the industry.  Buy or Sell Paul Casey ($10,100) looks like he could be one of the most-owned golfers on the slate this week. We know from our game theory research on this range that we should probably avoid him if he turns out to be the chalk. My simulator has him with just the seventh-most wins this week. Certainly, a win would have him pay off quite well, but his recent play would make a victory somewhat shocking. Casey’s coming off of a missed cut at the Memorial that saw him…...

For the second week in a row, we’ll see PGA action at Muirfield Village. Make sure to check out the course preview. The Workday Charity Open is going to be a tough act to follow. It finished with a playoff that took three holes to settle the action between Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa. Luckily, we have one of the most star-studded fields you’ll ever see in a non-major this weekend. Buy or Sell Tiger Woods ($9,000) is making his return this week. I can’t think of many people that would’ve benefited more from a long layoff. Tiger played well back at Torrey Pines but struggled at the Genesis Invitational the last time we saw him. It’s always difficult to project his ownership because everyone in the industry talks about him whether they’re going to actually play him. The field is too loaded for him to get too chalky. This…...

We are back once again this week to break down the DraftKings slate for the Workday Charity Open. It’s the first of two weeks at Muirfield Village CC. If you’re looking for a more in-depth look at the course itself, you can head over to last year’s course preview. Buy or Sell As we’ve learned, fading the expensive chalk is a viable strategy in PGA DFS. Patrick Cantlay ($10,600) is shaping up to be the highest owned golfer in this range. From a golf perspective, Cantlay checks all of the boxes. But if you’re paying for someone over $10,000 you need to understand that you aren’t gaining much in terms of performance while also giving up any leverage you could’ve had with lower-owned golfers. …...