The PGA Tour will travel to McKinney, Texas (just North of Dallas) this week for the AT&T Byron Nelson. This is a tough spot for the Byron Nelson to sit on the PGA Tour schedule. It is sandwiched between the Wells Fargo Championship (elevated event) and the PGA Championship (major tournament). You would think that most of the top golfers would sit out this week, but that is not the case. Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Tom Kim and Jason Day are entered this week, so it will not be too bad of a tournament for DFS contests.
Here is the recent form and course history for each golfer this week: History and Form
COURSE BREAKDOWN
TPC Craig Ranch will be the host course this week. The AT&T Byron Nelson was played t Trinity Forrest golf Club for many years, but it was moved to TPC Craig Ranch last year. The golfers had no problem figuring out the new course and lighting up the scoreboard. K.H. Lee won last year with a score of -26 (His second consecutive win at the AT&T Byron Nelson). We can expect the scores to be low once again this week.
TPC Craig Ranch is a Tom Weiskopf designed course which plays as a par 72 and 7,468 yards in length. The course served as the Qualifying School for the Korn Ferry Tour and hosted many Korn Ferry Tournaments. Some of the golfers who came to the PGA Tour through that tour should know the course well.
TPC Craig Ranch is the easiest course on the tour. The fairways are wide open, with Zoysia grass that props the ball up like it is on a tee. The course is not long, so driving distance and driving accuracy will not be very important this week. The greens are a bit larger than average and easy to hit. The AT&T Byron Nelson turned into a putting contest last year and I expect the same this week. The golfers who rank highly in Shots Gained Putting will be in many of my lineups.
Click here to see the course: TPC Craig Ranch
KEY STATS FOR BYRON NELSON
– Shots Gained Total (Combines off-the-tee, approach, putting and scrambling)
– Shots Gained Approach
– Strokes Gained Putting (Bent Grass)
– Birdie or Better % (We need golfers who can score this week)
TOP 30 GOLFERS
BYRON NELSON STRATEGY
There are two ways to play the Cash Contests this week. You can use Scottie Scheffler and pair him with a bunch of the $7K golfers, or you can fade him and play a balanced lineup with Tom Kim, S-H Lee, Matt Kuchar and three golfers from the $7K range. I prefer to put my money in the hands of Scheffler, but I will build some lineups looking like this: Tom Kim ($9,600), K-H Lee ($9,300), Matt Kuchar ($9,000), Michael Kim ($7,500), Dylan Wu ($7,400), Nate Lashley ($7,200)
My strategy for Tournament Contests will be to pay up for Scottie Scheffler in about 40% of my lineups and then “spread the wealth” with the rest of the golfers in the lineup. This is an easy course so the lower priced golfers will have nearly the same chance to play well as the higher priced golfers. The problem is that it is tough to tell which golfer will have the hot putter this week. For that reason I will not have more than 20% ownership of any golfer in the field. I want as many bullets as possible to take down a Tournament Contests this week.
CORE GOLFERS FOR BYRON NELSON
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST LINEUP
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER ($11,900): I will pay up for Scheffler and let the rest of the contest try to beat me without the Texan in their lineups. He is by far the best player in the field this week. Scheffler ranks #1 in Shots Gained Tee-to-Green, No. 1 in Shots Gained Off-the-Tee, No. 1 in Shots Gained Approach and No. 1 in Birdie or Better %. Of course he is No. 1 in the key stats this week. I will put my Cash Contest lineup in the hands of Scheffler this week.
STEPHAN JAEGER ($8,200): Jaeger is my favorite play from the $8K price range. He finished 18th two weeks ago at the Mexico Open and 27th last week at the Wells Fargo Championship. Jaeger ranks No. 3 in Shots Gained Tee-to-Green, No. 9 in Shots Gained Approach, No. 14 in Birdie or Better % and No. 9 in the key stats. Jaeger finished 38th at the AT&T Byron Nelson last year. He form was horrible entering that tournament. He should finish in the top-15 this week, with top-10 upside.
BRANDON WU ($7,800): Wu finished 3rd two weeks ago at the Mexico Open and then he took the week off to rest. I think he knows he can win this tournament and he took the week off to practice his short game. The only flaw in his game is that he tends to get wild off-the-tee. That should not be an issue with the wide fairways this week. I expect both Wu Brothers to score well in Texas.
MICHAEL KIM ($7,500): Kim is in good form. He has made his last six cuts, dating back to early February. That includes a 7th-place finish last week at the Wells Fargo Championship. There are four Kim’s in the field this week (Tom, Si Woo, Seounghyeon and Michael). Guess who ranks highest in the key stats. It is Michael Kim at No. 12. He is on a hot streak right now so Kim should be a safe play for our Cash Contest lineups.
DYLAN WU ($7,400): What is better than one Wu in the Cash Contest lineup? How about two Wu. I like both Wu brothers this week. Brandon has more upside to win, but Dylan is the safer play to make the cut. He has made 9 cuts in a row, dating back to January. He has been a popular play in my Cash Contests lately. I will go back to Wu this week for the AT&T Byron Nelson.
NATE LASHLEY ($7,200): I thought about playing Jimmy Walker in this spot, but I will pivot to Lashley. He enters this tournament after finishing 31st in the RBC Heritage, 39th at the Mexico Open and 27th last week at the Wells Fargo Championship. Lashley finished 17th in the AT&T Byron Nelson last year, so he should have some confidence when he tees it up Thursday. I doubt many people will play Lashley in their Cash Contest lineups, so he could help us move up in the standings if Lashley finishes in the top-20 again Sunday.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
Most of my Tournament Contest lineups will look like my Cash Contest lineup, so I will post a non-Scottie Scheffler lineup here.
ADAM SCOTT ($9,200): This tournament is wide open so I will take a chance with the safest golfer in the field. Scott has made all of his cuts this year (10/10) and he is coming off of a top-five finish last week. His tee-to-green game is OK, but he can by lights out with his long putter. Scott has not won in a long time, but he has the upside to win in this easy tournament.
MATT KUCHAR ($9,000): Kuchar has been playing some good golf lately. He finished 3rd at the Texas Open, 19th at the RBC Heritage and 23rd last week at the Wells Fargo Championship. Kuchar finished 12th and 17th in his last two trips to the AT&T Byron Nelson. His form is better now than it was in those tournaments. Kuchar ranks 5th in the key stats, so will have him in my lineups this week.
SEAMUS POWER ($8,900): I want as many golfers with the upside to win Sunday. Adam Scott and Matt Kuchar have the game to win and so does Power. He won the Bermuda Championship last fall and he finished 3rd at the Mayakoba and 5th at the RSM Classic. All of those tournaments are played on easy courses like TPC Craig Ranch. Power is coming off an 18th-place finish last week, so maybe he found something he can carry over to the Byron Nelson.
TOM HOGE ($8,500): Hoge is always worth a spot in Tournament Contest lineups. He is an all or nothing golfer (menaing he either competes for the win or he misses the cut). Hoge has been horrible off the tee (ranks 96th), but that should not be a problem at TPC Craig Ranch. He does rank 15th in Shots Gained Approach and 28th in Shots Gained Putting. The reason I really like Hoge this week is because of his ability to score. Hoge ranks 10th in Eagles made and 19th in Birdies made. Hoge is a good golfer to have in your lineup in low scoring event.
MARK HUBBARD ($7,300): Hubbard seems to be in good form right now. He finished 11th at the RBC Heritage, 18th at the Mexico Open and 27th at the Wells Fargo Championship. All of the courses and fields are a lot tougher than what Hubbard will face this week. He has played this tournament twice, finishing 34th in 2021 and 32nd last year. He should finish in the top-20, with top-15 upside.
* I had Mark Hubbard in my lineup but he WD. I replaced him with Adam Schenk.
JIMMY WALKER ($7,100): Will Walker be too highly owned to play in Tournament Contests? Maybe… But I cannot ignore the stats. Walker ranks 4th in Shots Gained Total, 28th in Shots Gained Approach, 3rd in Shots Gained Putting and 11th in Birdie or Better %. That is good enough to place Walker 4th in the key stats this week. His form is also good, with 3 consecutive finishes in the top-25. You can pivot to Ryan Palmer if you want to be more contrarian, but I had to at least tell you about Walker this week.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contest: (FantasyRacingTips Lineups)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST LINEUP
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
PGATOUR.COM FANTASY PICKS
* This is the eighth tournament of Segment 3. We still have another “elevated event” when the PGA Tour travels to Ohio for the Memorial and another stacked field at the PGA Championship. We need to save some of our top golfers for those tournaments too.
FANTASY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP ONE & DONE PICK: ADAM SCOTT (BYRON NELSON)
Players in Fantasy Golf Championship One & Done so far: Viktor Hovland (43rd), Tony Finau (Win), Sungjae Im (7TH), Jordan Spieth (4th), Si Woo Kim (39th), Tyrrell Hatton (60th), Adam Hadwin (MC), Rory McIlroy (MC), Will Zalatoris (53rd), Matt Kuchar (MC), Tony Finau (20), Xander Schauffele (10th), Seamus Power (15th), Max Homa (1st), Brian Harman (MC), and Corey Conners (12th)
SEASON LONG ONE & DONE PICK: K-H LEE (BYRON NELSON)
Players Used This Season in One & Done: Cameron Young (59th), Tony Finau (Win), Keith Mitchell (6th), Tom Kim (MC), Brooks Koepka (2nd), Matt Kuchar (3rd), Wyndham Clark (6th), Adam Hadwin (MC), Rory McIlroy (MC), Will Zallatoris (53rd), Sungjae Im (42nd), Max Homa (2), Xander Schauffele (10th), Jordan Spieth (63rd), Jon Rahm (7th), Taylor Montgomery (5th), Russell Henley (32nd), Seamus Power (25th), Brian Harman (2nd), Maverick McNealy (27th), Emiliano Grillo (42nd), Nick Hardy (28th), Terrell Hatton (13TH) Christian Bezuidenhout (29th), Cameron Davis (37th), Denny McCarthy (39th), Brendon Steele (CUT)
BEST BETS FOR BYRON NELSON
MATT KUCHAR (25-1)
ADAM SCOTT (30-1)
STEPHAN JAEGER (40-1)
BRANDON WU (50-1)
NATE LASHLEY (80-1)
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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