The PGA Tour will travel to Las Vegas this week for the Shriners Children’s Open. If you like golf and NASCAR like I do, this is a good week to make the trip to Las Vegas. The PGA Tour and NASCAR will compete in Sin City this week. You will likely see better racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway then you will see good golf at TPC Summerlin. Only one golf ranked in the top-40 in the World Golf Rankings will tee it up this week (Tom Kim). We have seen Patton Kizzire (Procore Championship), Kevin Wu (Sanderson Farms) and Matt McCarty (Black Desert Championship) win so far on the fall schedule. I would not be surprised if another golfer deep in the World Golf Rankings won in Las Vegas.
COURSE BREAKDOWN
TPC Summerlin will be the course this week. I had the privilege to play this course in a Wounded Warrior event when I was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. I am sure the professionals will have a lot more success than I had on this course.
TPC Summerlin is a par 71 which plays 7,255 yards in length. The Shriners Children’s Open has been played at this course for 21 years so most of the field should be familiar with the layout. The course is not too difficult. It is a desert course with many bunkers. The greens are huge and easy to hit. The fairways are Bermuda grass and the greens are Bentgrass. It is a pretty straight-forward course and the scores are always low. Expect the winner to be 20 under par or better Sunday.
Click here for the course preview: TPC Summerlin
KEY STATS FOR SHRINERS CHILDREN’S OPEN
– Strokes Gained Approach
– Proximity to the Hole
– Shots Gained Putting (Bentgrass)
– Birdie or Better %
Here is the recent form and course history for each golfer this week: History and Form
TOP 30 GOLFERS SHRINERS CHILDREN’S OPEN
CORE GOLFERS FOR SHRINERS CHILDREN’S OPEN
SHRINERS CHILDREN’S OPEN STRATEGY
TPC Summerlin is a short course with wide fairways. It is one of the easier courses on the PGA Tour. The bombers will be able to attack the course without fear of going into the rough and the short hitters will be able to plot their way around since their second shots will not be long. The golfers who lead the field in SG Approach and Proximity to the hole always finish at the top of the leaderboard in this tournament. I will be building my lineups around the golfers who are accurate with their irons into these easy greens.
I have been playing a “balanced lineup” strategy in these tournaments with weak fields. It hasn’t been working out well. I am going to switch it up a bit this week and play more of a “stars and scrubs” approach. Tom Kim is by far the best golfer in the field. He won here in 2022 and in 2023. I will have more ownership of Kim then the rest of the field and take a chance with some of the lower priced golfers with upside this week.
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST LINEUP
TOM KIM ($10,800): Kim is a lock for all Cash Contest lineups. He is the highest ranked golfer in the field and he has won the last two Schriners Children’s Opens. I want golfers who rank high in SG Approach and Kim ranks No. 2 in that category. There is no need to be cute this week. Simply plug in Kim, eat the chalk and move onto the next pick.
ADAM HADWIN ($8,900): I am not sure what it is with Hadwin and desert golf, but he always shows up near the top of the leaderboard whenever there is a cactus on the course. Hadwin has finished 2nd, 10th, 6th, 34th and 4th in his last five trips to TPC Summerlin. Ignore the stats for Hadwin this week. He always plays good in this tournament no matter what his form is.
HARRY HALL ($8,400): There is a lot to like about Hall this week. He lives in Las Vegas and he is a member of TPC Summerlin. He also graduated from UNLV and his knowledge of the course is as good as anyone in the field. Hall is also in good form. He finished 35th last week in Utah and he should do better than that this week. Hall is a good pick for all contests at his home course.
MATTI SCHMID ($7,800): Schmid checks all of the boxes that we want from a Cash Contest golfer this week. He has not missed a cut since early July (9 in a row). His course history is pretty good (Schmid finished 26th here last year) and he ranks No. 18th in SG Approach, No. 14 in Proximity to the Hole and No. 17 overall in the key stats. Schmid finished 5th last week. He should have a good chnce for a nother top-10 finish Sunday.
HENRIK NORLANDER ($7,000): I played Norlander last week and he made the cut and finished 8th. You would think his price would go up this week, but is actually gone down $200. I will take the discount. Norlander has made five cuts in a row. He ranks No. 11 in SG Approach, No. 17 in Proximity to the Hole and No. 14 overall in the Key Stats. Norlander finished 35th in this tournament last year. His form is a lot better entering the Schriners Children’s Open in 2024.
NICK HARDY ($7,000): Hardy is another golfer in good form with some decent course history. Hardy is a former winner on the PGA Tour (Zurrich Classic last year) and he has made five cuts in a row dating back to mid-July. He has also made his last two cuts at the Schriners Children’s Open. Hardy ranks No. 15 in SG Approach and No. 9 in Proximity to the Hole. He should be able to score well for our DraftKings lineup this week.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
TAYLOR PENDRITH ($10,200): I have plenty of lineups with Tom Kim in the Multi-Entry Lineups attached below, so I will start this lineup with Pendrith. The easiest way to the top in our Tournament Contests is to fade Kim and hope he plays poorly (I doubt that will happen, but it is worth a shot). Pendrith has finished in the top-14 in 4 of his last 5 tournaments. He also finished 3rd in this tournament last year. Pendrith should have a good chance to win this week if Kim does not three-peat.
BEAU HOSSLER ($9,500): Hossler is my favorite golfer from the $9K price range. He is one of the streakiest golfers on the PGA Tour and he always plays well in the fall. Hossler finished 2nd two weeks ago at the Sanderson Farms Championship and 11th last week in the Black Desert Championship. Hossler also finished 7th last year in the Schriners Children’s Open. He ranks No. 4 in the Key Stats, so Hossler checks all of the boxes this week. He should have a good chance for a top-five finish Sunday.
CAM DAVIS ($8,800): Davis is the 3rd-highest ranked golfer in the field this week in the World Golf Rankings (Davis ranks No. 43 in the world). Getting Davis for $8,800 seems like a discount that I do not want to pass up. Davis has had some time off since his 5th-place finish at the BMW Championship in the playoffs (stacked field). He finished 7th in this tournament last year. Davis has the game to win the tournament this week.
J.J. SPAUN ($7,900): Spaun had been playing some great golf. He finished 9th in the 3M Open, 3rd in the Wyndham Championship and 26th in the Procore Championship. Spaun then had to withdrawl from the Sanderson Farms Championship because of back spasms. I did not play Spaun last week because I was worried about his back. He finished 25th last week in Utah, so the back injury must not be a problem. Spaun ranks No. 2 overall in the Key Stats, so I will play him in Las Vegas.
RICO HOEY ($6,900): Hoey does not have any course history, but I am not worried about it. TPC Summerlin is not a tough course to figure out. Hoey has made 9 cuts in a row dating back to early June. We typically do not get golfers with that kind of form in the $6K price range. Hoey ranks No. 39 in the Key Stats this week. He is my favorite golfer from the $6K price range this week.
GREYSON SIGG ($6,700): Sigg has the course history and the recent form to play well this week. He has played the Schriners Children’s Open three times and he has never missed the cut. He also finished 4th at the Procore Championship last month and 11th at the Black Desert Championship last week. The stats do not love Sigg, but he does rank No. 2 in Scrambling. Sigg should be a good “punt play” in Sin City.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contest: (Multi Entry Lineups)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST LINEUP
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
ONE & DONE PICK: TOM KIM (Shriners Children’s Open)
– One & Done picks used so far this season: Keith Mitchell (MC), Ben Griffin (37th)
BEST BETS FOR SCHRINERS CHILDREN’S OPEN
TAYLOR PENDRITH (25-1)
SEAMUS POWER (30-1)
CAM DAVIS (35-1)
HARRY HALL (45-1)
MATTI SCHMID (50-1)
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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