It is Masters Week!!! This is the best week for fantasy golf the entire season. Augusta National Golf Club is the most pristine course on the planet and the field this week consists of the best golfers in the world. There will be a lot of people who usually do not play DFS Golf throwing money at this tournament. Hopefully we can take advantage of their inexperience and win some cash Sunday.
Before I get into the picks I want to write about “the elephant in the room.” The Masters will be the first tournament of the year with the PGA Tour and LIV Tour golfers. So, what do we do with the LIV Players this week? The PGA Tour golfers have been saying, “The LIV players have not played competitive golf in over year. They are not prepared for this week.” It is true that the LIV Golfers typically do not warm up 2-3 hours before their rounds like the PGA Tour golfers do, and the pressure to perform do not exist on the LIV Tour. It is true that the LIV Golfers may not be is “game shape”, but we cannot ignore them completely. There are a few golfers from the LIV Tour who I will be targeting this week. I do think their ownership will be lower than what it should be. My goal is to pick the best golfers possible. I do not care what tour they play on.
COURSE BREAKDOWN
Augusta National Golf Club is the No. 1 sports venue on my bucket list. The course is absolutely beautiful. There is not a blade of grass out of place, a flower out of bloom and the sand looks like it is straight from the best Caribbean. Augusta plays 7,545 yards this week. The 11th, 15th and 18th holes have been lengthened but some of the rough was taken out. This will make the course tougher and it will favor the bombers a bit more than it has in the past. This course ranked second-toughest on tour since 2013.
Click here to see the course: Augusta National Golf Club
* Click on each hole to see a drone flyover of the hole.
Course history is huge this week. It is the No. 1 factor I will be using to determine my picks. There are some golfers who just play well in this tournament and others who duff around the course no matter how well their recent form is. Here is a look at the golfer’s tournament history at the Masters. It also shows their recent form which is really important this week. Nine of the last 10 golfers who won the Masters had at least one top-10 finish in that calendar year. The only exception was Hideki Matsuyama.
Click here to see the golfer’s course history and recent form: Course History and Form
KEY STATS FOR THE MASTERS
– Driving Distance
– Stroke Gained Approach
– Scrambling
– Bogie Avoidance
– Strokes Gained Putting (Fast Greens)
TOP 30 GOLFER RANKINGS
THE MASTERS STRATEGY
There will only be 90 golfers in the field this week for the Masters (there could be a few WD before the first tee-shot is hit Thursday). The field will get cut down to the top-50 golfers after the final rounds Friday. The 10 shots of the leader rule are not longer in play. That means at least 55% of the field will play all four rounds. We can eliminate the Senior Tour from the list: Fred Couples, Bernhard Langer, Mike Weir, Vijay Singh, Sandy Lyle, Jose Maria Olazabal and Larry Mize. That means roughly 50 out of 80 golfers will make the cut Friday (63%). You MUST have 6/6 golfers in your lineup this week if you want to win some cash.
The cream rises to the top at the Masters. Seldom do we see golfers priced below the $7K range at the top of the leaderboard. The best approach has been to build balanced lineups (Golfers between mid-$9K – mid-$7K price ranges) or taking one golfer above $10K and filling out the lineup with golfers from the $7K and above range. There are some decent value picks in the $6K range this week, but do not use too many of these golfers in your lineups.
I am not making this tournament harder than it needs to be. The golfers who rank high in Distance Off the Tee and Scrambling, have good Course History and enter the tournament with good Recent Form are the golfers who will be at the top of the leaderboard. It has been this way for 10 years and it will be the same Sunday. If the golfers have not played the Masters before, I want to make sure they played well at Kapalua, Rivierra or Muifield Village. These courses relate to Augusta National.
CORE GOLFERS FOR THE MASTERS
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST LINEUP
RORY MCILROY ($10,600): Typically, we need the winner or a top-three finisher in our Cash Contest at the Masters. That is why I will pay up for McIlroy this week. He has a lot to play for this week. McIlroy needs to win the Masters to complete the career grand slam and put himself near the Mount Rushmore of golf. He would also love to stick it to the LIV Tour golfers. McIlroy finished second last year and he finished three of the last six Masters in the top-five. McIlroy will have a great chance to win Sunday.
JASON DAY ($8,700): I am ignoring the resent stats for Day at the Masters and looking at what he did in the past. Day is playing golf like he did four years ago when he finished fifth at the Masters. Day has played six tournaments on the PGA Tour this year with an average finishing position of 11th. That is some good form for a player who knows Augusta National well.
JUSTIN ROSE ($7,800): It must be turn back the clock week since I am playing Jason Day and Justin Rose in my Cash Contest lineup. These two golfers have had a lot of success at Augusta National and they both found some of their old form. Rose won at Pebble Beach and he finished sixth at THE PLAYERS. Rose missed the cut at the Masters last year, but he finished in the top-25 in 14 of his 15 trips to Augusta National before last year’s MC. I expect Rose to be in his old form near the top of the leaderboard Sunday.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD ($7,700): Another year and another place for Fleetwood in my Cash Contest lineup at the Masters. Fleetwood is always priced in the $7K range and all he does is make cuts. Fleetwood has made his last five cuts at the Masters with three top-20 finishes. He has also made 13 of his last 14 cuts on the PGA Tour. Fleetwood is another experienced golfer who should be a safe pick for out Cash Contest lineup.
COREY CONNERS ($7,600): Damn you Corey Conners!! I was hoping Conners would have played poorly last week so I could use him in my Tournament Contest lineups. Conners won last week and now he will be a popular play. Augusta National is the best course for Conners. He has finished 6th, 8th and 10th in his last three Masters. The only golfer who has been better is Cam Smith, but he has not played real golf in over 9 months. Conners is a great value pick at the bottom of our Cash Contest lineup.
BROOKS KOEPKA ($7,600): “Big Game Brooks” is back and he is coming off a win last week on the LIV Tour. Koepka always plays well in the major tournaments when he is healthy. His back issues seem to be over, so Koepka should play well this week. He finished second at the Masters in 2019 and seventh in 2020. Koepka should be the best golfer from the LIV Tour this week.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
* The trend to taking down a Tournament Contest at the Masters is to have five golfers who can finish in the top-12 and one golfer who can finish in the top-25. Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, Jason Day and Corey Conners all have top-12 upside. Kevin Na has three consecutive top-15 finishes at the Masters.
JUSTIN THOMAS ($9,300): There is only one golfer who has made the cut and finished in the top-25 in the last four Masters. His name is Justin Thomas. The form has not been great for JT this year, but he did finish 10th in his last tournament (Valspar Championship). JT finished 8th, 21st, 4th, 12th and 17th in his last four trips to Augusta National. Experience is important this week and JT has it. I would not be surprised if Thomas has lower than expected ownership this week.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE ($9,000): Schauffele burned me last year at the Masters with a missed cut, but I do not expect it to happen again this week. Golfers need to be elite ball-strikers and good lag-putters in order to win at Augusta National. Schauffele excels in both categories. X-Man finished second at the Masters in 2018 and third in 2021. He has the upside to win the green jacket Sunday.
TONY FINAU ($8,900): How good is Finau at Augusta National? He severely sprained his ankle in the par-three tournament in 2019 and Finau still went out and finished fifth. Finau has never missed at cut at Augusta National and his average finishing position is 18th. Finau has also made every cut on tour in 2023. He has a he floor and the ceiling to finish in the top-five Sunday.
JASON DAY ($8,700): I may be too heavily invested in Day this week, but the more I research the 2023 Masters, the more I like Day. He is in terrific form, Day has great course history and the cold, wet forecast plays right into his game. I know he will be highly owned, but I want at least five golfers who can finish in the top-10. Day checks that box.
COREY CONNERS ($7,600): Will Conners have too much ownership for this lineup? If you want to be more contrarian, play Min Woo Lee. There is enough talent in this field for the ownership to get spread out. My goal is to get five players in the top-10. Conners is in great form after his win last week, he has three consecutive top-10s at the Masters and he ranks sixth in the key stats. I will eat the chalk with Conners this week.
KEVIN NA ($6,500): The only reason Na is priced at $6,500 this week is because he plays on the LIV Tour and not the PGA Tour. He finished sixth two weeks ago on the LIV Tour, so his form is decent. His stats at Augusta National are really good. Na finished 13th (2021), 12th (2021 Fall) and 14th (2022) in his last three trips to the Masters He has also made the cut in 10 of his 11 starts at the Masters. I just need Na to finish top-25 and I am good with this lineup.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contest: (FantasyRacingTips)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST LINEUP
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
PGATOUR.COM FANTASY PICKS
* This is the fourth tournament of Segment 3. There are 11 tournaments in this segment, including the Masters and the PGA Championship. Do not worry about saving your golfers this week. Use the best golfers you can for the Masters.
FANTASY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP ONE & DONE PICK: JORDAN SPIETH (The Masters)
Players in Fantasy Golf Championship One & Done so far: 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: BROOKS KOEPKA (The Masters)
Players Used This Season in One & Done: 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 THE MASTERS
RORY MCILROY (7-1)
JORDAN SPIETH (16-1)
JASON DAY (22-1)
XANDER SCHAUFFELE (22-1)
LONG SHOT SPECIAL: MIN WOO LEE (65-1) and PATRICK REED (65-1)
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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