brucegray19722@gmail.com 
Hello everybody, and welcome back to ‘Tee 2 Green,’ a new article that I will be producing for Win Daily Sports weekly to give some extra insight into the DFS world of golf. My focus will be to discuss, decipher and dissect some of my preferred targets throughout the various price ranges, and I will always provide my opinion with a data-intensive outlook that you can see first-hand if you use the weekly model that I provide free of charge. You can find that here.
DraftKings Players ($10,000+)
Patrick Cantlay ($11,000) – For such a long time, we had this narrative that Patrick Cantlay was only playable on the west coast, which has gone away (rightfully so), but it has now turned into something different where the industry seems to continually be overlooking him in these spots near the top of the board in pricing. It happened last week at TPC Scottsdale, and it is trending in that direction here at Riviera Country Club. Cantlay has been brilliant at the course in his career, posting four top-17 finishes in four attempts, and he enters the week as arguably the hottest player on tour.
Justin Thomas ($10,700) – In my opinion, this is your top contrarian pivot near the top of the board. Collin Morikawa is a massive underdog at credible offshore books against Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy. That doesn’t mean he isn’t in play because of that fact, but I think it is Thomas that you want to consider as your under-the-radar man in the $10,000 range. The American ranks first in my recalculated tee-to-green category, and he seems to be a hot putter away from getting back into the winner’s circle.
Dustin Johnson ($10,200) – It is hard to say anything negative about Dustin Johnson at Riviera Country Club. Eight straight top-16 results since 2014, which is highlighted by a victory in 2017. We could go on and on about the big-hitter at this course, but I just wish Johnson would have been slightly higher priced to detract some of the ownership. As things stand, I am fine where the number is currently at (20 percent), but I do believe his win equity is less than that of Justin Thomas. Safer floor, yes. But I like swinging for the fence on Thomas when deciding directly between the two.
Other Consideration – I won’t have any Collin Morikawa, and I will be unusually underweight to Jon Rahm.
$9,000 Range
Xander Schauffele ($9,900) – I mentioned this on both ‘Bettor Golf Pod’ and ‘PGA Draftcast,’ but this is just the second time over the past year where Jon Rahm has not graded number one from a statistical perspective during a tournament he was entered into the field. The last occurrence came with Justin Thomas at the Players Championship – an event he ended as the winner – and my model is producing those same vibes here at Riviera Country Club for Xander Schauffele.
Cameron Smith ($9,100) –We have gotten a few volatile results from Cameron Smith over the years at Riviera, but the good has resulted in multiple top-10 showings since 2017. The Aussie ranks inside the top-10 of this field in five of the seven categories I ran inside of my model.
Other Targets: Rory McIlroy ($9,700) – The Irishman enters the week with quality form, having posted seven worldwide top-18 results over as many starts.
$8,000 Range
Jordan Spieth ($8,900) – Whenever you can grab a sub-10 percent owned Jordan Spieth and possibly a sub-five percent version in this situation, I always become intrigued. Spieth has been solid at this venue in the past, providing three top-22 finishes since 2017 and grades inside the top-12 of my model from an upside perspective.
Other Thoughts: Bubba Watson ($8,500), Tony Finau ($8,400) and Talor Gooch ($8,400) are some of my other preferred targets in this range.
$7,000 Range
I am going to rapid-fire through some $7,000 golfers to present a handful of choices for everyone reading.
Russell Henley ($7,900) – Russell Henley has gained tee-to-green in 13 of his past 14 starts on tour, and the course history has been trending at this track, providing four-straight made cuts.
Joaquin Niemann ($7,800) – Back-to-back top-10s to start the year for Joaquin Niemann has him buzzing into the Genesis. My model places him 15th overall, which is shown by his top-20 grades in tee-to-green and weighted par-four scoring.
Paul Casey ($7,600) – Paul Casey has been a wizard at difficult courses in his career, but it is going to come down to how the short game can perform on these fast greens. The ball-striking is good enough for him to sneak his way into the top-10, but you would have to imagine the around the green and putting metrics will have to hold as steady as possible for him to find his highest level of success.
Kevin Na ($7,600) – Kevin Na seemed to break my model. Inside the top-10 of all iterations of my sheet, Na has the iron proximity numbers and short game intangibles to get himself inside the top-10 at this event for the fifth time. I am going to use less of him than my model would like to see because I have my hesitations, but there is a lot to like about his chances from a statistical standpoint.
Seamus Power ($7,500) – I feel like there has been a small overcorrection to the market after Seamus Power not only disappointed at the Waste Management but also collapsed in front of the industry at Pebble Beach. With that being said, Power has come inside the top-31 in 15 of his past 19 starts, and the missed cut last weekend at TPC Scottsdale was the culprit of a cold putter that saw him lose 2.4 strokes to the field. The 34-year-old still gained in all other categories for the week, and I think the recency bias here is placing Seamus inside of the wrong tier of golfers.
Additional Thoughts: Jason Kokrak ($7,700), Thomas Pieters ($7,400), Maverick McNealy ($7,200), Christiaan Bezuidenhout ($7,200), Ryan Palmer ($7,000) are all very much in play.
$6,000 Range
Additional Dart Throws To Consider: You can use my model to get some plays you might like! I am not in love with this territory, but you likely will find yourself down here on certain builds. I did during the ‘PGA Draftcast’ where I selected Doug Ghim $6,500.
If you haven’t already, follow Win Daily Sports on YouTube and via Apple Podcasts and check out all the content at windailysports.com. We’re already hitting big with our NFL content and you are going to want to be a part of that. It’s also important to be in Discord Wednesday night for all lineup adjustments, late-breaking news and weather reports.
