Brian Tulloch 
If this is your first time reading my article, I’d like to talk about some PGA DFS basics. I only play on DraftKings (DK) so those are the salaries I refer to. My thoughts on the players should be good across the industry though. Strategy in DFS is very important. The players you pick differ substantially depending on the sport, type of game you are playing, and number of contestants in that particular game. This article revolves around cash games, and smaller field, single entry tournaments. My goal is to continuously build a bankroll with cash games, while taking limited risks in smaller field, single entry (SE) tournaments. Players are popular in PGA DFS for a reason. Knowing when to play, or fade popular (chalk) players can determine whether you make, or lose money in any particular week. This article is intended to determine which of these “chalky” players you should be using, or fading in regards to this particular course. For more on DFS strategy, please refer to any of our WinDaily articles regarding strategy. Let’s take a look at the course to determine the type of golfer we’re looking for.
Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, OH.
Muirfield Village is an aesthetically pleasing Jack Nicklaus designed golf course, just outside of Columbus, Ohio. The annual tournament got it’s name when it was completed, and dedicated on Memorial Day, 1974. Boasting a purse exceeding 9 million dollars, it sets up as the perfect test for the upcoming U.S. Open. Muirfield Village was re-designed after last year, to challenge the greatest all around golf games in the world. Setting up at 7,543 yards, this par 72 course is playing around 100 yards longer than last year. It seems they narrowed the landing zones of the fairways. They also added some sand, and 155 trees. Throw in the water, green-side bunkers, long Kentucky Blue-Grass rough, and this course will offer no leniency when penalizing strokes for errant shots. The oft elevated, newly contoured, and 75.8 rated Bentgrass greens will demand precision.
John Rahm is your defending champion, and Colin Morikawa won the Workday (played on the same, yet somewhat easier, course) the week prior to The Memorial in 2020. There is plenty of course history here, and on similar Jack Nicklaus designed courses. Let’s take a look at some key metrics that will help get our golfers on the leader board Sunday.
Key Metrics
Strokes Gained: Approach (SG:APP) is important at every course, but it is extremely important here. Greens in regulation (GIR) is only 62% here in contrast to the tour average 66%, and the greens are small. This tells me that if a golfer can hit his approach shot, he’ll be close to the pin more often than not.
Par 4: 450-500. There are a lot of lengthy par 4s here. Having golfers that are good at them should help you climb the leader boards.
SG: Around The Green (ARG). This course will play long and players will miss the green (GIR mentioned above in the approach paragraph). Proximity to the hole out of green side bunkers is further here than any other course on tour. (It may be wise to at least look at sand saves. There’s a difference in ARG from the rough, or sand). Getting up and down in two will be a great tool to have in your bag.
Proximity 175-200. This will be the approach shot on almost all of the par 4’s and par 5’s.
SG: Putting (P). Golfers that are good on Bentgrass will be a big advantage. These small greens will require 2 putts or less on every hole.
SG: OTT. While not as important as most courses, your golfer will still need to avoid the lengthy rough. Also, having both SG:OTT, and SG:APP covers our ball striking (SG:BS) stat, yet keeps it separate so we can see the differences.
My PGA DFS Player Pool Core
I want to start off by mentioning a trend I’ve been seeing. Balanced builds have recently been leading the way as far as DFS lineups are concerned. I also concur with a popular industry stance that there is no clear cut #1 player in the world. The PGA “studs” are all showing some flaws in their respective games right now. That being said, I will be fading the entire upper tier of salaries at this tournament, for the most part. I realize that everyone reading this article may not be entering cash games or small field GPP’s (only), so I’ll give my opinion on top tier rankings for those of you that are interested. Specifically referring to the six players $10K and up, this is how I’d break it down.
Large Field Tournaments
1. Rahm
2. Spieth
3. Morikawa
Life Changing Money Tournaments
1. DeChambeau
2. Thomas
3. McIlroy
Now that we’ve got some house keeping done, let’s take a look at some of my core PGA DFS plays this week.
Viktor Hovland: $9900: Ranks in the top of the field in almost every key metric you can think of, INCLUDING SG:ARG, which is commonly thought of as his weakness. He’s been within a stroke of gaining in ARG in 22 of his last 25 tournaments.
Hideki Matsuyama: $9400: The Masters Champion is in great form, he’s great on Jack’s tracks, consistently under owned, SG:APP is his weapon, and he hasn’t lost over a stroke with the flat stick in 8 of his last 10.
Tony Finau: $9200: Another guy that’s great on Jack’s tracks, whose form seems to have made the turn for the better. Model has him 7th ARG, and 20th APP.
Scott Scheffler: $9000: Pure contrarian play. No one is on him after missing the cut last week, but he was T8 at the PGA Championship and DID shoot a 70 on Thursday last week. One of the best Jack’s tracks golfers in the field. I’m not jumping ship after one bad round, and neither should you.
Charlie Hoffman: $8300: History here has him priced too low. Just keep playing him in PGA DFS until his game tells you otherwise.
Keegan Bradley: $8000: One of the best ball strikers in the field, and his flat stick is finally coming around. Another great Jack’s tracks guy.
Emiliano Grillo: $7700: Flat stick and ARG are question marks, but his iron game, recent form, and history on Jack’s tracks are enough to make my list.
Honorable Mention List
Xander Schauffele
Patrick Cantlay
Corey Conners
Matt Fitzpatrick
Louis Oosthuizen
Shane Lowry
Gary Woodland
Value Guys To Make It All Fit
Kevin Streelman
Brendon Todd
Taylor Gooch
Aaron Wise
Alex Noren
Adam Hadwin
Kyle Stanley
It’s a good idea to read all the writers PGA DFS articles here at WinDaily so that you can get the best information the industry has to offer before making the final decisions on your lineups.
Be sure you check out Steven’s (aka Sicily Kid) ownership article on Wednesday evening to fine tune your PGA DFS lineups according to the contests you’re playing.
Join us in the Discord chat rooms as the writers break down and discuss our favorite plays even further. Our family here at WinDaily hopes that we can teach everyone some keys to success at playing DFS and earn some extra money while doing something we love.
