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.
Waialae Country Club
7,044 Yards – Par 70 – Greens: Bermuda
When we look at Waialae Country Club, the property was designed in 1925 by Seth Raynor but did undergo an enhancement by Tom Doak in 2016. The purpose of the improvement was to try and bring back the old-school feel of the property, and I think Doak did that job perfectly. The venue is straightforward in its flat, boring setup, but there are doglegs where golfers will need to work the ball in both directions.
There are 12 par-fours in general. Ten of those stretch between 400-500 yards. The condensed nature from those holes produces 12.8% more second shots from 125-200 yards than average. I noticed a heavy correlation between the PGA Tour’s definition of ball striking and positive results. That combination looks at a mixture of accuracy and distance and then blends in GIR % to derive a total. Most of it is cumulative in how their website looks into the data, but I always make mine slightly more weighted into particular areas that I find relevant over the PGA’s basic construction.
Before we get into the statistical breakdown that I used, the last two things worth noting would be that the wind is the one real defense of the property. We have seen a three-shot difference in production when gusts pick up, and the second area that I found interesting is putting has been 4.3% more impactful to the dispersion of scores than a typical stop.
- Ball-Striking (25%) – I took an even split of distance and accuracy. I realize accuracy is more pertinent to finding success at Waialae, but golfers can easily club down off the tee. That is what Justin Thomas and Patton Kizzire did during the years they won the title, and it was another scenario where I noticed pushing numbers too far towards accuracy seemed to do a disservice to the model. Maybe you could look at a stat like fairways gained and increase the weight that way, but I still don’t love it because there are so many courses some of your bombers nosedive their totals throughout the year. I then took the average of that total driving number and weighed it in with GIR percentage in a 65/35 split towards GIR.
- Pertinent Proximity Ranges (10%) – Sixty-seven percent of irons come between 125-200 yards. I am marginally lower on approach play this week than most in the industry, but there are roundabout ways to get unique. I think GIR % is one. Breaking it down into this specific distance is another. And the reason we receive 67% of irons from this relatively basic zone is because of what I mentioned earlier of there being 10 par-fours between 400-500 yards. There are a lot of landing areas that will be similar for all players in the field
- Weighted Par-Four (17.5%) – It is a pretty basic split there of 34% overall par-four average and then 33% each on 400-450 and 450-500.
- Easy Scoring Courses Under 7,200 Yards (17.5%) – Birdie makers that can find success at the venue. It is as simple as that.
- Mixture of Strokes Gained Total on Bermuda + Strokes Gained Putting on Bermuda (20%) – That is my way of looking into Bermuda as a whole and gradually inserting putting into the mix. Everyone knows that I don’t love putting numbers, but we can’t ignore it here. Putting has been 4.3% more impactful to the dispersion of scores than an average stop. Bermuda putting is one of the ways to make it more relevant to Waialae.
- Birdie or Better Percentage (10%) – That is an extension of scoring to go along with how golfers perform at easy courses that are shorter.
DraftKings Players ($10,000+)
Webb Simpson ($10,500) – We are going to have to be cognizant of collective ownership amongst our six golfers. It is going to be nearly impossible to bypass the chalk in general, so it will be a lineup-by-lineup decision for me when I make builds. Webb Simpson is the number overall player in my model. Unfortunately, he is also number one in ownership. You will have to make a decision when it comes to how much exposure you want, but nobody produces yearly at the same tracks in the fashion of Webb.
Sungjae Im ($10.300) – The ownership is where it should be for the week. The price tag is fair. Those aren’t exactly ringing endorsements for a golfer that is going to far exceed his projection, but I do think he is the second-best route on this board. Im’s irons have turned around after a cold stretch in the middle of 2021, and we have seen him average 2.25 over his last four starts with that approach game.
Other Consideration – Cameron Smith ($11,200) – Either Cameron Smith or Hideki Matsuyama will be your best leverage route to consider. I don’t love Hideki’s upside because of his inability to make putts at a birdie fest, but we know Smith is a winner.
$9,000 Range
Kevin Na ($9,900) – Joel and I mentioned this about Kevin Na on our show, but it bears repeating. While Kevin Na is technically overpriced as one of the big boys in this field at $9,900, the leverage he provides at roughly 10 percent more than makes up for the price tag. You want players you like to be higher priced because it creates more playability when others are down on them.
Corey Conners ($9,600) – Corey Conners should have likely been in the $10,000 zone. I wish he would have been for all the reasons I just mentioned about Kevin Na, but there is a ton to love about the Canadian. Conners ranks first in my model for ball-striking and has gained nearly twice as many strokes on these greens versus any other surface in the world. If the putter remains hot at the track, the sky is the limit.
Other Targets: Abraham Ancer (GPPs)
$8,000 Range
Billy Horschel ($8,700) – Billy Horschel isn’t going to be for everyone, and I am okay with that. The Florida product ranks 15th at easy courses under 7,200 yards and ninth in my mixture of Bermuda scoring. Sub-10 percent is a great number.
Matt Jones ($8,400) – I like Matt Jones to keep the train rolling in Hawaii. Let’s see where the ownership comes in for the week, but if he can hover outside of the top-15 projection totals on the board, the safety Jones brings allows us to remove some of the other qualities we would like to see in his statistical makeup.
Charles Howell III ($8,000) – Charles Howell IIII looks to be one of the better cash-game values on the board at $8,000. I am willing to give him a look in GPPs if the ownership remains sub-15 percent, and his course history has been magnificent. He hasn’t missed a cut during his career in 19 tries. He has provided 15 top-30s, with nine of those landing inside the top eight.
Other Thoughts: Kevin Kisner is playable at $8,900
$7,000 Range
Si Woo Kim ($7,700) – I have Si Woo Kim inside the top-10 in outright win equity. He places ninth at easy courses under 7,200 yards. There is always going to be combustibility that he falters, but he does rank inside of the top-60 in every category I ran. We know that when he gets into contention that he can win, and 6-7 percent is way too low for his popularity on DraftKings. I honestly wouldn’t be shocked to see him on the first page of the leaderboard when all is said and done.
Additional Thoughts: I am going to mix-and-match options, but my next two favorite targets would be Keegan Bradley ($7,400) and Stewart Cink ($7,200)
$6,000 Range
Nick Hardy ($6,600) – Fourteenth here last year. A great iron player that hits a ton of greens in regulation. He will need to keep the ball in the fairway, but my numbers love him.
Additional Dart Throws To Consider: Max McGreevy $6,900, Michael Thompson $6,900, Harry Higgs $6,900, Chan Kim $6,300, Andrew Novak $6,300
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