RADIO
Billy Horschel (-12) defeated Jason Day on the first playoff hole after Day missed a 4-foot gimme putt which would have sent the Byron Nelson to a second playoff hole. Horschel had missed four consecutive cuts prior to winning the Byron Nelson tournament. Go figure. Horschel shot in the 60's in all four rounds. Not including the Zurich Classic, the last time Horschel shot in the 60's in a single round was way back at the Houston Open in the first week of April. Wow.
I'll be looking to get back on top the PGA Expert leaderboard while providing you with my DraftKings PGA DFS lineup picks for the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational. My goal as always is to help put together your optimal daily fantasy golf lineups. Additionally, if anyone has lineup questions before the start of the tournament Thursday morning, feel free to contact me via Twitter @Seth_Fink.
Reviewing Last Week's Pick
Dustin Johnson ($12,500): T-13, 6-under. Good performance. What you'd expect out of DJ at this point.
Jordan Spieth ($10,800): Cut. Was going to make the cut, but made an inexplicable quadruple-bogey nine on the 16th and missed the cut. On that hole, Spieth hit his first drive out-of-bounds into someone's front lawn, teed off again and did the same exact thing! He teed off for a third time, hitting his fifth shot from the tee box and ended up making a nine. Unbelievable. He was the only player I chose that missed the cut. You would never have expected Spieth to miss the cut.
Tony Finau ($9,200): T-13, 6-under. Shot a five-over 75 in the first round, but then shot a a combined 11-under through the next three rounds.
Charley Hoffman ($8,500): T-40, 1-under.
Ryan Palmer ($8,200): T-27, 3-under.
Ollie Schniederjans ($7,700): T-55, 1-over. Just made the cut.
Danny Lee ($7,100): T-5, 8-under. Was even-par through the first two rounds, but then shot a 64-68 over the weekend.
Keegan Bradley ($6,900): T-27, 3-under. Was 4-over after the first round, but then shot a 67-68-68 the next three rounds.
DEAN & DELUCA Invitational
The DEAN & DELUCA Invitational will be played at Colonial Country Club in Forth Worth, Texas. The name/sponsor of this torment is awful. For those unaware, Dean & DeLuca are a chain of upscale grocery stores featuring gourmet food and award-winning cheese. What a name for a golf tournament.
The course is a par-70, 7,204 yards long. The fairways are narrow and there are a good amount of trees on the course. Six holes feature water. Jordan Spieth is the defending champion, winning with a score of 17-under last year.
I've been delving into advanced stats a little too much lately and will not look at any stats this week. Instead, I will look at past performances at this event and recent form. I feel that my picks were better before I delved into the stats. For example, the stats I looked at last week were driving distance, par-4 scoring average, and strokes-gained around-the-green. Prior to last week, Horschel was ranked T38 in driving distance, T45, and 193rd around-the-green. Yet he won. Stats can only tell so much. Let's take the week off from them.
It will be very hot and very windy in Forth Worth over the weekend, around 20 mph winds on Thursday and Friday. It may rain on Saturday and Sunday.
Fantasy Golf Lineup Picks for DraftKings (PGA DFS)
High-Cost Players
Jordan Spieth ($12,000) is the highest-priced player this week. If he were around $11,000 I'd be all over him, but he's in such bad form of late. He's missed back-t0-back cuts, but he has finished 7-14-2-1 in the four times he's played this tournament. If you pick him, you'll be hoping he regains his mojo in a tournament he's had great success at. I will not be picking him. Now watch him win.
Instead, I'm going to pair Zach Johnson ($9,8000) and Jason Dufner ($9,000). Johnson has proved he can play in the wind, when he won the British Open at St. Andrews in disastrous weather two years ago. He's won this tournament twice in the past, 2010 and 2012. He was ninth in 2009, fourth in 2011, and third in 2013. The last three years he's finished 73-19-17. He's never missed the cut, and is the all-time earnings leader at this this event. ZJ hasn't played since THE PLAYERS where he finished T48.
The last five times Dufner has played this tournament, he's finished 2-46-2-43-6. That's pretty good. He placed T13 last week at the Byron Nelson in similar weather.
Middle-Cost Players
Brant Snedeker ($8,100)
Firstly, he's a great wind player. He missed the cut last week, but that was his first time playing since the RBC Heritage due to a sore left hand. He surely got the rust off last week and will be good to go for this week. The last three years he's played this tournament he's finished 45-2-17. Also, in his last nine tournaments, he's finished in the top-20 five times.
Ryan Palmer ($7,900)
This is my third week in a row picking Palmer and I'm going to pick him to win. He's a member of Colonial C.C. and played fairly well last week at the Byron Nelson, yet his price decreased by $300. This will be his 13th consecutive year playing at this tournament. He's been cut only twice, and has three top-5's in the past five years, which includes a third-place finish last year.
Sung Kang ($7,400)
This will be his third time playing this tournament. He finished 37th in 2012 and was cut last year. He's in good form of late though, including a 20th place finish at the Byron Nelson last week. He hasn't missed a cut since early March at the Valspar Championship.
Low-Cost Players
Ben Martin ($7,200)
Martin has played this event the last three years finishing 21-10-29. He's in good form of late finishing T18 at the Wells Fargo and and T30 at THE PLAYERS. He will be less than 5 percent owned. That makes him a steal.
Danny Lee ($6,900)
Somehow his price decreased by $200 even after fifth-place finish last week. That seems odd. He's played this tournament the last three years and finished 38-10-22. I don't understand how his price dropped by $200 at an event he's never missed a cut in four tries.
Martin Piller ($6,400)
He's been on the Web.com Tour this season, but is a Dallas native and finished sixth at this tournament last year. That's good enough for me.
Best of luck and happy Memorial Day!
