RADIO
Daniel Berger shot a final round 66 to defend his title at the St. Jude Classic (-10) by one stroke over Whee Kim and Charl Schwartzel. Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Ben Crane, and Stuart Stewart Cink were the co-leaders after 54 holes, but all were over-par in the final round.
I'll be looking to get back on top the PGA Expert leaderboard providing you with my DraftKings PGA DFS lineup picks for the U.S. Open Championship. 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
Francesco Molinari ($10,500): T-24, 4-under. Disappointing tournament for Molinari. He had the tools to win this tournament, but didn't even contend.
Phil Mickelson ($10,200): 9th, 7-under. A bogey and double-bogey to finish off the third round was bad but a triple-bogey on the 12th on Sunday completely derailed his chances.
Seung Yul-Noh ($8,100): T-37, 1-under.
Chad Campbell ($7,600): T-10, 6-under. Was two-over in the final round.
Ian Poulter ($7,600): T-31, 2-under.
D.A. Points ($6,500): Cut.
Boo Weekley ($6,500): Cut.
U.S. Open Championship
The tournament I've been waiting for all year is finally here. The U.S. Open will be played at Erin Hills Golf Course in Wisconsin. It's the first time Erin Hills is hosting the U.S. Open and no one has any idea how it will play. It will be the first time since 1992 at Pebble Beach that the U.S. Open will be played at a par 72 course. It is also the second-longest golf course in length, 7,693 yards, in U.S. Open history behind Chambers Bay in 2015. However, Erin Hills can stretch to 7,800 yards. That's how long it is. The course may be thought of as a links style course, because there are no trees, but it's not really one.
Players may compare this to Chambers Bay, but Jordan Spieth doesn't think so. He said at a press conference at the Memorial Tournament, "Chambers Bay, you had big mounds to play off onto the greens. [Erin] is kind of rolling hills. Although, neither one has a tree that I remember on the golf course. It was kind of a new-style American Links type. They both are. But I think they'll play tremendously different."
I absolutely love how the fescue at Erin Hills is four to five yards long. Some players like Kevin Na aren't too happy.
Stop whining, Kevin. The U.S. Open is the most challenging tournament each year. It should be so difficult that it tests the best players in the worlds ability. The U.S. Open each year has a simple formula; if you can stay out of the rough, you'll be fine, but if you hit it into the rough, like you can see above, you're in serious trouble. Also what an awful idea it'd be if former U.S. Open champions got together to make a U.S. Open course. It's fun watching the best in the world struggle at what they do best. That's what makes this tournament so great. Players rarely shoot good scores and the winner is usually close to even-par. The USGA wants bad scores so they make the courses extremely difficult, but I get the feeling that there could be lower scores because it is a par 72, but who knows. The one thing that players will greatly struggle with is the wind. It can be extremely windy at this course and probably will be over the weekend making it more difficult than it already is.
After reading the course description hole-by-hole, this course is wide and really long. Paul Azinger described it as, "a bombers paradise." The course has 10 par 4's, four par-3's and four par-5's. Players begin with the first hole par 5 ranging from 560 to 608 yards and conclude their round with the massive pat 5 18th hole that can play between 622 and 675 yards. Holes number 2 and 15 are drivable par 4's.
I'll be looking at several stats; driving accuracy because you don't want to be anywhere near the fescue, driving distance because it's a, "bombers paradise", strokes gained: around-the-green, you need to be able to putt to win a major, and approach >200 because of how long the course is.
I will be listing each stat for each player because it's easier that way. I will also be giving out several more picks than usual this week.
Fantasy Golf Lineup Picks for DraftKings (PGA DFS)
High-Cost Players
As usual Dustin Johnson ($12,000) is the highest-priced player. He seems to be a perfect fit for this course and he's had three consecutive top-5 U.S. Open finishes in addition to being the defending champion. If you pick him, you can't go wrong, but he has to finish top-5 for him to be worthy of that price. As constant readers of my column know, I hate choosing the highest-priced player so I will not be throwing him in my lineups.
I like Jason Day ($10,800) and Rickie Fowler ($10,500).
Day's stats are below,
Driving Accuracy: 145 Driving Distance: 32 Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green: 1 Approach >200: 19
Day has played in six U.S. Open's and has finished; 2, 59, 2, 4, 9, and 8th last year. Wow. He finished second at the Byron Nelson and T-15 at the Memorial two weeks ago. If there's anyone I trust it's Day.
Fowler's stats,
Driving Accuracy: 25 Driving Distance: 33 Strokes Gained: 19 Around-the-Green: 19 Approach >200: 6
I think Fowler is going to win his first major. I have a really good feeling about him this week. Although Fowler was cut at the past two U.S. Open's and was cut last week, he's had more time to prepare for this event. He also can play well in windy conditions. It's finally time Fowler gets that elusive first major.
Here's another stat from Rob Bolton that gives me more reason to believe Fowler will win; "22 of the 35 winners in majors have been first-timers, including six in the U.S. Open (2009-2013, 2016). Each of the last six majors overall crowned first-timers."
Middle-Cost Players
Brandon Grace ($8,600)
Driving Accuracy: 132 Driving Distance: 104 Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green: 116 Approach >200: 84
Although his stats aren't good for this course, he's had great success in recent U.S. Open's finishing 4th and 5th at the last two. Grace doesn't hit the ball so high, but rather he hits low missiles, therefore the wind can't really affect his ball trajectory so much. His last outing was T-9 at the BMW PGA Championship.
Jason Dufner ($8,100)
Driving Accuracy: 30 Driving Distance: 92 Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green: 125 Approach >200: 146
Dufner has three top-10's in his last five U.S. Open's which includes two top-5's. He also finished 18th at Chambers Bay two years ago. He's fresh off a win at the Memorial at Muirfield two weeks ago. He had great poise for an event like this.
Brandt Snedeker ($7,800)
Driving Accuracy: 78 Driving Distance: 171 Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green: 43 Approach >200: 175
Firstly, Sneds can play well in the wind. Although he was cut at Oakmont last year, he has four top-10's and three top-25's while being cut the other three times in 10 U.S. Open appearances. He's had ample time to prepare for this event having not played since the DEAN & DELUCA three weeks ago.
Alexander Noren ($7,500)
*Plays on European Tour so does not qualify for stats*
Since winning the Scottish Open in July of 2016, he's won four times, including the BMW PGA Championship three weeks ago, where he shot a final-round 62. Although this is his fifth U.S. Open appearance, and his best finish is 51st, he was cut the other three times. This is the year he finally has a good showing.
Low-Cost Players
Shane Lowry ($7,300)
Driving Accuracy: 28 Driving Distance: 68 Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green: 161 Approach >200: 55
Lowry was the first player since Payne Stewart in 1998 to blow a four-shot final round lead at the U.S. Open. He's been playing well of late finishing sixth at the BMW PGA Championship and 15th at the Memorial. He finished 9th at Chambers Bay two years ago. I think he puts last years final round in the past and plays well this year.
Daniel Summerhays ($7,100)
Driving Accuracy: 70 Driving Distance: 146 Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green: 65 Approach >200: 128
Summerhays completely blew the 54-hole lead at the Memorial by shooting a final round 78. That final round debacle continued to last week at the St. Jude Classic where he was cut. I think he turns it around this week though. He finished 27th at Chambers Bat two years ago and 8th at Oakmont lat year.
Zach Johnson ($6,900)
Driving Accuracy: 160 Driving Distance: 130 Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green: 27 Approach >200: 148
Johnson won the British Open two years ago at St. Andrews in extremely windy conditions. His eighth place finish last year at Oakmont was his best U.S. Open finish and first top-25. Johnson has not had a good showing since the Wells Fargo a month ago, but he's a proven veteran that can turn it around at any time.
Lee Westwood ($6,800)
*Plays on European Tour so does not qualify for stats*
Westwood is one of the best players to never win a major, although he's been so close so many times. He always seems to be right near the top of the leaderboards at majors. He's in very good form having finished 14th at the BMW PGA Championship and 15th at the Nordea Masters two weeks ago.
Marc Leishman ($6,700)
Driving Accuracy: 115 Driving Distance: 38 Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green: 62 Approach >200: 35
Another very good wind player. He had his best U.S. Open finish last year at Oakmont finishing 18th. He's in pretty good form of late; 13th at the Byron Nelson, 34th at the DEAN & DELUCA, and 15h at the Memorial.
Bill Haas ($6,600)
Driving Accuracy: 139 Driving Distance: 113 Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green: 15 Approach >200: 69
Haas is yet another good wind player. He finished 12th at the DEAN & DELCUA three weeks ago and 25th at the Memorial two weeks ago. He's never had a top-20 finish at the U.S. Open, but that changes this week.
Best of luck and happy Father's Day!
