After missing five cuts in a row, Johnny Vegas successfully defended his RBC Canadian Open title with a win (-21) in a playoff over Charley Hoffman. Vegas had not broken par in his last five tournaments and this was his best finish since finishing T-4 at the Honda Classic back in February. I did choose him in my picks, but I honestly did not think he would finish top-5. I thought Dustin Johnson would win this, but he did play very well. More on that below.
Anyways, I'll be looking to get back on top the PGA Expert leaderboard providing you with my DraftKings PGA DFS lineup picks for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. My goal as always is to help put together your optimal daily fantasy golf lineups.
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 ($12,200): T-8, 17-under. Even though he didn't win, he showed that he's fully back. This was his first top-ten finish since the Wells Fargo 12 weeks ago.
Jim Furyk ($9,100): 75, 2-under.
Danny Lee ($8,000): T-32, 10 under.
Scott Stallings ($7,500): T-82, 5-under.
Adam Hadwin ($7,400): Cut.
Johnny Vegas ($7,000): WINNER, 21-under.
Alex Cejka ($6,600): Cut.
World Golf Championship: Bridgestone
This will be the third installment of a WGC event this year with Dustin Johnson taking the first two, and of course, he is the defending champion in this tournament. If he wins this week, DJ will be the only player ever to win three WGC Events in one year. The top 78 players in the world will compete and there is no cut. Players get a full four rounds no matter what. Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio will host the event like they always do. The course is a par 70, 35 front and back. The course is around 7,400 yards long featuring 12 par-4's, two par-5's, and four par-3's.
From CBS Sports's Rob Bolton, "Last year [Firestone] ranked as the hardest in both fairways hit (44.33 percent) and greens in regulation (54.05 percent)." So I will be looking at both driving accuracy and greens in regulation. I will also be looking at driving distance because of the long length and par 4 scoring because of the abundance of par 4's on the course.
Fantasy Golf Lineup Picks for DraftKings (PGA DFS)
High-Cost Players
I really want to take Rory McIlroy ($11,400) because I think he'll have a low ownership due to his troubles breaking in his new clubs and the fact that he just fired his caddie, but his price is too high. Yes, he did just finished T-4 at The Open, but he can't be the third highest-priced player on the board. I can't bite on that.
Dustin Johnson ($11,800)
Driving Accuracy: 175 Driving Distance: 1 Greens in Regulation: 3 Par 4 Scoring: T-11
DJ is back. He proved last week he is back to normal. I could see him winning this week and winning the PGA next week. He is also the defending champion in this event and is off an eighth place finish at the Canadian Open last week. The world number one will show why he's best.
Jason Day ($9,400)
Driving Accuracy: T-165 Driving Distance: 41 Greens in Regulation: 139 Par 4 Scoring: 149
I think this is my first time choosing him in my column all year, which is crazy because of the amount of times I've chosen him the past two years. Something is clearly off with his game this year and it's shown with only two top-10's all year. However, he has finished third last year and 12th the year before at this event. He also did have a nice showing at The Open two weeks ago finishing T-27. This is mostly a gut feeling pick. He will also be low-owned making him a boom or bust pick.
Middle-Cost Players
Daniel Berger ($8,300)
Driving Accuracy: 91 Driving Distance: 57 Greens in Regulation: T-34 Par 4 Scoring: 19
Berger is having a breakout season after wining the St. Jude Classic and following that up with a runner-up at The Travelers, a T-5 at the John Deere Classic, and T-27 at The Open. He withdrew from this event last year, but now has the chance to play with the big boys on a huge stage and prove he belongs.
Marc Leishman ($8,000)
Driving Accuracy: 41 Driving Distance: 57 Greens in Regulation: T-43 Par 4 Scoring: 19
Leishman has been on a roll of late with back-to-back top-10's at the Quicken Loans and The Open. He hasn't missed a cut in seven tournaments. He also had a third place finish here back in 2014.
Gary Woodland ($7,500)
Driving Accuracy: 115 Driving Distance: 15 Greens in Regulation: 13 Par 4 Scoring: 59
Woodland is off a fourth place finish at the Canadian Open and hasn't missed a cut since The Masters. He's competed three times here finishing 45-19-57.
Kevin Chappell ($7,500)
Driving Accuracy: 108 Driving Distance: 29 Greens in Regulation: T-84 Par 4 Scoring: 149
Chappell had a great showing last week at the Canadian Open where he finished T-8. He did miss cuts at The Open and Quicken Loans, but in big tournaments this year has played great; T-23 at U.S. Open and T-7 at The Masters. He finished third last year at Firestone in his first time competing.
Low-Cost Players
Brendan Steele ($6,700)
Driving Accuracy: 61 Driving Distance: 39 Greens in Regulation: T-72 Par 4 Scoring: 14
This will be Steele's second time at this event and first since 2011 when he placed 48th. Before missing back-to-back cuts at The Open and Quicken Loans, he was T-13 at the U.S. Open and T-14 at The Travelers. His stats are good for this event and I think he can finish top-20. It's also very hard to find a player below $7,000 at this event that will play well.
Best of luck!