Putting For Dough: The Players Championship
Tournament: THE PLAYERS Championship Course: TPC Sawgrass (Par 72, 7093 yards) Location: Ponte Vedra Beach, FL Defending Champion: Webb Simpson Corollary Courses: Bay Hill (last week) & Pete Dye designs in general Considering the time constraints that I encounter with my “Real” job and the fact that I know most of you aren’t particularly interested in how I did each week, I’ve decided to simplify my article somewhat and will try the following layout: My Rules of playing DFS (same each week but just so you understand my POV) Background on the Course/Tournament for the current week Review of who I think are the Course Horses Summary of results when I use the modeling tool I subscribe to giving you players showing best (1) Current Form (CF), (2) Course History (CH) and (3) a combination of CF/CH/Key Stats – which the Key Stats will vary each week My “Tier Analysis” – I like this because it gives each of you a list of players I like either because of the analysis or simply “my gut”. “GUT” Plays I’m hoping this makes it easier for me and still allows all of you to get the information you need to combine with my partner, Alex White’s, information. We take slightly different perspectives in our analysis but are on a lot of the same guys each week. Hopefully, this gives you validation. NOTE: No matter what the format of my article, I am ALWAYS available on Slack Chat! You can discuss your ideas/issues with everyone in the #pga-dfs channel or you can DM me on there if you have an idea you really want to keep to yourself, but need someone to bounce it off of!! I promise, I won’t tell!!! …… as long as you let me use it! LMAO! Remember the Rules of playing DFS: You will probably lose more weeks than you win. Play Single-Entry (S/E), S/E Double-Ups and 50/50s as a hedge against the GPPs you want/like to play. If you play GPPs, look for Single-Entry contests first. After that, play the ones that allow five (5) entries or less. The only exception I have to my rule is that I play the $1 WTA each week that allows 20 entries. I don’t always play the maximum but I use it to help me set the 10-20 lineups I like to set each week. I am NOT a Mega-Multi Entry player! In PGA-DFS, DO NOT get overly excited by your position after Round 1 (Thursday). REMEMBER, Full disclosure, I’m not a guy that’s big on the statistics, although given Al’s success the last few weeks, I’m becoming more receptive. I’m someone that likes: Current Form (CF) Course History (CH) My Gut Course Background We are moving to what is being called the “5th Major” at the TPC-Sawgrass. The pricing on DK this week is a lot softer than normal in my opinion. Over the years that I have played PGA DFS, this isn’t uncommon. When you get to “Majors”, the DFS companies tend to make it easier for those “fair-weather” players to have an opportunity to make a “stud” lineup with names they know. THE $7000-$9000 range is STACKED!!! The Players is an important tournament as indicated by its name. “The Players” view this as “their” Championship and not one particularly tied to a country or organization (PGA Championship). Even The Masters is a form of “organization” and its similarity with The Players is that it’s always on the same course. Greens: Bermuda & Small (in Tour terms) Rough: Bermuda Water: Plentiful NOTE: We will be looking at historical statistics this week along with a player’s CF, but we must remember that the last time this tournament was played in March was 2006. The rough should not be as bad given that it hasn’t had the opportunity to grow out. Wind is more likely so we may need to look at Stacking Tee Times. The course will also not be as firm, but as we will discuss a little later, placement is more important that Bombing off the tee. Set Up for this Week: Despite the difficulties noted above, the course does allow for under par winners as the last three years winning scores have been -18 (Webb Simpson), -10 (Si Woo Kim), and -15 (Jason Day). From 2018 back to 2016 the Cut Line has been Even, +2, and -2 respectively. So, we can expect some scoring which, in turn, equals DFS points! Although I don’t typically pay much attention to tee times, for those of you that like to play PGA-DFS and gain a possible advantage, check the weather. If a player has a morning tee time on Thursday, they have an afternoon tee time on Friday. So, in short, tee times are AM-PM or PM-AM. So, if winds or other weather is predicted to happen at opposite times of the day (i.e. not in the morning both days or in the afternoon both days), you can “stack” tee times. You can find the tee times on www.pgatour.com THIS COURSE DOES NOT FAVOR THE BOMBER! “Less than Driver” players can and do excel at TPC-Sawgrass (or any other Pete Dye course). The key at Sawgrass is putting yourself in position in the fairway so that you have the approach shot you want – even if it’s with a longer than normal club for holes of similar distance on other courses. COURSE HORSES Francesco Molinari MC-6th-7th-DNP Plus a win last week on a corollary course (Bay Hill), “Moli” is sure to be popular this week. Adam Scott 11th-6th-12th-38th Adam Scott usually does the exact opposite of what I think, but with this history, I can’t avoid him – so, play him at your own risk! LMAO!! Rory McIlroy MC-35th-12th-8th 6th and 8th in the two years prior to the last 4. Last year’s MC was his first here since 2012. Justin Thomas 11th-MDF-3rd-24th Has never missed a Cut, just failed to make it to Sunday in 2017.
PGA DFS Weekly Livestream – Arnold Palmer
PGA DFS: Arnold Palmer Invitational
PGA DFS has created a significant following over the past few years. Which is the best thing that could have happened to the sport, next to Tiger making his all world comeback of course. This overflow of PGA DFS players has snowballed in the right direction, creating a wide variety of contests on our go to DFS sites (DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo, and even DRAFT). T
PGA DFS: The Honda Classic Open
Al White (coachwhiteDFS) is back to bring you the winning plays for the Honda Classic Open
PGA DFS Weekly w/ Mark & Al
Al and Mark break down the Honda Classic
Putting for Dough at The Honda Classic
PGA DFS breakdown from Mark Farris dives into his gut plays and the optimal picks for the Honda Classic this weekend.
PGA DFS: WGC Mexico
PGA DFS has created a significant following over the past few years. Which is the best thing that could have happened to the sport, next to Tiger making his all world comeback of course. This overflow of PGA DFS players
PGADFS: Putting for Dough – WGC Mexico
Set Up for this Week: Weather is supposed to be much better this week! Thank God! This is a World Golf Championship (WGC) event so the field is limited.
PGA Livestream – WGC Mexico
Al and Mark breakdown the action this week at the WGC Mexico Championship
Putting for Dough – Genesis Open
Putting for Dough – PGA DFS By: Mark Farris Tournament: Genesis Open Course: Riviera CC (Par 71, 7322 yards) Location: Pacific Palisades, CA Defending Champion: Bubba Watson Summary of Last Week: A Monday finish and Phil Mickelson continues to