The PGA Weekend Breakdown offers data-driven analysis for the DraftKings weekend slate, using the FantasyLabs Tools and metrics to highlight notable players.
Birds Of Prey
Birdies are essential to success in DraftKings weekend golf games. If some dude goes six or seven under par in one of the weekend rounds and is not on your roster, you’ll have a difficult time taking down a large-field guaranteed prize pool. Using our Birdie Differential metric is a great way to target players who have made more birdies recently.
Last week, our ‘Birds of Prey’ — the five golfers highlighted based off of our Birdie Differential metric — averaged 29.7 DraftKings points.
Saint Patrick
With the top Birdie Differential remaining in the field, Patrick Cantlay ($8,600) starts the weekend 13 shots back thanks to the incredible two-day run Jason Dufner has had. Cantlay’s 16.6 Long-Term Adjusted Birdies Per Tournament (LT Adj Bird Avg) ranks second overall in the field. At the same time, Cantlay’s recent weekend rounds have been uninspiring: Only one of his last six post-cut rounds has been under 70.
The Herminator
Jim Herman ($7,100) owns the second-best Birdie Differential in the weekend’s field. Per our DFS Ownership Dashboard, Herman was owned at less than one percent in all Thursday contests, and he’s likely to have similar ownership this weekend. Herman starts at even-par after five birdies and one eagle through the first two rounds.
The Finely Coiffed One
Barely making the cut at three over par, Ollie Schniederjans ($7,800) — who scored a robust 34.25 points last weekend — makes his third consecutive appearance in this piece. Schniderjans has seven birdies through the first two rounds at the Memorial, and his 16.7 Recent Adj Bird Avg is fifth overall.
Oh, Rickie, You’re So Fine
Rickie Fowler ($9,300) starts the weekend in third place, but he’s a chunky six shots off the lead, so he’ll need to be aggressive to win. Fowler is tied atop the field with his 17.0 Recent Adj Bird Avg, and he is a top-10 golfer in both the Bales and CSURAM88 Player Models this week.
The Former Champion
The 2015 Memorial champion, David Lingmerth ($7,500) is a relative bargain at his weekend price. Lingmerth was a first-round leader after accumulating a massive eight birdies and one eagle on Thursday. He had a two-over-par round on Friday, but he’s proven that he can go low at this course, and at eight shots off the lead he’ll likely be aggressive over the weekend.
The Bump and Run
Choke up and take a narrow stance.
Brooks Koepka ($8,800): Lurking at two under par is the proven birdie-maker. Koepka had eight birdies and an eagle in the first two rounds, and both his 15.1 LT Adj Bird Avg and 16.3 Recent Adj Bird Avg are top-10 marks in the field.
Tony Finau ($8,300): Owned at over 25 percent in the majority of DraftKings guaranteed prize pools on Thursday, Finau gets to go off in the second group on Saturday at 7:47 AM. In Finau’s four previous weekend rounds here at the Memorial he has shot a combined 10 under par.
Patrick Reed ($8,900): Another player out bright and early on Saturday is Reed, who finished T8 here last year when he shot both rounds under 70 on the weekend for a combined seven under par. Reed had nine birdies in the first two rounds but is at three over par thanks to his plethora of crooked numbers. If he can get the bogeys under control, he could make some noise on the weekend slate. Reed’s 14.0 LT Adj Bird Avg ranks 20th in the field.
Good luck this weekend!
