DraftKings has gone and done it now. No more sorrowful Friday nights lamenting your golfers who missed the cut. Another Henrik Stenson withdrawal can’t even ruin this party. (Although a weekend withdrawal would be quite harmful). With DraftKings’ weekend PGA games, you can fire up a brand new team of six golfers and watch the action unfold all weekend long, and FantasyLabs is here with all of our data to help you build smarter lineups.
Weekend Scoring Changes
Finish The Race
The biggest scoring change is finishing position does not earn any points for the weekend slate. Finishing position is a huge part of DraftKings’ regular golf product. Players who are playing well on the weekend will typically finish higher than those that aren’t, but where they end up won’t affect your team’s score and isn’t nearly as important as . . .
Just Birdie, Baby
Birdies are king. Birdies remain as +3.0 points in the weekend scoring system and are the player’s key to hitting scoring bonuses. A streak of three birdies or better will earn +1.75 points (down from +3.0 in regular scoring) and could potentially help your golfers achieve the +2.25 points they will earn for shooting both rounds under 70 strokes.
Bogeys are bad. Bogeys cost -0.5 points and prevent your golfers from earning the +1.75 points (down from +3.0 in regular scoring) for a bogey-free round. A double-bogey or worse nets -1.0 points.
Sometimes It’s Better To Be Lucky Than Good
A weekend eagle is worth +6.0 points (down from +8.0 points) and a weekend double eagle’s worth is cut in half from tournament-long golf scoring to +10.0 points. A hole in one is worth +4.o points instead of +10.0 points.
To put it simply: When creating rosters for weekend golf, you’ll want to target elite birdie makers who can do a good job avoiding bogeys.
Charley GOATman
In Thursday’s opening round — while many of the world’s elite golfers were struggling to shoot 75 — Charley Hoffman ($7,500) shot an amazing 65 to get out to an early four-shot lead on the field.
Hoffman had an incredible nine birdies in Thursday’s round, including a streak of four in a row. On a day where bogeys were the norm, Charley escaped with just two on his card.
Hoffman’s two weekend rounds at Augusta were a combined three-over par in 2016. In 2015, Hoffman was nine-under par after two rounds but shot one-over on the weekend, including a final round 74 on Sunday.
Although the weekend salaries are not loaded in our Player Models this week, the data in the tournament-long models is still applicable: Charley’s 12.3 Long-Term Adjusted Birdies Per Tournament (Adj Bird Avg) is near the bottom of this field.
Birdie McIlroy
Rory McIlroy ($10,000) is an elite birdie-maker: His massive 18.1 LT Adj Bird Avg is nearly a full shot better than anyone else in the field. Rory had three birdies in Thursday’s wind-whipped round.
McIlroy blew up on Saturday last year, shooting a five-over par 77 but recovered to shoot a one-under par in the final round. He was a beast in 2015: Rory kept both rounds under 70 and shot a combined 10-under par on the weekend.
McIlroy was the highest-owned golfer in the tournament-long slate, and at just five strokes back, he will likely be highly-owned again this weekend. Pro subscribers can review ownership in our DFS Ownership dashboard.
McIlroy: Masters Report
The Bump and Run
Choke up and take a narrow stance.
Jon Rahm ($9,100): Rahm is the closest golfer to Rory in terms of birdie frequency: His 17.2 LT Adj Bird Avg is second and his 18.5 Recent Adj Bird Avg is fourth among golfers who have played more than one tournament in the past six weeks. Beginning with the Phoenix Open, an amazing 10 of Rahm’s last 10 weekend rounds have been under par, and nine of those were 69 or better. He is an elite weekend play.
Phil Mickelson ($9,000): Mickelson has shot a combined eight-under par in his most recent six weekend rounds at Augusta, including two sub-70 rounds here in 2015. Phil’s 14.8 LT Adj Bird Avg is 18th in this field.
Sergio Garcia ($8,300): Garcia managed just one birdie on Thursday, but he was the only player in the field without a bogey. Sergio ripped off three-straight birdies to open his second round, and his 15.9 LT Adj Bird Avg is sixth in the field. Garcia carded a massive 81 on Saturday last year but was a combined three-under par on the weekend in 2015.
Lee Westwood ($8,000): Per our Trends tool, Westwood has been an absolute stud at Augusta the past three years, producing a +25.22 Plus/Minus.
Westwood has shot under par in six of his last 10 weekend rounds at Augusta National and has a combined score of seven-under par during those rounds. He finished over par on the weekend only once during that time (2015).
Soren Kjeldsen ($7,600): Kjeldsen has shot a combined seven-over par in his four most recent weekend rounds at Augusta. His 15.0 Recent Adj Bird Avg, however, is 19th-best among golfers who have played at least three tournaments in the past six weeks.
Ryan Moore ($7,600): Moore has shot 69 or better on Sunday at the Masters in three of his last four trips to Augusta. That said, he has been over par in four of his last eight weekend rounds here and shot an 81 on Saturday in 2013.
William McGirt ($7,500): McGirt’s 12.0 LT Adj Bird Avg is the ninth-worst score in the field among regular PGA Tour golfers. McGirt has just one weekend round under 70 during the last four tournaments in which he has made the cut.
Fred Couples ($7,300): Freddy’s course history at Augusta is quite impressive: He has a 69.4 Course Adj Rd Score in his most recent five trips here. Something to consider: Just three of Couples’ last 10 weekend rounds at Augusta have been under par, and he is a combined six-over par in weekend rounds here since 2010.
Good luck and enjoy the last two days of the Masters!
