This piece focuses on five golfers projected to have less than five percent ownership in large-field guaranteed prize pools on DraftKings and FanDuel. Be sure to check out our DFS Ownership Dashboard shortly after contests lock to track ownership rates across all buy-in levels.
Five Under Five
Last week’s results: Because there was no cut in last week’s event, I am listing where the player ranked in terms of DraftKings points rather than their finishing position.
- Francesco Molinari: 31st, 63.0 DraftKings points, 9.34 percent average ownership
- Matthew Fitzpatrick: 51st, 50.5 DraftKings points, 1.40 percent avg ownership
- Fabrizio Zanotti: 70th, 40.0 DraftKings points, 0.39 percent avg ownership
- Andres Romero: 60th, 44.0 0.42 percent avg ownership
- Scott Hend: 17th, 69.0 DraftKings points, 0.55 percent avg ownership
It was a mixed bag for Five Under Five last week: Both Zanotti and Romero pretty much killed a lineup, Molinari was fine in terms of points but not in terms of ownership, Fitzpatrick was just okay, and Hend absolutely crushed it.
It’s the final major of the PGA Tour season and very likely the final golf Millionaire Maker on DraftKings until the Masters next April, so finding a low-owned player that produces a ton of fantasy points will be one of the keys to making a run in a huge guaranteed prize pool (GPP) like that.
Amazing Grace
A few weeks ago, Branden Grace went goofy with a third-round 63 at the Open Championship — a round that propelled him to a sixth-place finish in that event. Per our Trends tool, in his last 11 majors, Grace has produced a very valuable +7.99 Plus/Minus with 63.6 percent Consistency. Even more encouraging is the fact that he has done that at an average ownership of 6.6 percent in those major events and was owned at an invisible 1.1 percent at the Masters earlier this year. Although there is a chance he could come in above five percent this week, I’m calling for a surprising under five percent from Branden this week. Grace is tied for 16th in the field with his 68.5 Recent Adj Rd Score, he has five top-15 finishes in his last eight events, and he has performed well in the last two PGA Championships, producing an average of 103.75 DraftKings points.
Double S
As always, the first way we can use FantasyLabs to find potentially low-owned yet talented golfers in our Models is to leverage our Long-Term Adjusted Round Score (LT Adj Rd Score) metric. If you sort the field by LT Adj Rd Score, you are looking at a list of players who have been the best golfers over the past 75 weeks. Among these golfers, those who have low salaries could also have low ownership.
Steve Stricker is tied for 14th in this elite field with his 68.7 LT Adj Rd Score, and he is tied for fifth in the field with his 70.0 percent LT Driving Accuracy (DA) percentage. Stricker was owned at less than one percent at the Masters, 5.1 percent at the U.S. Open, and 13.2 percent at The Open Championship. He was a popular value choice around the industry for The Open, where he had a lackluster 49.5 DraftKings points and performed under his salary-based expectations. That outing, combined with the fact that very few people have breathed his name this week, should bring Steve back down to sub-five percent ownership.
When In Doubt, Go Euro
Lesser-known European Tour players typically go overlooked and underowned in the majors, and Thorbjorn Olesen could be an example this week. Olesen’s 70.7 LT Adj Rd Score ranks in the bottom-third of this field, but he has played well lately. His 69.4 Recent Adj Rd Score — improved by two top-10 finishes in his last five starts — is a top-35 score this week, and his impressive 16.6 Recent Adjusted Birdies Per Tournament (Adj Bird Avg) is 10th overall. Olesen looked very sharp in the final two rounds of last week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, where he finished T10 behind 80.0 DraftKings points.
Chez!
Speaking of Recent Adj Bird Avg, Chez Reavie, who is a weekly favorite of the PGA Daily Fantasy Flex podcast, leads the field this week with a monstrous 21.0 Recent Adj Bird Avg. Chez has been assaulting fairways and greens with great regularity: His 75.0 Recent DA percentage leads the field, and his 70.2 Recent Greens In Regulation (GIR) percentage ranks 14th this week. Reavie finished 16th at his last major, the U.S. Open, where he was owned at less than one percent.
Not Bruce
Danny Lee appeared to be fully recovered from the wrist and shoulder injury that forced him to withdraw from the John Deere Classic, finishing in 32nd place at the Canadian Open a few weeks ago. Prior to that withdrawal, Lee had finished ninth or better in four of seven tournaments. Moreover, Lee’s 68.5 Course Adjusted Round Score ranks third among golfers with more than two starts at Quail Hollow. Although there have been some changes made to the course prior to this week’s PGA Championship, Lee’s two top-15 finishes here in his last two trips are too good to pass up.
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Good luck, and be sure to do your own PGA research with the FantasyLabs Tools and watch our PGA videos on our Premium Content Portal.
