Sanderson Farms DFS Round 1 Showdown: 3 Players From Each Tier to Target

With no significant weather advantage this week, I don’t necessarily see any reason for an AM/PM stack this week when playing Round 1 showdown slates on DraftKings.

I am targeting golfer’s who I like pre-tournament to play well in round 1.

Here are the top 10 golfers in Strokes Gained: Total in round 1 (past 24 rounds)

Patrick Rodgers ($8,200)
Cameron Tringale ($7,300)
Nick Taylor ($7,400)
Cameron Percy ($7,200)
Scottie Scheffler ($11,400)
Chase Seiffert ($6,400)
Mark Hubbard ($6,800)
Zach Johnson ($9,600)
Martin Laird ($6,100)
Tom Hoge ($6,900)

While first round scoring average doesn’t tell the whole story, it does show which golfers typically get off to a hot start. Week after week on TOUR we see cheap golfers get to the top of the leaderboard early in the week only to falter on the weekend.

Finishing position doesn’t matter like it does for Sunday showdown slates. Therefore, we can take more risks on golfers we don’t necessarily trust to finish the tournament strong.

Top-Tier Targets

Sungjae Im ($10,500): Sungjae finally seemed to get back into some decent form after a rough stretch. He gained strokes tee to green in his past two events (U.S. Open and Tour Championship) after losing strokes in the category in his prior two. Now we get him back on Bermudagrass, where he has thrived. It’s also clear he likes Country Club of Jackson after narrowly losing in a playoff last year at this event.

Sam Burns ($9,800): I love Sam Burns in all formats this week. He is my pick to win the event so I see no reason not to play him in a Round 1 showdown. He is a Bermuda specialist and should be able to feast on some gettable par 5’s this week. I also like his early tee time (7:16 AM) and think he has a solid chance to post an early low score to get his week started.

Henrik Stenson ($8,900): Henrik showed last week that he is in decent enough form to compete in these weaker field events. He is a good par 5 scorer and one of the better players in the field historically when playing on Bermudagrass (6th in this field in SG: Bermuda). Stenson should be a very solid staple in Round 1 showdown lineups.

Mid-Tier Targets

Carlos Ortiz ($8,300): Ortiz loves this golf course as evidenced by his top 5 finishes in 2019 and 2018. He has been playing pretty mediocre golf lately but I expect him to have a good week at CC of Jackson. Projections currently have him at about 8.8% owned overall so it feels like a decent spot to gain some leverage.

Cameron Davis ($8,100): Cam will be a popular play this week but I see him as good chalk. His stats have been excellent since the restart and he has the right skill set to compete this week. He is great off the tee and can get very hot with the putter, which is what I think the recipe for winning is at CC of Jackson. The only issue we’ve seen with Davis is his struggles on the weekend when he gets into contention, which can be overlooked for a Round 1 showdown slate.

Brian Stuard ($7,500): Stuard has been playing some good golf lately and has a third-place finish a few weeks ago at the Safeway Open. He is a golfer that tends to get hot in stretches. While he struggles off of the tee in terms of distance, there have been some winners in the past at CC of Jackson with a similar skill set to Stuard. If this turns into a putting contest where the whole field is hitting every green in regulation, he has a major advantage.

Low-End Targets

Tom Hoge ($6,900): Hoge has been a very good first round scorer. When we saw him last at the Safeway Open, he gained 5 strokes tee to green and gained in every category across the board for the week. In these weaker field events, Hoge seems to be a staple on the early round leaderboard and I wouldn’t be surprised if that continues this week.

Anirban Lahiri ($6,700): I wrote Lahiri up last week as my sleeper pick of the week and he didn’t disappoint, finishing in a tie for sixth for the tournament. While I don’t think this course is as good of a fit as Corales was, there is still a lot of value. In this field, I don’t see a major difference in skill level from the 6k and 7k range and think Lahiri is just as good as most of those guys priced ahead of him.

He also makes a ton of birdies, which of course translates to DraftKings points. Surprisingly, he doesn’t seem like he is getting much of an ownership bump after last week’s strong play. All the more reason to get behind him again this week.

Chase Seiffert ($6,400): Seiffert is another guy who showed up in the Round 1 statistical rankings. He wasn’t great last week (41st), but I think he has some strong upside for such a cheap play. In the 6K range, I feel it best to play guys that are low owned as the difference in actual skill is negligible. I am seeing him at 1.7% ownership projection, so he fits the bill.

With no significant weather advantage this week, I don’t necessarily see any reason for an AM/PM stack this week when playing Round 1 showdown slates on DraftKings.

I am targeting golfer’s who I like pre-tournament to play well in round 1.

Here are the top 10 golfers in Strokes Gained: Total in round 1 (past 24 rounds)

Patrick Rodgers ($8,200)
Cameron Tringale ($7,300)
Nick Taylor ($7,400)
Cameron Percy ($7,200)
Scottie Scheffler ($11,400)
Chase Seiffert ($6,400)
Mark Hubbard ($6,800)
Zach Johnson ($9,600)
Martin Laird ($6,100)
Tom Hoge ($6,900)

Finishing position doesn’t matter like it does for Sunday showdown slates. Therefore, we can take more risks on golfers we don’t necessarily trust to finish the tournament strong.