Jason Day finally won his first major after being so close for so long. Good for him. Even though he was paired up with Spieth, and he no doubt had the weight of potentially falling short again on his shoulders, he was unflappable. At no point on Sunday did I ever think he was going to falter. Day set the all-time low mark for a major at -20, breaking Tiger’s previous mark of -19 (the hits keep coming for Eldrick). It was an impressive victory; and for our purposes, he kind of blew away the field. He scored 149 DK points, otherwise known as 35.5 more points than the second highest scorer (Branden Grace). The gap between Day and Grace was essentially the same gap between Grace and Cameron Smith, who was #27 in points for the week. Hell, 35.5 points was more than 80 golfers scored for the entire tournament (a list that includes Adam Scott)! If there was such a thing as an A+++, Day would have received it, and Josh could have used it.
A little Dead Man on Campus humor for you there. Anyone? Whatever, if you were in college in the early 2000s, you know what I’m talking about. Let’s get back on track…
I think we might have hit a tipping point in PGA DFS this week. The Millionaire Maker was chopped two ways up top (not bad), but there was a 28-way tie for 3rd (TWENTY-EIGHT). That means the two winners received $550,000 each, and if you tied for 3rd, you received less than $10,000. “DraftKings, come play for your share of a million bucks! And by “share,” we mean SHARE!”
If tournament fields are going to keep growing, something needs to be done to help reduce potential roster duplication. I don’t know if that means more roster spots or changes to the salary structure, but a change is necessary.
Let’s take a look at the lineup that won mailnurs and TooMuchMonta $550,000 each:
Jason Day (33.2%) $10,800 – 149
Branden Grace (4.8%) $7,300 – 113.5
Justin Rose (17.1%) $10,000 – 105
Brooks Koepka (32.9%) $7,800 – 104.5
Tony Finau (5.5%) $6,800 – 98.5
David Lingmerth (6.4%) $7,300 – 93.5
The results gave me a reason to post this:
Too. Too. Too much Monta. Chandler Parsons wasn’t awful. I regret typing that last sentence.
There isn’t much to that lineup I need to talk about, I don’t think. What I would like to point out is the importance of birdie makers on DraftKings. For example, Dustin Johnson v. Jordan Spieth. Johnson finished T-7 and -12. Spieth finished solo 2nd and -17. Yet, DJ outscored Spieth 108.5 to 107.5. Five strokes better, five spots higher, one less point. You may be thinking, “one point, who cares?” The point is you shouldn’t be afraid of picking guys who are prone to eights on the first hole on Sunday at a major. Birdies help more than bogeys hurt on DraftKings, always remember that.
To that end, let’s take a look at the optimal lineup:
Dustin Johnson $11,200 – 108.5
Jason Day $10,800 – 149
Brooks Koepka $7,800 – 104.5
Branden Grace $7,300 – 113.5
Anirban Lahiri $6,400 – 101
George Coetzee $6,000 – 101
Notice, DJ made his way onto the optimal lineup. Not Spieth, not Rose, but DJ. Birdie makers: you want them.
It was another solid week for the Consensus. It posted its highest score to-date, but it did a better job identifying top-end talent than value plays. If you faded Zach Johnson, you probably did pretty well constructing lineups from this list.
Expert Consensus
A+ – Brooks Koepka
A+ – Jason Day
A+ – Justin Rose
A – Jordan Spieth
A – Paul Casey
A – Robert Streb
B – Bubba Watson
B – Danny Lee
B – Henrik Stenson
B – Hideki Matsuyama
B – Jim Furyk
B – Keegan Bradley
B – Patrick Reed
B – Rickie Fowler
B – Rory McIlroy
C – Danny Willett
C – Francesco Molinari
C – Jason Bohn
D – Jason Dufner
F – Steven Bowditch
F – Zach Johnson
Three experts beat the Consensus this week: Jason Sobel of espn.com, oreojenkins of dailyoverlay.com, and Michael Riek of rotowire.com. Sobel made nine picks, six returned “A” value or better and the other three returned “B” value. Flawless. This is the first week I’ve tracked Sobel’s results, and he certainly came out swinging. His performance this week was definitely one of the best I’ve seen this season.
Jason Sobel – espn.com
A+ – Jason Day
A – Jordan Spieth
A – Matt Jones
A – Paul Casey
A – Robert Streb
A – Russell Henley
B – Danny Lee
B – Hideki Matsuyama
B – Rory McIlroy
I don’t have a “LOOK AT ME!” personality. In fact, I hate attention. So I’ll make this quick and move on… I’ve been making picks on the record for three weeks now, and I’ve been on point every week. If you’ve been following from the start, you’ve probably been doing pretty well for yourself. This week, I made 19 picks and the results really speak for themselves.
oreojenkins – dailyoverlay.com
A+ – Brooks Koepka
A+ – Dustin Johnson
A+ – Jason Day
A+ – Justin Rose
A – Brendan Steele
A – J.B. Holmes
A – Jordan Spieth
A – Justin Thomas
A – Paul Casey
A – Robert Streb
B – Bubba Watson
B – Henrik Stenson
B – Hideki Matsuyama
B – Jim Furyk
B – Keegan Bradley
B – Rory McIlroy
C – Sergio Garcia
D – Webb Simpson
F – Zach Johnson (MC by a single stroke)
Eighteen of 19 made the cut (94.7%), over half returned “A” value or better with four returning “A+” value, sub-$7k value plays Streb and Steele finished T-10 and T-12 respectively, 14 of 19 (73.6%) finished T-30 or better, and I hit four of the top six and six of the top 11 finishers. There were touts on Twitter bragging about getting 75% of their plays through the cut… I had almost 75% of my plays finish top-30. I think I’ve sufficiently jinxed myself for next week. Moving on…
I want to point out Michael Riek made 22 selections with only one MC. That’s really nice work. And if that isn’t enough for you, he was one of the few experts to tout Branden Grace. Even better. He’s been making some really nice picks lately, you guys should definitely check his stuff out at rotowire.com.
Michael Riek – rotowire.com
A+ – Branden Grace
A+ – Brooks Koepka
A+ – Dustin Johnson
A+ – Jason Day
A – Jordan Spieth
A – Paul Casey
A – Robert Streb
B – Bubba Watson
B – Danny Lee
B – Henrik Stenson
B – Hideki Matsuyama
B – Jim Furyk
B – Keegan Bradley
B – Patrick Reed
B – Rickie Fowler
B – Rory McIlroy
C – Danny Willett
C – Francesco Molinari
C – Louis Oosthuizen
C – Scott Piercy
F – Shane Lowry
Those were the experts that stood out this week. You can find the rest of the results below.
Chris Durell – dailyfantasysportsrankings.com
A+ – Brooks Koepka
A – Jordan Spieth
A – Paul Casey
B – Bubba Watson
B – Henrik Stenson
C – Francesco Molinari
C – Jason Bohn
D – Jason Dufner
F – Adam Scott
F – Zach Johnson
Daniel Dobish – dailyroto.com
A – Robert Streb
B – Henrik Stenson
B – Hideki Matsuyama
B – Rory McIlroy
C – Jason Bohn
F – David Toms
Josh DeMaio – DraftKings Playbook
A+ – Jason Day
A+ – Justin Rose
A – Matt Kuchar
A – Paul Casey
A – Robert Streb
B – Henrik Stenson
B – Hideki Matsuyama
B – Jim Furyk
C – Danny Willett
C – Louis Oosthuizen
F – Adam Scott
F – Russell Knox
Zachary Thompson – fansided.com
A+ – Brooks Koepka
A+ – Dustin Johnson
A+ – Jason Day
A+ – Justin Rose
A+ – Tony Finau
A – Brendan Steele
A – David Lingmerth
A – Jordan Spieth
A – Martin Kaymer
A – Matt Kuchar
A – Paul Casey
A – Robert Streb
A – Russell Henley
B – Bubba Watson
B – Cameron Smith
B – Danny Lee
B – Henrik Stenson
B – Hideki Matsuyama
B – Jim Furyk
B – Patrick Reed
B – Rickie Fowler
B – Rory McIlroy
C – Danny Willett
C – Francesco Molinari
C – Jason Bohn
D – Bill Haas
D – Morgan Hoffmann
F – Graeme McDowell
F – Ian Poulter
F – Kevin Kisner
F – Marc Leishman
F – Pat Perez
F – Shane Lowry
F – Zach Johnson
Drew Phelps – fantasyalarm.com
A+ – Brooks Koepka
A+ – Jason Day
A+ – Justin Rose
A – Jordan Spieth
A – Robert Streb
B – Bubba Watson
B – Danny Lee
B – Henrik Stenson
B – Hideki Matsuyama
B – Patrick Reed
B – Rickie Fowler
B – Rory McIlroy
C – Danny Willett
D – Jason Dufner
F – Ryan Palmer
F – Shawn Stefani
F – Steven Bowditch
F – Zach Johnson
Seth Finkelstein – rotoballer.com
A+ – Jason Day
A+ – Justin Rose
A – Paul Casey
A – Robert Streb
B – Danny Lee
B – Henrik Stenson
B – Keegan Bradley
D – Jason Dufner
F – Camilo Villegas
F – Russell Knox
F – Steven Bowditch
F – Zach Johnson
Pat Mayo – rotoexperts.com
A+ – Branden Grace
A+ – Brooks Koepka
A+ – Dustin Johnson
A+ – Jason Day
A+ – Tony Finau
A – Justin Thomas
A – Matt Kuchar
A – Paul Casey
B – Boo Weekley
B – Bubba Watson
B – Charl Schwartzel
B – Henrik Stenson
B – Hideki Matsuyama
B – Patrick Reed
B – Rickie Fowler
B – Rory McIlroy
C – Emiliano Grillo
C – Jason Bohn
D – Charles Howell III
D – Jason Dufner
F – Adam Scott
F – Ben Martin
F – David Toms
F – Kevin Na
F – Steven Bowditch
stlcardinals84 – rotogrinders.com (Daily Fantasy Foursome)
A – Jordan Spieth
A – Robert Streb
B – Bubba Watson
F – Shane Lowry
thefantasygolf.com
A+ – Branden Grace
A+ – Brooks Koepka
A+ – Dustin Johnson
A+ – Jason Day
A+ – Justin Rose
A+ – Tony Finau
A – Jordan Spieth
A – Martin Kaymer
A – Matt Jones
A – Matt Kuchar
A – Paul Casey
A – Robert Streb
A – Russell Henley
B – Boo Weekley
B – Bubba Watson
B – Charl Schwartzel
B – Danny Lee
B – Henrik Stenson
B – Hideki Matsuyama
B – Jim Furyk
B – Kevin Chappell
B – Rickie Fowler
B – Rory McIlroy
B – Tyrrell Hatton
C – Emiliano Grillo
C – Jason Bohn
C – Louis Oosthuizen
C – Marc Warren
D – Bill Haas
F – Adam Scott
F – Brendon Todd
F – Camilo Villegas
F – David Toms
F – Pat Perez
F – Rory Sabbatini
F – Russell Knox
F – Ryan Palmer
F – Shane Lowry
F – Shawn Stefani
F – Soren Kjeldsen
F – Steve Bowditch
F – Zach Johnson
I’ll be back tomorrow with my picks for the Wyndham Championship. If you aren’t tuning in by now, you hate money.
oreo
