Daily Fantasy Golf Course Primer: Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship
The PGA Tour pendulum swings the other direction this week, as a slightly less loaded field than last week's U.S. Open heads to the Dominican Republic for the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.
Previously a Korn Ferry Tour event, Corales joined the primary Tour as an alternate event opposite the WGC Match Play and gets yet another shift this season with the adjusted schedule. The par 72 has a listed yardage of 7,666 yards but can play in a pretty wide range given variety on the tee and wind direction. The course is pretty wide open, and we can expect to see the driver in hand the majority of the time this week. Hey, that worked at Winged Foot so why not here?
The course is bordered by water and trees, though the Bay of Corales only really forces the issue on the 18th. The final hole requires a carry that can make things very interesting coming down the stretch.
The island life is the life for me! Conditions look beautiful this week, though the coastal winds can be unpredictable and will certainly have a say.
Let's dig into the course and see what stats we can use to build our daily fantasy lineups this week.
Course and Tournament Info
Course: Corales Puntacana Resort & Club
Par: 72
Distance: 7,666 yards
Fairways/Rough: Paspalum
Greens: Paspalum
Fairways and greens for everyone! Befitting a Korn Ferry (then the Web.com) Tour event, Corales allows for some leniency off the tee and easy-to-hit greens. Driving accuracy for the field is expected to top 70%, and greens in regulation should be in the 65-66% area at least.
Paspalum makes it easy to find a match, with the fellow alternate field at Coco Beach Golf & CC (Puerto Rico Open) and El Camaleon GC in Mexico (Mayakoba Golf Classic) the only other courses on Tour with this grass type. Each also has high fairways and greens percentages for weak fields.
Key Stats
These stats will be key to success in the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.
Key Stats for the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship |
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Strokes Gained: Off the Tee |
Strokes Gained: Approach |
Opportunities Gained |
Birdies or Better Gained |
Strokes Gained: Par 5s |
Ballstriking and scoring is the way to go this week. We don't have too much data given the relatively short period of time the course has been in PGA rotation, but in a nutshell, we want to keep it simple. Opportunities gained are greens or fringes in regulation inside of 15 feet, and when the field is hitting the green at an above-average clip we need to dig a little deeper to see not just who is on the green but where they are likely to find themselves.
Birdies or better and strokes gained on par 5s typically go hand in hand, especially at a track mixed with fringe PGA/Korn Ferry statuses eager to earn their place on Tour. We can expect aggression and lots of fireworks.
Course History Studs
Brice Garnett and Graeme McDowell are your two prior champions, though neither put up much of a result in their other visit. Kelly Kraft posted back to back top-five finishes with a third in 2018 and a tie for fifth in 2019.
George McNeill, Denny McCarthy, and Matt Jones are the only three golfers to post top 30s in both editions, with McNeill leading the way finishing T13 in 2018 and T7 in 2019.
Mike Rodden is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Mike Rodden also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mike_rodden. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.