Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: WGC-HSBC Champions

By now, you've probably dabbled in daily fantasy sports, but if not, don't worry. Now is a great time to start, especially with FanDuel's daily fantasy golf offering.

Golf can be one of the most exciting DFS sports to follow, as tournaments span four days and allow ample time to prepare each week. It's a great balance between time to research and time spent tracking your team.

But whether you're brand new to the PGA or daily fantasy sports in general, we have you covered -- and we have daily fantasy golf projections and lineup building tools, too.

Let's take a look at some golfers to target this week.

Key Stats

Even though Xander Schauffele sprayed it all over last year (dead last in fairways hit and below average in greens in regulation), Sheshan has penalizing rough and tons of bunkers. Driving accuracy should matter unless the golfer in question can absolutely nuke it off the tee, like Schauffele can. Unfortunately, we don't even have driving distance data from these events.

The greens in regulation leaderboard from last year serves as a solid proxy for the actual leaderboard, though Schauffele, Tony Finau (playoff runner-up), and Justin Rose (third) were all bottom-12. Outside of those three, greens in regulation mattered a lot.

The par 72 lends itself to the par 5 angle: four of the top five scorers on the par 5s last year (Finau, Schauffele, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, and Andrew Putnam) finished the event inside the top four.

For a more detailed breakdown on the course, check out our course primer from Mike Rodden.

Stats cited below come from FantasyNational and include the past 50 rounds on the PGA Tour unless noted. Ranks are among the field.

Best of the Best

Rory McIlroy (FanDuel Price: $12,400 | Golf odds Win Odds: +600) - McIlroy has a 9.9% chance to win, according to my win simulations, and he's just a massive favorite here this week. His price reflects that. McIlroy ranks fourth in strokes gained approach and leads the field in strokes gained: off the tee, opportunities gained, and birdie or better rate gained, and he's second in distance and par 5 scoring. He's a lock in cash games and a hard tournament fade. We can differentiate other ways.

Xander Schauffele ($11,300 | +1400) - Last year's WGC-HSBC winner, Schauffele is coming off a 10th at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP and has the stats to contend here again: he's top 15 in all three strokes gained: tee to green stats and is 13th in strokes gained on par 5s.

Paul Casey ($11,100 | +2200) - Casey ranks 17th in fairways gained and is 2nd in opportunities gained over the past 50 rounds. Casey has stellar course form at Sheshan, including three straight top-16 finishes.

Adam Scott ($10,600 | +2700) - Scott's salary keeps him firmly in play here. He is 24th in strokes gained: off the tee but second in strokes gained: approach and strokes gained: around the green. Scott has played here five straight years and finished 33rd at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP last week.

Mid-Range Options

Byeong-Hun An ($10,000 | +3100) - An is on a heater right now, and we should pay attention. He has finished sixth and eighth in the Asian swing so far, gaining at least 8.0 adjusted strokes in each relative to the field. An is the field's best around-the-green player and is 15th in approach.

Tyrrell Hatton ($9,500 | +3400) - Hatton has finished top-20 in three straight events: 15th at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, 18th at the Italian Open, and 6th at the CJ CUP. Additionally, Hatton also has encouraging form at Sheshan, finishing 54th in 2016, followed by 23rd, 11th, and 22nd. Hatton grades out solid across the board but doesn't stand out anywhere aside from greens in regulation gained (sixth).

Corey Conners ($9,300 | +4200) - Conners has the distance and accuracy to pick apart this course and dominate on the par 5s. Conners leads the field in greens in regulation gained and is third in opportunities gained. He has not played here before but has finished top-12 in each of the past two events in Asia.

Sergio Garcia ($9,100 | +5000) - Garcia grades out well across the board and has finished top-11 here in three of four tries but hasn't played Sheshan for two years. There's a lot of value in this range. Garcia has a win and two more top-10s in his past five events.

Low-Priced Picks

Ian Poulter ($9,000 | +5500) - Poulter did win this event in 2012, but that was not held at this course (it was Mission Hills). The course history is still promising, though: Poulter has finished 2nd, 6th, 30th, and 21st at this course over his past four tries. Of note, he didn’t play here in 2017 or 2018 but went 69-71-74-74 last year. Poulter generally does well to hit fairways and get greens in regulation, though he had a lengthy struggle over the summer before seemingly finding his form again

Louis Oosthuizen ($8,900 | +5000) - Oosthuizen has played the weekend in 14 straight events and has an all-around profile that can keep him in contention in any week. He's been really good overall in 2019 and ranks seventh in win odds in the field, per my simulations.

Erik Van Rooyen ($8,700 | +5000) - Van Rooyen is a plus ball-striker who scores well on par 5s and can pick up distance and accuracy on the field -- the perfect type of archetype we should be seeking for value plays this week. In his past 11 events, he has missed two cuts but has finished top-20 in every other event, including a win at the Scandinavian Invitation.

J.T. Poston ($7,900 | +12000) - Poston has a recent win back in August at the Wyndham. Since then, he was 59th at the Northern Trust and 16th at the BMW Championship. He started the swing season with an 11th at the Sanderson Farms and a missed cut at the Shriners. Last week, he finished 27th at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. Poston ranks top-35 in all four tee-to-green stats over the past fifty rounds, as well, and is 14th in fairways gained.