DraftKings Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: THE NORTHERN TRUST

Daily fantasy golf requires a new approach for each and every event.

The course and field change week after week, making no two contests alike. That means you need to refine your approach for each PGA Tour event to try to find golfers who are primed to excel for your daily fantasy golf lineups.

Each week, we have a course primer, and our daily fantasy golf projections and lineup builder can help you get started, but these golfers stand out specifically on DraftKings for THE NORTHERN TRUST.

Key Stats

Let's get to the picks. For details on why these stats stand out this week, check out the course primer.

Stats are from Fantasy National Golf Club and are for golfers in the field over the last 50 rounds.

High-Priced Studs

Justin Thomas (DraftKings Price: $11,300 | FanDuel Sportsbook Win Odds: +1400) - Thomas is among the best ballstrikers in the world and arguably the top iron player, ranking second in approach over the last 50 rounds and 17th off the tee. He is always sharp on approach and occasionally dominant with his driver, making him a perfect fit for TPC Boston. It's no surprise he won here in 2017, a three-stroke victory fueled largely by a blazing 63 on Saturday. In all, he made just two bogeys all week and cruised to victory just a few weeks after earning his major championship at Quail Hollow. As for recent form, his T37 at the PGA Championship followed a win at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, a T18 at the Memorial, and a runner-up at the Workday Charity Open.

Rory McIlroy ($10,800 | +1400) - Remember this guy? With the rise of Thomas and Jon Rahm ($10,000 | +1600) to world No. 1, a certain protein shake-chugging scientist, and the two-time champion we'll get to next, McIlroy seems like the odd man out. The reigning FedEx Cup Champion has stumbled out of the restart and violates our Very Recent Form guideline. He's made all five cuts post-COVID layoff but has just one finish better than 32nd (T11 at the Travelers Championship). We have to think Rory will figure it out, as he's driven the ball well but struggled in one area or the next each week. At a high price point and in meh form, a bounce-back at potentially low ownership makes this a great spot for McIlroy, who ranks 2nd in birdies or better gained, 3rd in strokes gained: off the tee, and 21st in strokes gained: approach.

Collin Morikawa ($10,200 | +2200) - Already entrenched among the very best players in the world, the newly-crowned major champion leads the field in strokes gained: approach. He also is unquestionably the hottest player on Tour, with two wins in his last four starts, including last time out at the PGA Championship. He is a force on par 5s, bombing approaches in from long distance and making the seven-foot eagle putt the hardest shot of the hole. He is 11th in strokes gained: off the tee, not quite the bomber as the other top players but consistently more accurate, and he's 13th in birdies or better gained.

Mid-Priced Options

Jason Day ($9,300 | +2500) - Day has returned to his form of old lately, with four straight top 10s including T4 last time out at the PGA. Historically, he's more of a threat with his short game than his iron play, but Day has been stellar of late, and while he ranks 73rd in strokes gained: approach over the last 50 rounds, he ranks 5th in the near sample of just the last 12 rounds. He's played well at TPC Boston, with 8 finishes of T25 or better in 11 trips.

Tony Finau ($8,800 | +3000) - Finau ranks 7th in birdies or better gained, 18th in strokes gained: approach, and 21st in strokes gained: off the tee. Those stats hide an atrocious effort at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, where he lost a whopping 7.5 strokes via approach, one of the worst rounds of his career. He gained 9.7 strokes via approaches at the 3M Open and 7.6 at the PGA in the two events before and after the WGC, so his rank is a bit suppressed from his actual form. That event was his only finish outside the top 10 in his past four tournaments.

Hideki Matsuyama ($8,600 | +4000) - Matsuyama finished T57 in his first trip to TPC Boston in 2014 but was inside the top 25 in all four starts since, including T4 in the final Dell Technologies Championship in 2018. His finishes coming out of the layoff have been MC, T21, T22, MC, T20, T22, noticeably lacking the top 10 upside he has always exhibited and even showed in the fall and winter events. We are long overdue for a spike finish for Matsuyama, who ranks 4th in strokes gained: approach and 14th in birdies or better gained.

Viktor Hovland ($8,200 | +6000) - The young Norwegian has been left in the dust by Morikawa, but Hovland is still a big-time prospect in the sport and should have a long and decorated career on Tour. His ballstriking profile lacks Morikawa's apex, but he is still on the high end compared to the rest of the PGA Tour. In a field with basically every top player, he is 8th in approach and 9th off the tee. After a great start post-layoff with five straight top 25s, he's cooled a bit, but he's still made every cut since the restart.

Low-Priced Options

Billy Horschel ($7,900 | +5000) - Horschel folded down the stretch at the Wyndham Championship, but he can set his sights a bit higher this week in a perfect bounce-back spot. He still shot 65 on Sunday and was outdone only by a 61-63 weekend from eventual winner Jim Herman. Horschel won the 2014 FedEx Cup and finished runner up at TPC Boston that year, though, notably, it was an outlier finish and his only one better than 70th in five tries. He has been scoring well recently, ranking eighth in birdies or better gained, and is getting it done largely with a combination of effective driving and putting. If we aren't going to be getting top tier iron play, Horschel's the type of player we want. His recent form, even before Wyndham, was rock solid, with the runner-up giving him top 25s in four of his last five events.

Gary Woodland ($7,800 | +6500) - In seven tries at TPC Boston, Woodland made every cut and finished inside the top 30 all but once. Since then, he's added a major championship to his resume, but after T5 and T22 finishes back to back at Muirfield, the books are giving Gary no respect this week. Finishes of T57 and T58 at the WGC and PGA, respectively, obviously weigh him down, but Woodland is a totally solid 17th on approach and 22nd in birdies or better gained. The driver has failed him lately, but he offers some safety and upside at a very low price.

Cameron Champ ($7,600 | +7000) - Once heralded as a phenom on the brink, Champ has been an afterthought after Morikawa, Hovland, and others have shined, but Champ is a two-time winner on Tour and has one skill that translates almost every week and especially this one -- his driver. He has generally feasted on weaker fields and soft conditions, but T25 in Memphis, followed by his first top 10 at a major championship, put Champ back on the map in a big way. He is 2nd in strokes gained: off the tee and 16th in birdies or better gained.

Doc Redman ($7,400 | +13000) - Redman followed up a T29 at the PGA Championship by contending at the Wyndham Championship right up to the end. He finished in a tie for third place, gaining 5.0 strokes off the tee and 4.2 on approach. That type of ballstriking display will lend itself well again this week, and over a larger sample, he still distinguishes himself with his iron play. He is 15th in strokes gained: approach but just OK in strokes gained: off the tee (39th) and birdies or better gained (44th).

Bargain Basement

Corey Conners ($6,900 | +15000) - Conners has managed to miss the cut in each of his last two events despite gaining both off the tee and on approach in both. That's the kind of putting we've come to expect from this Canadian. He earned a spot in last year's Playoffs thanks to his win as a Monday qualifier at the Valero Texas Open, and that experience should serve him well.

Kevin Na ($6,800 | +25000) - With three wins in the last two years, Na is getting some major disrespect from the books this week. When he's on and the irons get hot, he can storm just about any leaderboard given how well he converts inside of 15 feet. He missed the cut last time out at the PGA and was T35 at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, but he was ninth in a loaded field at the Memorial and fifth in New England at the Travelers Championship before that.

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.