Daily Fantasy Golf Course Primer: Bermuda Championship

For the first time since the 2019-20 season was put on hold after the first round of the PLAYERS over seven months ago, fans will be in attendance for a PGA Tour event this week in Southampton, Bermuda. This will be the PGA Tour's second trip to the island for an official stroke play event, with last year's inaugural edition played opposite the WGC event in China. A full allotment of FedEx Cup points will be awarded this week, but with the Masters looming, most of the big names in the sport will regroup after a few no-cut events out West.

That vacuum of top-end talent will make for some interesting decisions on daily fantasy sites and in the betting market this week, as speculators grapple with eye-popping numbers on some undeserving candidates. Knowing the field will be more important than knowing the course this week, with just one year of results and no official ShotLink data to break down how the top golfers gained against their opponents.

Last year, Brendon Todd pulled off an improbable victory while ranked outside the top 500 in the Official World Golf Ranking and followed it up with the impossible by winning again the following week at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. His season lasted all the way to the TOUR Championship, an unbelievable comeback year that included 10 more top-25 finishes and just 3 missed cuts. He's the only man in the field to have played THE CJ CUP and ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, but certainly, we can understand his desire to defend his title where the magical season really took off. He arrives as the 41st-ranked golfer in the world.

Some rain early in the week should keep this course relatively soft, with a storm moving in over the weekend preceded by strong winds on Friday afternoon. Our first look this week should be to build around golfers who can avoid the worst of it and have a Friday AM tee time.

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: Port Royal Golf Course
Par: 71
Distance: 6,828 yards
Fairways/Rough: Bermudagrass
Greens: Bermudagrass

Todd won by four strokes at 24-under par, with a 63 on Friday and a 62 on Sunday. It was not so easy for everyone, as the cutline was just 2-under par heading into the weekend. What we know about Todd's game since then is that he won't win any distance contests, but he will live in the fairway. It's an easy game when you putt for birdie every week, and with just three par 4s longer than 412 yards, you don't need to be a bomber to have a wedge in your hand on most holes. Longer hitters may opt to go for the green off the tee here, opening up lots of variance for the field as a whole.

We can't ignore Todd's double-dip at El Camaleon GC, and recent history in Mexico shows a successful track record for shorter, straighter hitters. It must be said that the Mayakoba Golf Classic does not exactly attract the strongest field, and for better or worse, many of the longest hitters are at the top of the sport. Bombers have had some success at both courses, with Scottie Scheffler finishing T3 in Bermuda last year and Cameron Champ and Luke List with top 10s at El Camaleon. We'll also look for crossover at Coco Beach Golf Club (Puerto Rico Open), another island course with an alternate field.

Key Stats

These stats will be key to success in the Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course.

Strokes gained: approach, combined with proximity stats from short distance, should help us get to the top wedge players in the field. We don't want to forget about the long approaches with three of the four par 3s measuring over 200 yards and three par 5s to attack for eagle opportunities, but we can expect most of the field to have a wedge in hand frequently this week and want to make that a focus point. Isolate strokes gained: approach first, as golfers with good long iron games are going to pop on approach stats anyway.

With the winner and runner up cracking 20-under par last year, we can expect plenty of fireworks, unless the wind gets out of control. Wet conditions mean soft greens are more receptive to approaches and will roll slower than average PGA Tour greens.

Covered above but worth highlighting again -- the par 4s here measure the following yardages (in order of hole number, so first hole first) -- 438, 458, 380, 370, 383, 350, 443, 383, 393, 412, and 410. You could be forgiven for mistaking this lineup for drives by Bryson DeChambeau.

Course History Studs

Todd defends his title this week, joined by 13 others that finished T15 or better last year. Notable high finishers tied with Scheffler (not in the field) in a tie for third were Brian Gay, Hank Lebioda, and Aaron Wise.

From 2009-2014, Port Royal hosted the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, a since-canceled exhibition between the four major championship winners (or alternates). Just three golfers in the field this week competed in these contests -- Stewart Cink played in 2009, Padraig Harrington won in 2012 and also participated in 2013 alongside Jason Dufner.

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.