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 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.
Key Stats
Key Stats for The Masters at Augusta National GC |
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Driving Distance |
Strokes Gained: Approach |
Birdies or Better Gained |
Strokes Gained: Par 5s |
Course History at Augusta National |
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-Salaried Studs
Bryson DeChambeau (DraftKings Salary: $11,200 | FanDuel Sportsbook Win Odds: +800) - The odds here are a little crazy considering how strong the top of this field is, but it's a testament to DeChambeau's tremendous progress that he headlines the market this week. He won the U.S. Open by a substantial margin, out-bombing the competition at Winged Foot to finish as the only man under par at six-under.
The narrow fairways and thick rough which gave Bryson the edge as most of the field hit it into the thick stuff and he just happened to be closer to the hole by virtue of having hit it further. He'll face the other side of the coin at Augusta, where only pine straw awaits errant drives, and being closer to the hole will open up more birdie opportunities at far less risk. His best Masters finish was a T21 as the low amateur in 2016, but DeChambeau is a completely different golfer now and his distance is a huge advantage.
Jon Rahm ($10,500 | +1000) - Plenty long with actually a good record here is Rahm, who ranked 22nd on Tour in driving distance last season and has back-to-back top 10s in the past two Masters. We included Torrey Pines and Muirfield Village GC as comparable courses earlier this week, and Rahm has victories at both. The most recent form is solid too, with a runner up at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP his last time out. He ranks 2nd on par 5s, 12th in birdies or better gained, and 20th in strokes gained: approach.
Dustin Johnson ($10,000 | +900) - Johnson was missing in action due to a positive COVID-19 result when the DraftKings salaries were posted, but a runner up at the Houston Open last week shows us that DJ picked right up where he left off and makes him an immediate value at the flat $10k cost. He is third in strokes gained: approach, third in birdies or better gained, and seventh on par 5s. He's been one of the longest drivers on Tour for a decade and has three top 10s in his last three trips to Augusta National. DJ is the top player in the world right now in what may be the deepest, most competitive era in PGA Tour history. He'll do just fine this week.
Mid-Salaried Options
Tyrrell Hatton ($9,400 | +3000) - The course history leaves a lot to be desired, with just a missed cut, T44, and T56 from 2017-2019. But Hatton is on an entirely different level right now, a top-10 golfer in the world with three wins in the past year and top 10s in four of his last six worldwide events. He ranks second in birdies or better gained, fifth in strokes gained: approach, and ninth in strokes gained on par 5s.
Tony Finau ($8,800 | +3200) - Finau wears the (mostly fair) collar around his neck that he can't quite get over the hump and win even if he is consistently considered among the top players in the world. His record at the absolute highest level is stellar, as he has 6 top-10 finishes in the last 10 major championships. Augusta specifically suits his game well to get the monkey off his back, and he's made the most of his first two trips with finishes a T10 in 2018 (on a busted ankle no less) and a T5 in 2019.
Finau ranks 3rd on par 5s, 6th in driving distance, 7th in birdies or better gained, and 14th in strokes gained: approach. The recent form is excellent, with 8 top 25s in his last 10 events, including 5 top 10s in that span.
Hideki Matsuyama ($8,700 | +2500) - Like Finau, Matsuyama is not exactly known for his closing abilities and is a much stronger play on DraftKings than an outright bet this week. It's been over three years since Matsuyama last won on Tour, but he has still been among the most consistent golfers in the world since then. That win came at Firestone CC, one of our key comparison courses to Augusta National. Tiger Woods ($9,100 | +4000) won eight times at Firestone and five at Augusta, and even though Tiger won everywhere he has a special affection for both courses.
Masters champions Adam Scott ($8,900 | +5000) and Vijay Singh ($6,000 | +100000, don't play him!) also won at Firestone. Matsuyama joins Johnson and Rory McIlroy ($10,200 | +1400) as Firestone winners who have played well at Augusta without a victory. Matsuyama has four top 20s and just one missed cut in eight trips to Augusta.
Matthew Wolff ($8,500 | +4000) - Wolff checks the distance box as driving the ball is his signature skill, but the iron play and scoring have been excellent since the restart. He is fifth in driving distance, seventh in strokes gained: approach, and eighth in birdies or better gained. Wolff won in just his fourth PGA start but mostly struggled for the better part of the following year. Who can say how his inclusion in the TaylorMade Driving Relief charity event during the pause in play helped his confidence, but Wolff has been a different guy and every bit the peer of the rest of his foursome. With top-fives in his first two major championship appearances, Wolff has quickly put himself back in the conversation for the best young talent in the sport.
Low-Priced Options
Louis Oosthuizen ($7,900 | +6500) - Oosthuizen's record at Augusta is solid, and in another life, he may have a handful of major championships on his resume. He's finished as the runner-up at all four, and most recently was seen T3 at Winged Foot, T33 at Harding Park, T20 at Royal Portrush, and T7 at Pebble Beach. He's played a lot more events in the U.S. this year and has not missed a cut since the second event of the post-COVID restart. He's more consistent than he gets credit for, especially in the strongest fields.
Scottie Scheffler ($7,800 | +6000) - No doubt any mention of either Scheffler or Wolff will follow that no debutante has won at Augusta in quite some time, but at these prices, we can fit plenty of other stabs at the winner and fill out our lineup with a strong finisher. Jordan Spieth ($8,200 | +7000) was runner up his first time at Augusta, and as mentioned above Finau was 10th. Rahm (T27) and DeChambeau (T21) acquitted themselves fine in their debuts. Consider also the differences between this year and any other -- no fans and, you know, the whole global pandemic thing -- and the field is leveled a bit when it comes to "first times." Scheffler is 11th in birdies or better gained, 14th in driving distance, and 16th on par 5s.
Matthew Fitzpatrick ($7,600 | +7000) - Fitz gets a boost this week if it seems like the course will play difficult. Certainly, the weather will play a factor with storms in the forecast, and Fitz would be an option especially if it seems particularly nasty. His best PGA finishes the past year have come in the hardest scoring conditions, including the BMW Championship (T6), the Memorial (T3), and the Arnold Palmer Invitational (T9).
If the wet conditions slow the course down and extend the bombers' advantage, Fitz could get left behind. But if the winning score ends up in single digits under par as it did in 2014, 2016, and 2017, he could well be in the mix.
Cameron Champ ($7,100 | +6500) - The other side of that coin is Champ, who would be the long man on Tour but for DeChambeau's transformation. He notched his best major championship finish with a T10 at Harding Park, and his missed cut at the U.S. Open can be largely attributed to 5.6 strokes dropped with the putter. Most recently he was T8 at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP and putt poorly enough to spoil 6.4 strokes gained via his approaches at THE CJ CUP en route to a T42. Champ is going to do what he does with the driver, and at this price, he has a high upside if either his irons or putter cooperate.
Bargain Basement
Erik Van Rooyen ($6,900 | +15000) - EVR has a decent record at majors for the price, with four top 25s in six major championship appearances. A T8 at the 2019 PGA Championship is his high mark. He ranks 18th in strokes gained: approach, 19th in birdies or better gained, and 27th on par 5s.
Marc Leishman ($6,900 | +20000) - Leishman has been a disaster since the COVID restart, quite possibly unable to mentally get right. Though it may seem like a decade ago, in January he won the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, one of our comp courses this week. He was in the mix at Augusta in 2018.
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.