DraftKings Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: Valero Texas Open

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 Valero Texas Open

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-Salaried Studs

Tony Finau (DraftKings Salary $11,000 | FanDuel Sportsbook Win Odds +1300) - Finau leads the board on DraftKings after the Monday withdrawal of Dustin Johnson, who it would seem hate-entered this event after his disappointing Match Play performance ended with an awkward spat with Kevin Na over a par putt that Na did not concede to DJ. Finau is 2nd in strokes gained par 5s and birdies or better gained, 14th in strokes gained: approach, 17th in opportunities gained, and 23rd in scrambling gained. He's 26th in the combined proximity stats, a ranking buoyed by his 5th in the 200-plus bucket. Finau is slumping with a missed cut at THE PLAYERS and an elimination in group play at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, but he is arguably the most talented player in this field and has a third-place finish here in 2017.

Jordan Spieth ($10,700 | +1100) - Mine eyes deceive me! That's Jordo leading the way in the betting market as the 53rd-ranked player in the world, a sign of respect not just for his resume but also his recent form. He escaped group play to lose his Round of 16 matchup and was T48 at THE PLAYERS his last two times out, but prior to that, he had three top 5s in four events, and in addition to his always-steady short game he's been getting it done via ballstriking. In the 50 round sample, he ranks 18th in all three of strokes gained: approach, birdies or better gained, and strokes gained: par 5s. But if we narrow the range to just the last 24 rounds, those ranks are 5th, 4th, and 5th. Spieth is rounding into form just in time for Augusta, but first, the former Texas Longhorn will get a crack at a soft field in his home state.

Corey Conners ($9,500 | +2100) - Two years ago, Conners was on our radar for his ballstriking prowess but had rarely demonstrated the consistency needed to contend on the PGA Tour. He Monday-qualified into the Valero and the rest is history. In an awesome display, he gained 11.6 strokes with his approaches. With just three top 10s to his name at that point, Conners turned the corner and has never looked back. He (finally) arrives back at TPC San Antonio to defend his title in terrific form, with five top 10s in his last 10 events, including 3rd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and 7th at THE PLAYERS in his last two stroke-play events. He ranks 2nd in strokes gained: approach and opportunities gained, 4th in strokes gained: par 5s, 16th in scrambling gained, and 23rd in the proximity combo.

Mid-Salaried Options

Cameron Tringale ($9,300 | +3300) - Tringale is a stable ballstriker who has been solid for basically an entire year. After missing the cut in two of his first three events out of the layoff, he's made the weekend in 13 of 16 events with 7 top-20 finishes. Most recently, he was T13 at the Honda, MC at THE PLAYERS, 31st at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 26th at the Genesis Invitational, 7th at the AT&T Pro-Am, 17th at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, and 18th at the Farmers Insurance Open. Those are some big boy events and Tringale is more than holding his own, and over the last 50, he ranks 5th in strokes gained: par 5s, 6th in birdies or better gained,13th in strokes gained: approach, 14th in scrambling gained, and 28th in opportunities gained.

Cameron Davis ($8,800 | +4700) - Davis bounced back from consecutive missed cuts to finish T33 at the Honda Classic, gaining 4.5 strokes with approaches. Prior to the two MCs, he had missed just one in his prior 13 events, and that type of long term consistency gives him a high floor this week despite a missed cut in his only trip to this event (2019). He is first in our proximity mini-model, ranking 7th in the 175-200 yard bucket and 5th from the 200-plus range. He's also 5th in opportunities gained, 12th in strokes gained: par 5s, and 17th in strokes gained: approach.

Keegan Bradley ($8,400 | +4700) - This is the type of event Bradley is made for, with the heavy emphasis on iron play and a field short on top-tier talent. His record here is fine but undeniably Keegan-esque, with a T9 in 2011 where he actually lost strokes on approaches and a T45 in 2018 where he gained 6.7 on approaches and lost 5.0 on the greens. The recent form is solid with top 30s in three of his last four, including T10 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He's had a positive figure in strokes gained: approach in every measured event since last summer's PGA Championship, a span of 15 events. Not surprisingly, he leads this field in that stat, is 2nd in strokes gained: par 5s, and 7th in opportunities gained. He's also 5th in proximity gained from 175 yards and beyond, with splits off 22nd from 175-200 yards and 4th from 200-plus.

Sam Burns ($8,000 | +4700) - Burns is more known for his driving and putting, but the iron play has been quite good over his recent stretch, and with Johnson's withdrawal, he actually leads the field in opportunities gained. He's also 3rd in birdies or better gained, 14th in strokes gained: par 5s, and 15th in strokes gained: approach. He's ready to get back after it in a weaker field after consecutive missed cuts at Bay Hill and TPC Sawgrass.

Low-Salaried Options

Danny Willett ($7,700 | +8000) - Willett popped up with an eighth-place finish at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship last week, and with Augusta looming on the horizon, his name is hard to keep out of our head. It's been a light year so far for Willett, with just two events since early February producing a T31 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational his only finish before Puntacana in that span. He can be streaky, and another solid finish heading to The Masters would make him an interesting name again next week.

Sebastian Munoz ($7,600 | +8000) - Munoz is solid across the board this week, ranking 16th in the proximity combo, 19th on par 5s, 32nd in scrambling gained, and 38th in strokes gained: approach. He's done his best work in weaker fields in the fall, and with Finau the only top 20 player in the field, this event has that type of feel.

Sepp Straka ($7,300 | +8500) - Straka was 9th at Corales last week, and while he's playing his fifth straight week, we still like the occasionally elite iron play at this salary. Straka can lead the field in approach in any given round, a hot and cold player who's yet to put together a full tournament's worth of his best. The closest he's come has been at two Texas courses, with top fives at the GC of Houston in 2019 and Memorial Park in fall 2020. He's 3rd in proximity gained from 175 yards and beyond, 6th from 175-200, and 11th from 200-plus.

Doug Ghim ($7,300 | +9500) - Ghim gained valuable experience playing along Justin Thomas in the final round of THE PLAYERS, and while his T29 was disappointing in the moment, he'd surely have taken that result were it offered Wednesday evening. He's gained strokes via approaches in every event since a dud at the Sony Open, and he's had two dreadful putting performances his past two times out that should regress to his mean performance.

Kyoung-Hoon Lee ($7,200 | +11000) - Lee was T14 at this event two years ago, a decent-enough debut that came in the midst of one of his most consistent stretches of PGA Tour results. When we try to pinpoint a salary range that will have a few chalky golfers, Lee is the type of golfer we want to pivot to. With potentially popular options above him in Straka and Ghim, and below him in Harry Higgs ($7,100 | +9500) and Matthew NeSmith ($7,100 | +9500), Lee is in a sweet spot that can offer some differentiation in our DraftKings lineups with some upside, like he showed with a T2 in Phoenix earlier this year.

Bargain Basement

Doc Redman ($6,600 | +19000) - A poor stretch of results will get most off Redman this week, but with a step down in strength of field he'll have an opportunity to get back to where he was in the summer and fall, when he posted top-five finishes at the Wyndham Championship, Safeway Open, and Bermuda Championship. Iron play is his strength, and even in the missed cuts recently, he's gained in three of his last five events.

Bronson Burgoon ($6,500 | +25000) - Burgoon popped up in a few late summer events two years ago, when the class of field drops off and guys with ballstriking talent can rise above the field. With made cuts in six straight events, Burgoon is in fine enough form but without any spike finishes. We'll draw from a T13 the last time the Houston Open was held at GC of Houston for some comfort that he can put up a top 20 finish and pay off his low salary with leverage on the field.

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.