DraftKings Picks for The Palmetto Championship 2021
One more week before the US Open but first we get a little tuneup in the form of another new venue for the 2021 PGA Tour season. Originally scheduled to be the week of the RBC Canadian Open (sad face for me), the tour will return to South Carolina for the Palmetto Championship at Congaree Golf Club. Let’s get you set to see some green screens on DraftKings this weekend.
What's up golf addicts! AC here, checking in week to week to provide a quick preview of the upcoming PGA Tour event. I’ll give you the lowdown on the course, the players, some key stats, and our favorite DraftKings picks for the week.
We won’t get into the drama from last week. It was unfortunate for the tour and Jon Rahm. Covid-19 sucks and Patrick Cantlay was able to take advantage to claim his second Memorial Tournament title at Jack’s Place in three years.
The week before a major is typically a weird week anyway but the start of this week, the week before the US Open, features ‘Golf’s longest day’. A day in which host venues all across the US hold US Open Qualifiers in which thousands of aspiring and current golf professionals attempt to secure their last shot into the major championship. This is one of the weeks where a player withdrawing is very common as players who committed to playing the PGA Tour event of the week WD after qualifying.
As it stands, we do have world #1 Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka headlining the field over $11k on DraftKings. Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton, Sungjae Im, and well after that it gets dicey. Regardless, it is golf, it is a full event, and FedEx Cup points, jobs, and a lot of money is still up for grabs.
Congaree Golf Club Course Breakdown
Our very own Pat Perry has boots on the ground this week and is already filling up his very own channel in the Nut Hut full of pics, tips, and thoughts. As for the course itself, the over 7,600 yard par 71 was designed by Tom Fazio in 2017. The course mirrors bits of other Fazio designs including Shadow Creek and Pinhurst #2. Generally playing as a par 72, the tour dropped a par 5 making #8 a 540 yard par 4. 540 yards!
Though the reported fast and firm conditions will have the course playing shorter than the yardage would have you believe, there are still three par 4s over 500 yards, a bunch between 450-500 and three par 5s nearing and over 600 yards. Much like Kiawah, there are no bunkers on the course or even rough for that matter. The fairways are wide but missing them will have you in some waste area sand or some shit you’d rather not be in. Tee to green the course features Bermudagrass with Champion bermudagrass on the putting surfaces and TifGrand bermuda in the fairways.
With any new course it is difficult to narrow down what stats will correlate best to DraftKings scoring but you can never go wrong with ball strikers. Especially those that do decently okay or better on bermudagrass greens. Length should still be a weapon off the tee but they can’t be prone to spraying it everywhere. There should be a lot of long iron shots into the greens so 200+ proximity could be helpful and Fantasy National’s opps gained stat will shed some light on who’s putting it close. Par 5 scoring will be key, check out who’s doing well on long par 4s, and having a look at who shows up at weak field events should be a recipe for contention this week.
Weatherwise, the first two days seem tame but the weekend is up in the air. Chance of rain, thunder, wind, and who knows may make things more interesting. Weather links and predictions are up in the Nut Hut.
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The Picks & Fades
Each week I will give you my plays and a fade from each DraftKings salary range.
$9k+:
DB: Play - Matthew Fitzpatrick | Fade - Harris English
Pat: Play - Tyrrell Hatton | Fade - Dustin Johnson
AC: Play - Brooks Koepka, Sungjae Im, Patton Kizzire | Fade - Ian Poulter
This field is whack. Most of the 9ks haven’t even been over 8k this season but here we are. Brooksy is my guy and we get him back on bermuda where his putter should be able to get hot. The rest of him is always fire. I was on Singjae a lot last year and to start the year but had to hop off when the irons went stale. They seem to becoming back and guess what Sungjae, so am I! Bogey avoidance is great, good drives is 1st in the field, and he is also 1st in 450-500 yard par 4 scoring. It is super weird to see Kizzire at $9,100 but in the last three months he is 1st in opps gained, 6th in greens in regulation, and 2nd in putting. It is also weird to see Poulter in the $9k. He is 92nd in my model.
$8k:
DB: Play - Harold Varner III | Fade - CT Pan
Pat: Play - Alex Noren | Fade - Scott Stallings
AC: Play - Keith Mitchell, Lucas Glover | Fade - Kevin Kisner
Driver in hand. Check. Bermudagrass. Check. Par 4 scoring. Check. Killa Keith. Check. I don’t remember the last time I played Glover and I don’t have a pulse on how him and his wife are getting along but I have been ignoring his rank in my model for the last few weeks. Well he is now #1 in the model so Glover it is. The length might not be a huge advantage but it’s hard to tell where Kiz’ head is at but the stats say he is 99th in ball striking, even worse tee to green, and 114th in DK scoring over the last three months.
$7k:
DB: Play - Vincent Whaley | Fade - Erik Van Rooyen
Pat: Play - Rafa Cabrera Bello | Fade - Luke List
AC: Play - Luke List, Ben Martin, Adam Schenk | Fade - Patrick Rodgers
Congaree course record holder and brand new daddy, Luke List, finds himself in this article quite a bit. Over the last three months he is 1st in ball striking, tee to green, and 2nd in the two par 4 buckets this week. Ben Martin ranked 2nd in my model this week. 3rd and 7th in ball striking and tee to green respectively, 2nd in bogey avoidance and 4th in good drives have me very interested. Schenk is another low priced guy to crack my top 10. Schenk came into the week 4th in opps gained 19th in greens in regulation and 12th in good drives gained. There are obviously a bunch of guys with no stats this week but Rodgers ranks 151st in my model. Nope.
$6k:
DB: Play - Hank Lebioda, Robby Shelton, JJ Spaun
Pat: Play - John Pak, Tyler McCumber,
AC: Play - John Huh, Will Gordon, Johnson Wagner
The form isn’t great but Huh has two starts left on a major medical exemption and needs 88 points. He might have been gambling on this being a weak field but he also might like his chances with the course. Will “Taco Supreme” Gordon… I’m going to take my Imodium this week and the taco is going to go down so smoothly. Might be pulling my johnson a bit but Wagner has made two cuts in a row and is a great putter. Bermuda is also his best surface. The bogey avoidance and DK scoring is also pretty good.
THE INS & OUTS
OUT: Peter Malnati, Sung Kang, Nate Lashley, Daniel Chopra, Danny Willett, Branden Grace
IN: Brendon de Jonge, Mark Hensby, Ted Purdy, Omar Uresti, Carl Petterson
The field is set at 156 with a T65 cut line.