DraftKings Picks for The TOUR Championship 2021
The Field and Tournament Details for The TOUR Championship
The 2020-21 PGA Tour season concludes this week with the Tour Championship at East Lake and there is a new FedEx Cup leader heading into the final event after Patrick Cantlay defeated Bryson DeChambeau in an all-time extra holes battle at the BMW Championship held at Caves Valley Golf Club. Just 30 players remain in the hunt for the FedEx Cup as Cantlay carries a two-stroke lead and eyes on a $15-million dollar top prize. 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.
The BMW Championship certainly delivered once again as the penultimate event of the PGA Tour season. The boys lit the course on fire with several players getting it to 20-under par or better including Cantlay and DeChambeau who finished at -27 through 2 holes. The two then traded blows in playoff holes until Cantlay, who had a record setting strokes gained putting week, was able to seal it with another putt from distance.
Although there was lots of jockeying amongst the top 30 including Cantlay taking over the top spot, only two players outside the top 30 moved in. Erik Van Rooyen and Sergio Garcia successfully scored enough points to cross the threshold while Charley Hoffman and Max Homa did not, falling out of the top 30 and ending their shot at the Tour Championship.
With the new format for the Tour Championship, Cantlay will start with the lead at 10-under par, holding a two-stroke lead over Tony Finau at -8 and DeChambeau at -7. Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith will begin at -6 and -5 respectively while the rest of the field loses a stroke from each group of five down to Daniel Berger through Patrick Reed who begin 10 strokes behind at even par. Reed who has missed the first two playoff events barely hung on to the final spot but does appear to be teeing it up on Thursday.
East Lake Golf Club Course Breakdown
Atlanta, Georgia’s oldest golf course and the home of the PGA Tour Championship will take center stage this week. The 7,350 yard par 70 East Lake Golf Club opened in 1904 originally designed by Tom Bendelow. Donald Ross came in to renovate the course in 1913 which was followed by touch ups from Rees Jones in 1994, 2008, and 2016.
East Lake features miniverde ultradwarf bermudagrass greens, meyer zoysiagrass fairways, and tifway bermudagrass rough cut to 2.5”. Water is in play on four holes with 74 bunkers surrounding the greens and fairways. This is a tough track. It’s a long par 70 that puts a premium on finding fairways and navigating tough greens.
Pat and I are on the same page with key stats this week; ball striking, driving accuracy, approach, scrambling and then recent form and course history. DB is taking a different route and doesn’t GAF about stats this week. Ownership, value, contest selection and lineup construction are DB’s focus. I’ll take everything into consideration. Stats mold a course fit and who might have an edge. This is a very important week to follow DB though as everything is significantly amplified when there are 30 players in the field and each of them had to have a pretty solid year to make it this far.
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The Picks & Fades
Each week I will give you my plays and a fade from each DraftKings salary range.
$11k+
DB: Play - Jon Rahm, Tony Finau
Pat: Play - Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas
AC: Play - Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas
$9k-$11k
DB: Play - Jordan Spieth
Pat: Play - Cam Smith
AC: Play - Rory McIlroy
$7-$9k
DB: Play - Xander Schauffele, Sungjae Im
Pat: Play - Sungjae Im, Sam Burns
AC: Play - Xander Schauffele, Harris English
<$7k
DB: Play - Hideki Matsuyama, Daniel Berger
Pat: Play - Scottie Scheffler, Erik Van Rooyen
AC: Play - Scottie Scheffler, Billy Horschel
THE INS & OUTS
At the time of publication there has not been any WD.
The field is set at 30 with no cut after 36 holes.