Let's start by getting last weeks brag out of the way, with 2 of my 4 picks ending up in the Waste Management Phoenix Open playoff, which was won by Scottie Scheffler. Awesome to see the young stud get the first of what will be many wins, and also how good is that golf tournament! More on the results later, with focus for now shifting to this weeks Genesis Invitational, hosted by Tiger Woods. Last years winner was Max Homa, overcoming Tony Finau in a playoff.

 

The course is one of the best/toughest in the world, offering a true test of all aspects of golf. It’s an outstanding field, with all of the worlds top 10 in attendance. It’ll be hard to top the fun and drama of last week, but this should be another golf tournament worth tuning in for.

 

Draftstars has stuck with a $10,000 prize pool, including $970 to first place. There is also a $2 Mini and a Single Entry tournament. The aim in DFS golf is always first and foremost to get as many players as possible through the cut, with the winner usually needing all 6 golfers to still be playing on the weekend. After that it is of course very helpful to pick the winner for the week, as well as some other high finishers.

 

 

Love It- Sungjae Im $17,900

The young South Korean has only played this event twice, missing the cut both times. While that is not a great start, he does have an excellent all-round game that can contend on this kind of difficult test. Couple that with the fact that he has recorded top 20s in 5 of his last 6 starts since getting his second career victory at the Shriners Children’s Open in October and I think we could have a golfer that is trending towards another big week. Now ranked #24 in the world, I won’t be surprised if Sungjae puts it over some of the big boys this week.

 

Love It- Sam Burns $18,280

Another young golfer that has started contending regularly in the last year, Burns also possesses an all-round skillset that makes him a threat in any conditions. His first Genesis was a missed cut, but he then finished 23rd in 2020 and 3rd last year, missing the Homa-Finau playoff by a single stroke. He missed the cut last week and in the previous event, but strung together 6 straight top 20s including a win before that and should be ready to go after an extra couple of days rest.

 

Love It- Hideki Matsuyama $20,210

The Japanese sensation is an amazing golfer, who quite simply cannot putt (by professional standards). He’s won 3 times in the last year, including the Masters, and ground out a tie for 8th last week. There is a couple of missed cuts in his Genesis history, but also 5 top 25s in 7 starts, with 3 of them top 10s. I do think he is priced rather appropriately as 6th on the salary board, but he could get lost in the ownership squeeze with so many excellent golfers in this field.

 

Love It- Joaquin Niemann $16,510

Even younger than Burns and Im, Niemann makes the cut this week as another with a strong all-round game that continues to grow into a regular contender. A strong ball-striker, his short game has gone from a weakness to neutral at worst, with his putting significantly improved in the 2021 season. That didn’t quite show in a couple of missed cuts early in the 2022 season, but his two starts this calendar year have returned top 10s with strong all-round stats. He only has a couple of middling performances in his 3 genesis starts, but I’ll back his class and growing experience to crack the difficult course this year.

 

Love It- Luke List $15,650

Like Matsuyama, List has been around for a long while, and for the last 7 seasons in particular has been a fixture on the PGA Tour as a quality ball-striker who is closer to an amateur once the ball gets on the green. While his putting hasn’t gotten any better, his form has been excellent of late, culminating in his maiden win on the main circuit 3 weeks ago at the Farmers Insurance Open. His Genesis history features 4 top 30s in 6 starts, although nothing better than 15th. Hopefully his strong form will give him an opportunity to make the weekend and challenge for a top result again.

 

Hate It- Jordan Spieth $18,490

In such a good field, it’s not easy to pick out someone to go against at the top of the board. Hate is too strong of a word for this take, but I can’t see Spieth being at the pointy end of proceedings in this one. While he was second at Pebble Beach two weeks ago and has clearly gotten his best form back over the last 12 months, I don’t think he has the consistency right now to stay with this class of field right now. Even at the height of his powers his record at the Genesis wasn’t overly imposing, with one top 5 and another top 10 in 9 starts. He could well have a decent week, but I’m not expecting a top 10 finish for the quirky Texan.

 

Suggested Draftstars Line-up

 

Waste Management Phoenix Open Results

Cantlay- 2nd, losing on the third hole of a 2 man playoff. 130 points.

Scheffler- Won, defeating Cantlay. 130.5 points.

Conners- T38th, made the cut but never really got anything going. 73.5 points.

Mitchell- T10th, was steady all week.  87 points.

Koepka- T3rd, my fade for the week threatened to win all week, and was a strong play in the end. 108.5 points.

 

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