6/26/18

Paulie’s Picks: 2018 The National

Coming off two winners in a row, Paulie likes iron play and a few big names at this week’s The National

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One more week, one more winner for us. Bubba Watson’s comeback on Sunday helps us capture our second consecutive one-and-done selection victory. We will look to make it three in a row this week as the Tour heads to TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in Avenel, MD. This course is built for the ball striker. This short par-70 course features thick rough that will require precise tee shots. Players who can keep the ball in the fairway should have more success than the players who will try to bomb and gouge their way around the course. The field for this event is very weak (sans Fowler and Woods). You will see some very unfamiliar names on the leaderboard this week.

DraftKings:

Kevin Streelman $8,700

Streelman’s game is tailor-made for this course. His ability to keep the ball in play off the tee combined with his solid iron game should have him in contention this week. The fact that Streelman hasn’t recorded a top 30 in his last five starts will hopefully prevent high ownership. If we dig deeper, we see that he has been hitting the ball well, gaining 17 shots combined off the tee and on approach during those five events. What has held him back is his short game. During those five events, he has lost a combined 21 shots around the green and putting. This week’s course will put a larger emphasis on ball striking than short game. If he can just have an average week near the greens, he will be in contention.

Ryan Armour $7,500

As President and Founder of the Ryan Armour fan club, I couldn’t help but put him in here this week. As you may know, Armour is one of the most accurate players off the tee and can at times have the best approach game in the field. His iron game is heating up as he has statistically gotten better in each of the last four events. Look for Armour to be a good pivot off some of the more popular lower-priced plays.

One-and-Done

Rickie Fowler

If you still have Rickie left and don’t plan to use him for a major this year, then this is the week to use him. Fowler finished third in this event last year. Rickie is a heavy favorite at 7-1 this week in a very weak field. We captured a win by taking a heavy favorite in a weak field earlier this year (Rahm at the CareerBuilder). Let’s try to do that again!!!

Tiger Woods

Tiger will be a very popular option this week for those not choosing Fowler. Tiger’s game should suit this course very well. He will be able to layup off a large number of tee boxes with less than driver and rely on his superb iron game to bring him into contention.