by This week the tour heads to Las Vegas for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin. It will be another birdie fest, I expect the winning score to be 20+ under par. The course is fairly short and has plenty of room off of the tee. With that being said, we will look for guys who can fill their scorecard with birdies and know how to play aggressive to take advantage of the course.
DraftKings:
Start:
Bubba Watson $8,900
Bubba has officially ditched the Volvik balls and gone back to the Titleist golf balls which he had all of his career success with. Bubba has always had the ability go on birdie barrages and when he is on top of his game, he can overpower and dominate a course. I look for him to have a massive comeback this year and return back to form. With the ease of TPC Summerlin, I expect Bubba to get it going early and contend this week.
Kevin Streelman $8,400
Streelman is the perfect combination of consistency, solid recent play and good course history. He has only missed one cut since the Players Championship and enters this week on the heels of a 10th place finish at the Sanderson Farms and a 13th at the Safeway. He is very comfortable at TPC Summerlin finishing 16th in 2015 and runner up in 2014.
Scott Piercy $7,400
Piercy is a risky DraftKings play that I will be using in tournaments this week. He is a very volatile player where he often finishes either at the top of the field or the very bottom. He is local player who has recorded a top 25 finish in four of his last five starts at TPC Summerlin. Over those five starts, he had the highest birdie rate of anyone in the field this year which will help his DraftKings scoring.
Sit:
Charley Hoffman $9,000
Hoffman has had a lot of media attention this week with his declaration that he will be donating his check from this week to charity in response to the attack on the Vegas strip. Emotions will be running high for Hoffman due to his ties to the area. With all of this publicity and a $9,000 price tag, I expect him to be one of the highest owned golfers of the week. I will be fading him since he has uncharacteristically missed four of his last five cuts at TPC Summerlin.
One-and-Done
Chesson Hadley
Hadley has been on fire going back to the Web.com events. He continued that solid play in his first two PGA Tour events this year finishing second at the Sanderson Farms and third at the Safeway. He does have a little bit of history at TPC Summerlin finishing 5th here in 2013.
Webb Simpson
Simpson has been playing well over the last few months finishing 17th or better in five of his last six starts. Simpson won here in 2013 and finished fourth in 2014 so this course definitely fits his eye.
Ryan Moore
Moore seems to always fly under the radar. Many people forget that he racked up $3.7 million during the 2016 season. Now I know he had a subpar 2017 season, but I expect him to return to form this year and find the winner’s circle. He has shown some signs of life finishing in the top 30 in five of his last six starts. He is a past champion at TPC Summerlin raising the trophy here in 2012. Since then he has had two other top 15 finishes at this event. This might be the week that Moore returns to the winner’s circle.
Longshots to Win:
We have seen many longshots win this event from Smylie Kaufman to Rod Pampling. I would not be surprised to see another one this week. Here are three players who might break through this week:
Sam Ryder 200-1 to win, 20-1 top 10
Ryder is known as one of the best ball strikers to come off the Web.com Tour last year. At a course which will yield a lot of birdies, I expect Ryder to have a lot of close chances. The question is can he convert enough birdies to contend this week. If he has a hot putter, 200-1 to win and 20-1 for a top ten could be immense value.
Tom Lovelady 150-1 to win
Lovelady is Justin Thomas’ roommate so he might have a little bit of inspiration from the flourishing superstar. Lovelady is known as a very long hitter who led the Web.com Tour last year in birdies. At 150-1, I’ll gladly add him to my portfolio this week.
Keith Mitchell 150-1 to win
Mitchell is another bomber who can fill up the scorecard with birdies. Even though he has missed his first two cuts on Tour, he did have top six finishes in four of his last five Web.com events.
