Paulie’s Picks: 2020 PGA Championship

It’s August and the year’s first major is finally upon us. The PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park will serve up a challenging par 70 that stretches over 7,200 yards. That may not sound like much, but the course will actually play very long because of cold temperatures and dense San Francisco air. We’ll be seeing a lot of drivers off the tee; seven of the 12 par 4s are 463 yards or longer. The big hitters will have a massive advantage, as they will have shorter irons into the greens as well as the strength to recover from the juicy rough. Next to driving distance, the skill of the week will be mid-iron play—specifically from 150-200 yards, as we could see upwards of 10 approach shots per round from that range.

Let’s look at a few players to consider for DraftKings and one-and-done leagues:

DraftKings

Bryson DeChambeau $10,300

Everyone knows the old (and incorrect) saying “drive for show, putt for dough.” Well, what if you’re fantastic at both? Bryson DeChambeau leads the field in both driving distance and putting. That’s not a misprint! Obviously, driving distance is massive this week, and Bryson has already given notice that he will be using the big stick as often as he can. The 26-year-old’s career has been incredibly impressive so far; the only thing it’s lacking is a high finish in a major. The PGA Championship will give him as good a shot as possible.

Harris English $7,200

Harris English is quietly having himself a great season. He started in the fall of 2019 with four top-six finishes. In his past seven starts in 2020, he has six top 20s. Over the past 11 months, he has missed only two cuts. English is top 25 off the tee, on approach, and on the greens. And yes, he is substantially underpriced this week at $7,200.

One-and-Done

Brooks Koepka

If you didn’t use Koepka last week, now’s the time. He arrives at TPC Harding Park with his game trending in the right direction. Last week, he lost narrowly to Justin Thomas at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. We all know the man is a big-game hunter. Brooks has won four of the past ten majors, and in his past 17 major appearances, he has finished 21st or better in 16 of them.

Xander Schauffele

If you don’t want to burn one of your top five guys this week, then Schauffele makes a great choice. The California native has finished sixth or better in five of his 11 career major appearances. He is seventh in this field off the tee and 21st on approach, which is a great combination at Harding Park. In his six events since the restart, he has five top-20 finishes, including a close call at Colonial.