7/3/18

Paulie’s Picks: 2018 Greenbrier

The tour heads to C.B. Macdonald designed Old White, here’s who Paulie likes at the classic design.

by

We had another solid week of picks with a runner-up finish by Ryan Armour. Similar to last week, we have a weak field as the Tour heads to the Greenbrier. We have seen plenty of longshot players succeed here in the past. Past champions include Schauffele, Lee, Cabrera, Blixt, Potter, Stallings and Appleby. Not exactly the who’s who of the PGA Tour. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another player of similar notoriety hoist the trophy come Sunday. Here are a few players to consider:

DraftKings

Joaquin Niemann $9,700
Niemann is a star in the making. One of his first appearances on people’s radars was last year at this event. His 64 was the lowest score in the final round en route to a 29th-place finish. A year has since passed, and Niemann has shown the ability to contend. In his last seven starts, he has some great finishes: 6th Texas Open, 8th Colonial, 6th Memorial and 17th last week at the Quicken Loans.

Brandon Hagy $7,400
Hagy is making his return to the Tour this week after having a long layoff due to a wrist injury. He played a few rehab starts on the Web.com Tour and had some success. Two weeks ago, he lost in a playoff at the Wichita Open after firing a final round 63. He now heads to the Greenbrier where he finished 18th a year ago. His game is perfect for DraftKings scoring because of his high birdie rate.

Norman Xiong $6,500 – He is making his professional debut and was one of the best drivers of the ball in the amatuer ranks. When he is playing well, he can absolutely light it up. His game is perfect for DraftKings scoring. In such a weak field, $6,500 is way too cheap of a price.

One-and-Done

Tony Finau
Finau is one of the favorites in the field this week. He comes into this event fresh off the 5th place finish at the U.S. Open. He has had success in both of his appearances at the Greenbrier (7th and 13th). Finau will be one of the more popular plays in leagues this week as this is arguably the best event left to use him for this year.

Russell Henley
Another valid option this week is Russell Henley. He finished 6th in his last start (Travelers) and has had success at this track. He has finished in the top five in each of his last two appearances at this event.

Aaron Wise
If you need to make up ground in your league, this is the perfect week to go a bit contrarian. Wise is the perfect choice for that strategy this week. Wise has missed his last three cuts after winning at Trinity Forest. If we dig deeper, we see those missed cuts came at events that don’t necessarily fit his game (Colonial, Memorial and U.S. Open). He now heads to the Greenbrier, which should allow him to capitalize on his driving (the best part of his game).