by This week, the Tour heads to Firestone for the final year of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational. This event will be moving to TPC Southwind in Memphis next year. This should be a very fun event as we have a lot of players coming in in very good form. I expect a shootout amongst the world’s best. Could we possibly even see Tiger’s return to greatness? Let’s dig in to DraftKings and One-and-Done leagues for the week:
DraftKings:
Success this week on DraftKings will most likely be determined by one or two roster decisions. With a limited field of 73 players, I expect a large amount of overlap in rosters. The difference between breaking even for the week and massive profits could be fading one high-owned player and rostering a similarly priced contrarian play. Here are a few player swaps to consider.
Paul Casey $8,600 for Justin Thomas $8,800
I expect Thomas to be one of the highest-owned players of the week. How often do you see the World’s number 3 player priced that low? If you are looking to gain leverage in large tournaments, it may make sense to fade Thomas in a large portion of your entries. Paul Casey is a great alternative option as he has finished 5th, 16th and 17th in his last three starts at Firestone. He is a very consistent player, and there is a very good chance he outperforms Thomas this week.
Ian Poulter $7,300 for Phil Mickelson/Sergio Garcia $7,400
Garcia and Mickelson are very popular players, and for that I expect their ownership to be fairly high amongst the casual golf fan playing on DK this week. Each of them only has one top 10 in this event in the last 12 years!!! Meanwhile, Poulter has had five top-20 finishes in his last 10 starts at this event. He also comes into this event in much better form than Phil or Sergio.
One-and-Done:
We are getting down to the end of the year, and your remaining player pool may be getting scarce. The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to try and plan out the remaining events you have left. Most notably, make sure you have a solid pick set up for next week’s PGA Championship before picking a player this week. Here are some choices for this week:
Tiger Woods
If you still have him available this week, USE HIM!!!!! This is the best spot you will have for him for the year, and you are in a pretty good spot since most of your league has already used him this year. He has won on this course 8 times!
Alex Noren
If you are running low on top-tier players, it may make sense for you to play Noren this week. Noren, the 12th-ranked player in the world, has shown the ability to contend on difficult golf courses with strong fields.
Rickie Fowler
If you still have Fowler left in your stable, this is a good time to use him. He has finished in the top 10 in each of the last four years at Firestone.
