2014 Fantasy GolfChris Garosi

2014 Fantasy Golf Daily Fix: FedEx St. Jude Classic

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Welcome back to another week on the PGA Tour. We head to TPC Southwind in Memphis, TN for the FedEx St. Jude Classic. Below you will find my DraftStreet daily fantasy picks for the tournament this week. Come on and join me for a round!

Tour Stop

TPC Southwind is a 7,239 yard, par 70 course that first opened in 1987 and was redesigned in 2004.

This has been one of the tougher non-major courses on the tour the last couple of years. So, we’re looking for long hitters who can bomb past some of the land mines on the course or players with the ability to fix mistakes as they go along.

Field

The field drops in caliber this week as we get only 14 of the top 50 in the Overall World Golf Rankings in the field this year. Many of the top players will take the week off before a major to tune up their game and work on finer points instead of walking in Memphis.

Injuries

Matt Kuchar has withdrawn so get him out of your lineup if you were using him this week. This isn’t an injury as Kuchar feels he wants the week off instead of teeing it up. Others who have withdrawn include Charley Hoffman, Erik Compton, Seung-yul Noh, and Justin Hicks. Make sure to monitor the field here.

Sergio Garcia remains out with a knee injury and hopes to return for the U.S Open in a couple of weeks.

Graeme McDowell and Patrick Reed are both listed in the field after staying out for the last couple of weeks on paternity leave.

D.H Lee, Jason Day and Victor Dubuisson all remain out with unclear return dates as does former number one in the world Tiger Woods.  Peter Uihlein also backed out of a U.S Open qualifier and could be out for a bit with a back issue.

2013 Tournament Results

Here is the top 20 from The St. Jude Classic in 2013:

2013 St. Jude Results
2013 St. Jude Results

Let’s look at a few options this week.

DraftStreet Expert Picks

Robert Allenby | $14,592 – Six top 15 finishes in his last seven starts at the St. Jude (with his only missed cut a withdraw).  He’s also made five cuts in his last six PGA appearances (though he missed the cut the last time out at The Memorial).

Paul Casey | $19,922 – Casey is 14th in par 4 scouring on tour this year and he’s got four top 20s in his last five tourneys (with a missed cut thrown in there). He probably deserves to be in the upper echelon of pricing, but he’s not there yet.

Billy Horschel | $17,759 – Only five bogeys last week as Horschel stayed out of trouble again. He won’t light up the scoreboard, but he should make the weekend as he keeps his ball clean more often than not.

Robert Garrigus | $15,534 – Garrigus is a bomber (tied for eighth in driving distance on tour this year) so he’s got a shot to miss a lot of the trouble on the course. He was also tied for second here in 2010.

Fredrik Jacobson | $16,571 – He has five top 20 finishes here in his career and comes in to the tourney in fantastic form having made nine of the last ten cuts. Not a flashy player, but steady all around.

Ryan Palmer - Chuck Crow / The Plain Dealer
Ryan Palmer – Chuck Crow / The Plain Dealer

Ryan Palmer | $24,490 – Palmer has owned this course the last couple of years with back to back top five finishes. He’s a bit expensive, but his recent history at TPC Southwind and 11 out of 12 cuts made this calendar year make him worth the money. Dustin Johnson ($27,649) and John Senden ($21,778) are two other high end options I would also consider for this spot.

Kevin Stadler | $15,527 – He’s fourth in Ball Striking (a stat comprised of the rank in Greens in Regulation and Total Driving – perhaps the two most important stats for this week).  He’s also had some success here

Shawn Stefani | $15,283 – Stefani has made five out of his last six cuts and comes in off a tie for 11th at the Byron Nelson. He was also tied for seventh here last year. He’s currently the leader in Total Driving and was the leader here last year after three rounds.

Robert Streb | $14,334 – Streb broke my heart the last time I recommend him, but I’m back on the horse this week. He’s made four of his last six cuts and hasn’t finished lower than 38 th in those four tourneys. He’s a solid 17 th overall in scoring on par 4s which should be important this week.

David Toms | $17,515 – Toms had back to back wins here in the mid-aughts and is coming on a hot streak having made five straight cuts and finishing tied for fifth last week.

Michael Thompson | $15,419 – Thompson is a bit of a riskier play, but he’s succeeded this year on courses that have required the type of game that should succeed at TPC Southwind.

If you want to go deep, there are a couple of options in Tyrone Van Aswegen ($8,358) and Hudson Swafford ($8,212). Van Aswegen is coming off a tie for 16th in his last time out on the PGA Tour at the Byron Nelson Championship. Swafford has been playing in Memphis for the last few days as he qualified for the U.S. Open this Monday in Memphis. He’s also fifth in Ball Striking. Kevin Kisner ($12,567) falls into the Swafford group as he also played well at Memphis in U.S. Open qualifying.

Check out my lineup as it sits right now.

DraftStreet Expert Lineup
DraftStreet Expert Lineup

Good luck this week! Head over to DraftStreet to choose your squad for this week.

DraftStreet Scoring

Roster size: 6 Golfers

Points Scoring
ALBA*   4.5 pts
EAG       2 pts
BRD        1 pt
PAR        0.2 pts
BGY        -0.6 pts
2BGY+   -1.6 pts

*ALBA = Albatross or double eagle

PLACE
1st                          8 pts
2nd                        5 pts
3rd                         4 pts
4th-10th               3 pts
11th-25th            2 pts
26th-50th            1 pt

Round Bonuses
BFR*      1 pt
LROD**                2 pts

*BFR = Bogey-free round
*LROD = Low round

Note :

1. Ties will not affect “PLACE” bonus. For example, if three players tie for 2nd they will all receive the 5 point bonus for 2nd place.

2. Playoff holes will not count towards scoring but can impact the place a golfer finishes.

3. Golfers who withdraw or are disqualified in the middle of a round will receive 0 fantasy points for that round.

4. If multiple golfers tie for low round of the day, full bonus points will be awarded to all of them.

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2 Comments

  1. June 4, 2014 at 12:47 pm

    Chris,
    Are you picking the entire field?! Kidding, fellow DC resident. I’m big on Allenby, Toms, Stadler and Palmer across my lineups this week. I actually love Boo Weekley as my top play and find it hard not to roster him. His pedigree at this course is unreal. My current cut for “final” lineups are posted on my site:

    http://www.dailyfantasyteams.com/daily-fantasy-sports-blog/2014/6/4/daily-fantasy-golf-picks-65-fedex-st-jude-classic

    Let me know if you want to play H2H at all!

    • June 4, 2014 at 7:34 pm

      Hey Colin,

      Thanks for the comment. Yea, I did go a little overboard this week. I generally like to limit my recommendations to about 10 golfers to give players options depending on how they want to fill out their squad. I considered Weekley as well, but his year has been a bit too up and down for me. I can’t seem to catch him when he’s up – always a week early or late. I understand wanting him on the squad though.

      Sounds good – I’ll have to look you up for some H2H.

      Chris