The PGA TOUR heads back to California this week for The Genesis Invitational. Iconic Riviera Country Club will be the host, and is a par 71 that measures at 7,322 yards and features Poa grass greens. Since this is an invitational, there will be only 131 players in the field, rather than the usual 156. The field this week is headlined by the return of Tiger Woods, but will also be one of the strongest we see all year, as 19 of the top 20 ranked players in the world are set to tee it up.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $1.2M Pitch + Putt [$300K to 1st]
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Xander Schauffele ($9,900)
Schauffele continues to dominate despite playing at less than 100% due to his lingering back injury. He finished T10 last week at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and looked mighty impressive with his ball-striking in the process. Schauffele gained strokes both on approach and off-the-tee in all four of his rounds, but a faulty putter kept him from truly contending. The T10 marked his fourth such finish over his past five starts (excluding his WD from the Sentry TOC) and he’s yet to finish outside the top 13 in any start in 2023.
Few players on the PGA TOUR are as consistent as Schauffele is, and we are getting him at a nice discount because the strength of the field this week. He’s played Riviera five times in his career and has yet to miss a cut or finish worse than T23. He’s posted a T9 and three additional T15s as well, and averages 1.67 SG: Total per round at this course, which ranks sixth in this field.
Schauffele should really never be under $10,000 on DraftKings, but checks in at $9,900 this week, making him one of the premier plays on the board.
Cameron Young ($8,800)
Young made the cut last week at the WM Phoenix Open, but failed to do much after that due to serious short game woes. He lost a combined 6.5 strokes both on and around the greens last week, but as we know, that can be fickle. He gained with his irons over the weekend and was good off-the-tee as usual. He had been playing really well prior to last week, so we should expect him to turn the page quickly to The Genesis.
Young finished runner up at this event last year in his first career start at Riviera and absolutely lapped the field from a Strokes Gained perspective. He averaged 3.64 SG: Total per round, which is 1.2 strokes better than any other player in this field. Over his past 48 rounds in this field, the New York native ranks seventh in SG: Tee-to-Green and eighth in SG: Ball-Striking. Young is also a much better putter on Poa compared to other surfaces, averaging .35 strokes more per round on the California grass.
At just $8,800 we are getting one of the premier ball-strikers in the world on a course he shredded last year. Yes, please.
Wyndham Clark ($7,800)
Clark is much more renowned to those in the DFS community than the average golf fan, but that is going to change in 2023 because he’s on quite the upward trajectory. At his best, Clark is a bomber who can score on par 5s and putt the lights out. It’s usually his volatile iron play that keeps him from being mentioned with the games’ elites, but that was not the case last week in Phoenix, where he finished T10 and gained 4.4 strokes on approach in his four rounds.
Last year he was disqualified after R1 at this event for signing an incorrect scorecard, but prior to that the former Oregon Duck finished T8 and T17 in his previous two starts at Riviera. Clark has finished T16 or better four times in his past seven starts and ranks 12th in this field in SG: Tee-to-Green and 17th in SG: Total over that stretch.
Everything is setting up well for him again this week and he costs just $7,800 on DraftKings, making one of the strongest value plays on the slate.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $1.2M Pitch + Putt [$300K to 1st]
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and customer (my username is Lan1228) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.