Following Luke List’s win at the Farmers Insurance Open, the PGA TOUR remains in California this week for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. After a one-year hiatus due to the pandemic, this tournament returns to its usual three-course format this season. Every golfer in this field full field of 154 will play a round at Pebble Beach Golf Links (par 72, 7,051 yards), Spyglass Hill (par 72, 7,041 yards), and the Monterey Peninsula Shore Course (par 71, 6,957 yards). Then, following the first 54 holes, instead of a standard top-65 and ties cut, only the top-60 and ties will proceed to the final round, which will be played at Pebble Beach. In addition to two of the four rounds being played on this par 72, Pebble Beach is the only course of the three that supplies SG data.
All three venues are very short by PGA TOUR standards and most players will elect to keep their drivers in the bag for most of this event, making OTT stats rather irrelevant for research. Conversely, being dialed in with your irons is essential for success to find these small greens at a high rate. Albeit with only data from Pebble Beach, two of the past three champions of this event have finished the week inside the top-six in SG APP, with Phil Mickelson leading his field in the stat in 2019. Finally, just like this past week at Torrey Pines, all three courses for this week’s event sport POA greens, making players with positive splits on this uncommon surface sharp targets.
Given the Pro-Am portion and the fact that this event is jammed between two popular tournaments in the Farmers Open and Phoenix Open, most of the best players on TOUR have decided to skip the trip to Pebble Beach this year. Only three of the top-25 ranked golfers in the world will be competing, making this a very weak field. Nevertheless, DraftKings is still offering up some huge GPPs for DFS players, and below I present to you four of my favorite values priced under $7.5K.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $800K Pitch + Putt [$200K to 1st]
Pat Perez, $7,300
Perez is coming off a very impressive T6 finish at Torrey Pines. As a ball striker, the veteran gained over four strokes from T2G and on APP. Furthermore, Perez produced 4.9 strokes with his flat stick on the POA greens, good enough to rank him fifth in the stat for the week. Perez will now look to carry this momentum over to the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where the 45-year-old has made 15 of 19 cuts for his career, including seven top-30 finishes.
Evident from this compelling resume, Perez is an excellent fit for this multiple-course tournament and is one of the best values of the week at this affordable cost.
Matthew NeSmith, $7,300
At the Farmers Open last week, NeSmith had a terrific showing on the POA greens of Torrey Pines, generating 3.4 strokes with his putter en route to a solid T34 finish. This marked NeSmith’s sixth made cut across his last nine starts on TOUR. Additionally, this was the sixth time he has proceeded to the weekend in his past seven appearances at tournaments that present POA putting surfaces, including a T11 and then a T16 at the past two AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Ams.
NeSmith ranks 18th in SG APP over his last 24 rounds, and if his putter can stay hot this week, the 28-year-old should add another quality finish to his Pebble Beach resume.
Nick Taylor, $7,300
Taylor has gained strokes with his irons in back-to-back starts, and has made seven of his past nine cuts. On top of the enticing form, Taylor’s history at Pebble Beach is undeniable. The 33-year-old secured the second PGA TOUR victory of his career at this event two years ago in convincing fashion, winning by four strokes. Overall, the Canadian boasts a 5/7 record, with a pair of top-10s at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am for his career.
Simply put, Taylor is a steal at this low salary and needs to be included in your player pool this week.
Troy Merritt, $7,200
After missing the weekend at Torrey Pines, Merritt should bounce back at Pebble Beach. Prior to last week’s mishap, the 36-year-old had carded a top-30 finish in four of his previous five starts. For a larger sample, Merritt has advanced through the cut at 14 of his past 19 events. More importantly, Merritt returns to Pebble Beach, where he has finished T8, T25 and T16 in his last three attempts.
Comparing DFS salaries to outright odds to win is always a wise move to find strong value plays, and when using this process, Merritt sticks out like a sore thumb this week. On DraftKings Sportsbook, he carries +6000 odds to win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which are better odds than Tom Hoge, who costs a whopping $1,300 more than Merritt at $8.5K.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $800K Pitch + Putt [$200K to 1st]
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is Hunta512) 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.
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