The Northern Trust 2017 FanDuel Fantasy Preview

The top-125 players are now set into place and the 2017 FedExCup Playoffs can begin with The Northern Trust in Old Westbury, New York at the Glen Oaks Club. This event has always been a mainstay in the Westchester County area, formally being hailed the Westchester Classic, and had been The Barclays since 2007 and right up until this season.

A lot of focus will be on the field this week because of the push many of the players will need to make in order to see their names on the entrants list heading to the Dell Technologies Championship. The top-100 golfers in the standings after the week is all over with will be making the trip to Boston and they will not have an easy task on the par-70, 7,350-yard venue which entails pieces of each of their three nine hole layouts.

After a recent win at the Bridgestone Classic and near victory in the Pga Championship, OWGR No. 2 golfer, Hideki Matsuyama, gets the nod as the favorite. It will be fun to watch the top golfers go at it, though, as Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy Rickie Fowler, and Dustin Johnson all hold better than 15/1 odds while Jason Day, PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas, and Brooks Koepka are at 20/1 or better.

Hideki Matsuyama of Japan plays his tee shot on the par 4, second…

Hideki Matsuyama of Japan plays his tee shot on the par 4, second hole during the final round of the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow on August 13, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

A total of 11 PGA Tour rookies will get their first crack in this playoff format as five of them come in with a win in the 2017 campaign while being led by Wesley Bryan who is currently ranked 27th with a victory at the RBC Heritage and another four top-10 finishes.

Four players were able to earn their way into this field after nice outings last week in the Wyndham Championship with Martin Flores, Rory Sabbatini, Harold Varner III, and J.J. Henry knocking out Zac Blair, Shane Lowry, Seamus Power, and Daniel Summerhays. Although the top-125 golfers make it to this round of the playoffs, there will be 120 men teeing it up as five of the players are absent. The most notable is Masters Champion Sergio Garcia who will be out for this leg of the playoffs for the third straight season. Also, Adam Scott has a second child due very soon and Brandt Snedeker continues to deal with a rib injury that has held him out for several weeks.

Last year it was Patrick Reed who took home his fifth PGA TOUR trophy after defeating runners-up Emiliano Grillo and Sean O’Hair by a single stroke at Bethpage Black. The win also earned him a berth onto the Ryder Cup team as he ousted another future member of the U.S. Team, Rickie Fowler, who had owned a two stroke lead early on Sunday.

With there being so many solid golfers in the field, there are typically no winners that run away with the event, and since this outing became associated with the FedExCup in 2007, there have been only two victors that earned it by more than two strokes. One of those was Jason Day in 2015 as he destroyed the field by a whopping six shots behind a tournament record tying week of 19 shots under par.

Only three different countries have been represented in the winner’s circle as well with golfers from the United States winning seven times, Australia two, and Fiji once over the last decade.

Daily fantasy sports is a fantastic way for the golf fan to get more into the game and really take an interest in the event at hand as well as learn about some new golfers to root for. FanDuel is a great platform to do this and their format features eight golfers within a $60,000 salary. You need to not only find the right studs, but also those lower priced players who will differentiate you from the crowd.

Last week our picks did fairly well, with 7-of-8 making it to the weekend and Bill Haas receiving a MDF after a poor Saturday. The big hits were Webb Simpson, coming in at third place and a solid cash play, while Richard Werenski, with a price tag of just $5,500, placed in tenth.

Below are group of golfers at all different price ranges who we think will do well at Glen Oaks Club.

The Northern Trust 2017 FanDuel Picks

Jordan Spieth – $9,900 – There are plenty of big names out there at the top, but we think that Spieth will be coming out with a little fire after failing to be in contention over the weekend at the PGA Championship. Prior to his 28th in the final major of the season, the third ranked player in the world had five top-15 finishes in his past six starts; including wins at both the Open Championship and Travelers Championship as well as a runner-up at the Colonial.

He is of course known for his dominance around the green, where he is gaining 0.968 strokes on the field (2nd on TOUR), but has not needed to use it very often while hitting the green in regulation 69.35% of the time (12th on TOUR). He ranks third in total Strokes Gained on the field (1.818) and owns an impressive 69.064 stroke average (2nd on TOUR) behind a birdie or better on 25.36% of his holes played (3rd on TOUR).

Spieth has shown that he doesn’t like performing like just an average professional and will take it out on the field this week.  

Paul Casey – $9,000 – Casey has been playing some tremendous golf this year and comes into the playoffs holding on to the 18th spot in the rankings despite playing in a mere 20 events. He has not missed the cut since the Sony Open in January (16 straight) and has notched a top-26 in each of his last nine.

Over that time he showed he has no issues with playing among the best in the world and at over the course the four majors had an average finish 14th; his best being a sixth in the Masters. The key to his consistency is his ability to hit greens in regulation (70.12%, 3rd on TOUR) and earn strokes around the green (0.927, 3rd on TOUR).

With his ability to make cuts and perform in the toughest of situations, Casey seems like a great pick to put with Spieth at the top of your lineup.
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Louis Oosthuizen – $7,800 – Oosthuizen nearly took home his second career major at the PGA Championship, leaving as the runner-up and completing the career grand slam for runner-up finishes in majors.

This season has been a stellar one for the 34-year-old out of South Africa as he’s made 14-of-15 cuts (93%) and added another runner-up performance in THE PLAYERS Championship. His 1.513 strokes gained on the field (9th on TOUR) comes mainly from his skills around the green (0.330 strokes gained, 17th on TOUR) and putting (0.383 strokes gained, 28th on TOUR); leading to the 27th-best scoring average (70.162) among his peers.

With both his runner-ups and two other top-25s coming in his past six starts, it is recent form that has earned him his 38th spot in the FedExCup rankings, and that recent form is what will vault him up the leaderboards this week at Glen Oaks Club.

Marc Leishman – $7,400 – Leishman’s price remains at a very reasonable spot despite coming into this week with visits to the weekend in each of his last nine tournaments; six of which ended in the top-20. Over the nine events he earned a top-30 in each of his major appearances and is coming off a superb bogey-free 67 at Quail Hollow to finish off the PGA Championship in a tie for 13th.

Leishman is strong across all parts of his golf game and it would surprise most to know that he has the fifth-best scoring average (69.541) on tour as a result. He ranks in the top-50 in strokes gained off the tee (36th), approach to the green (42nd), around the green (32nd), putting (48th), from tee to green (17th), and in total (11th).

With an all-around game that has led to a victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and a minuscule two missed cuts in 21 starts, Leishman could become the third Australian since 2013 to win this event.

Francesco Molinari – $7,000 – Molinari may not have a PGA TOUR win to his name, but he has four titles overseas and has jumped all the way to 14th in the world rankings with a fantastic campaign in 2017. At this price you are getting a player who is coming off of a runner-up in the PGA Championship, has a scoring average of 69.600 (7th on TOUR), and is fourth in total strokes gained (1.774).

Molinari seems to always be in the fairway off the tee (70.28%, 7th on TOUR) and is getting a birdie or better on 22.40% of his holes played (20th on TOUR). This is Molinari’s third year in a row playing at least 16 tournaments on the PGA TOUR and it is easily his best, but it seems as if many are still underestimating him with so many other long standing names teeing it up.
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Gary Woodland – $6,500 – Woodland is not mentioned as one of the elite players in the game of golf, but he has made himself a mainstay in the FedExCup playoffs, finishing in the top-60 in five of the past six seasons while currently sitting in 26th this year. He has not been able to get a win since 2013, but since he has piled up six runner-ups, two coming in 2017, and is 79-for-97 (81%) at making the cut from 2014 until now.

Recently he has continued to make it to the weekend, but has finished 40th or worse in six of his last eight tournaments, making his 22nd at the the PGA Championship and fourth at the RBC Canadian a promising sign as he heads back into the playoffs. This first round has typically been good to him, and although it is not at the same course, he has been able to notch a 13th or better in four of his last five attempts.

Woodland is one of the longest drivers off the tee (307.5 yards per, 13th on TOUR) and gets on the greens in regulation with ease (68.89%, 15th on TOUR), making him a solid, cheap option this week.

Ian Poulter – $6,300 – Poulter was once ranked as high as fifth in the world, but really fell apart in the 2016 season with just one top-10 in 13 events on the PGA TOUR. He has now gotten back to playing some fantastic golf and is on pace for his best year in the FedExCup standings since 2009.

The 12-time European Tour winner nearly won his first PGA event since 2012 with a runner-up at THE PLAYERS and was close again at the RBC Canadian with a third place. His last 10 starts between the two major tours have all resulted in a made cut and he has an average finish of 12th-place in his past four; which included both the Open Championship and PGA Championship.

At 41-years-old he is losing strokes off the tee, but more than makes up for it with his approach to the green (0.796 strokes gained, 4th on TOUR) and around the green (0.499 strokes gained, 5th on TOUR) behind the best scrambling mark (66.48%) on the circuit. Poulter is back, but still not getting the respect given his price, so get him in your lineup.

Jamie Lovemark – $6,100 – Lovemark is building on his breakout 2016 season where he finished the year in 43rd in the FedExCup standings after jumping between the Web.com tour and PGA TOUR since 2007. Now that he has found his game, he has become a contender each week, earning himself 18 top-25s and nine top-10s over the last two years (52 events played) while coming into the playoffs fresh off of seven finishes of 33rd or better in his last eight tournaments.

Lovemark isn’t a stud in any one area of his golf game, but he is in the top-25 in driving distance (303.9 yards per, 25th on TOUR), going for the green (69.42%, 15th on TOUR), and strokes gained around the green (0.330, 17th on TOUR); making him a threat to put up big numbers at any point while avoiding blowup rounds. Lovemark will save you a lot of salary, which is needed to get one of the big names, but he should not be overlooked as a serious contender during this first round.