DraftKings picks, U.S. Open

by Sal Johnson

Founder, Chief Data Officer, GOLFstats

E-mail me at:
sal@golfstats.com

DraftKings picks for the U.S. Open

So how did I do last week, sorry two weeks ago?
Have you ever had a stretch in which you want to just hide in a hole? Happened to me two weeks ago when I saw Jason Dufner win the Memorial. The previous week I had this gut feeling that Dufner was close to winning and thought Colonial was the place for him. Unfortunately I was right on my thoughts of Dufner winning, but it would be after he missed the cut at Colonial. But the big problem in my two week stretch, by picks were having problems making the cut, so I thought that the FedEx St.Jude Classic was a perfect place not to play DraftKings. So it’s on to the U.S. Open.
U.S. Open picks
Lot’s of games for this week, of course there is the $3.5 million dollar golf millionaire game in which the winner gets a cool One Million dollars. Now on the surface it sounds great, but it’s nothing more than a lottery. With 122,613 entries all six will have to be in the top-ten for you to have any chance and with a entry fee of $33 is a bit steep. In a way it’s a lottery, one thing that I wish was different was the payout. Great for first place with a million dollars but 2nd only gets $150,000 and 3rd $75,000. With 10th place paying only $5,000 you could have a possibility of the final hole on Sunday costing you a cool million if a person has problems. Two years ago I saw an article in a golf magazine on this poor guy who had Dustin Johnson at the U.S. Open and if Johnson made the eagle on the final hole or two putted and won the playoff, he would of won a million dollars. But with Johnson 3 putting, this poor guy only got around $35,000 because he fell back into a tie for 3rd with a couple of other people. So for many playing fantasy golf it’s not for the faith of heart.
Now for the picks the top picks are Dustin Johnson at $12,000, Jordan Spieth at $11,500, Rory McIlroy at $11,200, Jason Day at $10,800, Rickie Fowler at $10,500, Jon Rahm at $10,300, Sergio Garcia at $10,000 and Justin Rose at $9,800. Now the good news is that only 13 players are 8,500 and over so the possibility is good of taking two high priced guys and still do well. Of the leading players I love Dustin, Rory, Jason, Sergio and Justin. They all hit it long and that is going to be important this week at Erin Hills. As far Jordan Spieth, he is sneaky long but not like the others, but his putting and short game can carry him to a win. Bombers will dominate, I don’t this a Steve Stricker or a Jim Furyk will do well, they just don’t hit it far. The chance of anyone in the bottom of the driving distance stat are slim of them getting into the top-ten. So I really like McIlroy and Day. For some odd reason I don’t like Dustin, he will probably play well but being the defender, being world #1 is a hard crutch to carry this week. I can tell you this, I really wanted both McIlroy and Day, it’s just didn’t work out. So I had to flip a coin and before I did it realized that Day won at Whistling Straits, a course that played just like Erin Hills is so that is the reason I took Day. My next picks are a bit weird, but goes with the thought of long hitters, thos that hit lot’s of greens and do putt ok and scramble ok. My next pick was Jason Dufner at $8,100 he is playing well and should do ok on this course. Next up was Tyrrell Hatton at $7,500, I like the stats that he is 16th in strokes gained off the tee and 1st in Strokes gained putting. He isn’t very good in scrambling and is 23rd in strokes gained approach the green, so even with his inexperience and lack of doing well this year since finishing 4th at the Palmer, I like him and think he will be sneaky good. The U.S. Open is full of stories of guys you least expect doing well. Just look at last year with Andrew Landry, he was great for 63 holes and even though he finished T-15th is one of the unknowns that did well. Talking about last year, Scott Piercy finished T-2nd along with Jim Furyk and Shane Lowry. Nobody picked these four guys and that it the point of picking for the U.S. Open, it’s loaded with things like this. My next pick is Francesco Molinari at $7,000, again a guy you don’t expect but has great numbers 27th in Strokes gained off the tee, 2nd in strokes gained approach the green. Next up is Lucas Glover at $6,800. He was a big surprise in 2009 at Bethpage and again with his length off the tee and iron play to the green has the skills. The big question is the putter, but hey he has four top-ten finishes including a 3rd at the Shriners Hospitals, T-6th at the Players and T-7th at Arnold Palmer. I think that he will contend again and play well this week. So I was left with $9,800 and was disappointed that I could take either Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia or Jon Rahm. I tried different combinations but in looking at either taking Justin Rose at $9,800, Brooks Koepka at $9,000 I went for the choice of Hideki Matsuyama at $9,600. From the first time I saw him playing as an amateur at the Masters I realized how good he was. When he contended at the British Open at Muirfield, I knew that he would one day with many majors and it could come this week.
So there are my picks, tell me who you like and we will see what happens.

My U.S. Open picks
Jason Day at $10,800
Hideki Matsuyama at $9,600
Jason Dufner at $8,100
Tyrrell Hatton at $7,500
Francesco Molinari at $7,000
Lucas Glover at $6,800

Comments

  1. Whew, still struggling I see. I know the feeling. Matsuyama was a good pick, though 😉

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