DFS PGA PLAYBOOK - U.S. OPEN AT ERIN HILLS
Published: Jun 17, 2017
I love where my birthday falls on the sports calendar because it almost always lands during U.S. Open week. This year I get to watch the first round of the U.S. Open on my birthday and that’s an awesome way to celebrate. Let’s get right down to it …
The U.S. Open debuts a new course to the world, Erin Hills in Wisconsin. The fact that little to no one has played this track, makes it that much harder to put together a playbook. You are going to hear the word “fescue” a lot this week and with good reason because it is all over this course. It is thick, deep and nearly impossible to hit. While all the focus is on the rough and fescue, this Par 72 course stretches out 7,741 yards, yes that’s long. There is talk that the 18th hole could play up to 700 yards. The wind can really kick up and the bunkers scattered throughout the course look tough.
When you look over what I’ve told you about the course, the player targets should be ball strikers especially ones that can keep the ball on the fairway. We need players who can stripe a long iron with the length of these Par 5s. Players will need to bring their low shots to play under the wind at times, have good sand ability, and I’d like to see good proximity from the rough numbers as well. All the other standard stats should be taken into account as well, SG:TG, GIR, and Putting. We’ve obviously got no course history to work with at Erin Hills, so we will be relying on stats and recent form to help us select players for our lineups.
The weather will play a major factor for these players throughout the weekend in Wisconsin. I don’t see a real edge with tee times as Thursday looks to be alright with partly cloudy skies in the forecast but the storms roll in early Friday morning and don’t stop until early Sunday morning. There is no way for your players to completely avoid the rain on Friday. I would say though, if it is going to rain a lot, that will favor the bigger hitters as an already long course will play even longer.
The U.S. Open always bring high drama and it looks like there should be plenty of that over the weekend in Wisconsin. Let’s hope my playbook brings all of us luck …
***UPDATE***
Lineups for Post-Cut Contests
GPP #1
Paul Casey $8100
Hideki Matsuyama $8700
Russell Henley $7700
Martin Kaymer $7700
Louis Oosthuizen $7900
Patrick Reed $7700
GPP #2
Sergio Garcia $9100
Justin Thomas $8600
Brooks Koepka $8500
Paul Casey $8100
Hideki Matsuyama $8700
Thomas Aiken $6900
Pre-Cut DFS PGA PLAYBOOK:
| PLAYER | DRAFT KINGS | FANDUEL | BREAKDOWN |
| Dustin Johnson | $12,000 | $11,200 | T4 in 2014, T2 in 2015 & Won in 2016, can't really continue his climb but he could repeat. DJ also just had his 2nd child on Tuesday. |
| Jason Day | $10,800 | $10,500 | P2 at TPC Four Seasons then a T15 at the Memorial. 5 Top 10s in 6 Starts at the U.S. Open. He's trending UP! |
| Rickie Fowler | $10,500 | $9,200 | He'll be in a lot of my lineups at this price. Don't let last week's missed cut deter you. He's playing GREAT & wants that 1st Major |
| Jon Rahm | $10,300 | $10,400 | Got a reality check & should be back on track for the U.S. Open. 6 Top 5s in 11 starts since his win at the Farmers. Driver & a Scorer! |
| Brooks Koepka | $9,000 | $8,400 | T4, T18, & T13 in his last 3 U.S. Open Trips. Looked great off the tee last week but faded on Sunday to a T37. |
| Adam Scott | $8,800 | $9,500 | Finished T10 last week leading in SG:Off-The-Tee & Tee-To-Green. T9, T4, & T18 in his last 3 U.S. Open Trips. |
| Paul Casey | $8,400 | $8,800 | Don't want to play him but when he's 18th in Total Driving, T7 in GIR, 28th in Proximity, & 5th in Scrambling, I'm like I'll find a way to fit him in |
| Jason Dufner | $8,100 | $7,500 | A Great Season finally topped with a Win at the Memorial. 3 Top 10s & another Top 20 in his last 5 U.S. Open Trips. |
| Thomas Pieters | $7,700 | $7,400 | Debut at the U.S. Open after finished T4 at the Masters. I'm not going to miss the boat on this kid like I did at Augusta. Long Hitter |
| Alexander Noren | $7,500 | $7,800 | Did you know that he's the 8th ranked player in the world? Since missing the cut last year he's won 5 times & Finished 10th at the Players |
| Kevin Kisner | $7,500 | $8,100 | Won at Colonial & finished T6 at the Memorial. Top 40 in ALL of the Strokes Gained Measurements. T9 in Proximity & 28th in Scrambling. |
| Charl Schwartzel | $7,300 | $6,800 | 3rd at the Masters and finished T2 just last week at TPC Southwind. He's always a lurking threat at the Majors. |
| Shane Lowry | $7,300 | $7,100 | T9 & T2 in his last 2 U.S. Opens because of his Tee-to-Green Abilities. T6 & T15 in last 2 starts coming in. 3rd in Conversion %. |
| Bud Cauley | $7,300 | $5,800 | In the last 2 months, he strung together 4 straight Top 10s & a T25 in his last start at the Memorial. Big Hitter with improving GIR numbers. |
| Steve Stricker | $7,200 | $7,400 | Old man is PUMPED to play the U.S. Open in his Home State of Wisconsin. 17/19 Cuts Made at the U.S. Open with 11 Top 25s |
| Brendan Steele | $7,100 | $7,200 | Total stud from the Tee Box. 9th in Total Driving, 41st in GIR, T34 in Proximity, & 20th in SG:Off-The-Tee. T6 at the Players & T15 at Oakmont |
| Francesco Molinari | $7,000 | $7,800 | 2 Top 5s & 2 Top 25s in his last 4 start worldwide. The man sits 5th on Tour in Adjusted Scoring & a Tee-To-Green Master |
| Lee Westwood | $6,800 | $6,800 | Great Value for a Veteran who's made 11/12 U.S. Open Cuts since 2004. He still has the length & ball striking ability to be successful here. |
| Billy Horschel | $6,700 | $6,500 | 4/4 Cuts Made at the U.S. Open since 2013 with 3 Top 25s. He got 2 Top 5s in his last 4 starts including a WIN & a T4 last week |
| Marc Leishman | $6,700 | $6,900 | He's always in my playbook because his value is always great. 8th in Adjusted Scoring & Top 25 in Par 3, 4, & 5 Scoring. |
| Ross Fisher | $6,600 | $5,900 | 44th in the World Golf Standings because he's got 5 Top 10 finishes & a T22 in his last 8 starts since his T3 at the WGC-Mexico. |
| Joaquin Niemann | $6,500 | $4,800 | This 18 year old is the World's Top Ranked Amateur. Comes in winning his last 5 competitions by a combined 35 strokes. Nice GPP Flier Option |
| Stephan Jaeger | $6,300 | $4,600 | Won 2 of his last 3 Starts on the Web.com (#1 in Earnings). Played in the 2011 U.S. Amateur at Erin Hills (1 of the Few with Course Experience) |
DRAFTKINGS OPTIMALS:
| DRAFT KINGS CASH | PRICE |
| Dustin Johnson | $12,000 |
| Paul Casey | $8,400 |
| Kevin Kisner | $7,500 |
| Shane Lowry | $7,300 |
| Brendan Steele | $7,100 |
| Lee Westwood | $6,800 |
| DRAFT KINGS GPP | PRICE |
| Rickie Fowler | $10,500 |
| Jon Rahm | $10,300 |
| Kevin Kisner | $7,500 |
| Alexander Noren | $7,500 |
| Billy Horschel | $6,600 |
| Ross Fisher | $6,600 |
FANDUEL OPTIMALS:
| FANDUEL CASH | PRICE |
| Paul Casey | $8,800 |
| Brooks Koepka | $8,400 |
| Jason Dufner | $7,500 |
| Steve Stricker | $7,400 |
| Brendan Steele | $7,200 |
| Shane Lowry | $7,100 |
| Lee Westwood | $6,800 |
| Billy Horschel | $6,500 |
| FANDUEL GPP | PRICE |
| Jason Day | $10,500 |
| Adam Scott | $9,500 |
| Rickie Fowler | $9,200 |
| Brendan Steele | $7,200 |
| Charl Schwartzel | $6,800 |
| Ross Fisher | $5,900 |
| Bud Cauley | $5,800 |
| Stephan Jaeger | $4,600 |
ONE & DONE PLAY:
| ONE AND DONE PLAY | FINISH |
| SBS - Jimmy Walker | T9 |
| Sony - Charles Howell III | T8 |
| Career - Bill Haas | T17 |
| Farmers - Brandt Snedeker | T9 |
| Waste - Brendan Steele | T16 |
| Pebble - Phil Mickelson | 65th |
| Genesis - J.B Holmes | T34 |
| Honda - Graeme McDowell | T14 |
| Mexico - Alexander Noren | T55 |
| Valspar - Ryan Moore | T18 |
| Palmer - Zach Johnson | T66 |
| Match - Sergio Garcia | Out of Sweet 16 |
| Puerto - David Hearn | T17 |
| Shell - Lee Westwood | MC |
| Masters - Justin Rose | 2nd |
| RBC - Kevin Kisner | T11 |
| Valero - Charley Hoffman | T40 |
| Wells Fargo - Adam Scott | T36 |
| Players - Martin Kaymer | T69 |
| Nelson - Dustin Johnson | T13 |
| D & D - Pat Perez | MC |
| Memorial - Emiliano Grillo | T40 |
| St. Jude - Russell Henley | MC |
| U.S. Open - Jason Day | ??? |