PGA DFS Example Lineups: WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

I say this every year but I am not a fan of doing a Daily Fantasy Golf tournament around the WGC-Match Play event.  Fanduel and Yahoo have chosen to do the right thing and ignore this event completely while DraftKings does have games available.  I do love this event as a spectator but not as a DFS game.  They format this thing similarly to the NCAA March Madness tournament, which makes it nearly impossible to predict with so many variables.  

The Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas plays host to this event for the sixth time in 2022.  The first thing these players will have to take into account are the winds, anyone that’s played in Texas knows that there is just something different about the winds in the Lone Star state.  The course falls from high ground to low ground from the front nine to the back.  This gives the golfers plenty of risk reward opportunities along the way.  

There will be 16 groups of four golfers, in each of these groups, every player will match up against all three other players in their group and the player with the best overall record moves to the round of 16 which will be played over the weekend.  The basic strategy is to take six players from six different groups, obviously you don't want one of your rostered players eliminating one of your other players.  Over the five years of this event only 24 of the top seeds have made it to the knockout round.  Here is a list of all the groups going out this weekend and their seeding is listed next to the golfer's name.  I will bold the player I think will win each group and give a little reasoning as to why. 

Group 1

Jon Rahm (1) - Yea, shouldn’t be a surprise with this one.  He’s the number one player in the world and in four trips to this event, he’s finished Top 5 twice.  I think Reed is a great match player but not in good form right now.

Patrick Reed (23)

Cameron Young (40)

Sebastian Munoz (58)

Group 2

Collin Morikawa (2)

Jason Kokrak (22)

Sergio Garcia (43) - This may seem like a long shot with Collin Morikawa in this group but Sergio is a terrific match play competitor.  Have you seen him in the Ryder Cup?  He has finished Top 10 in this event the last editions.

Robert MacIntyre (61)

Group 3

Viktor Hovland (3)

Will Zalatoris (24) - This was one of the toughest groups to make a pick.  Hovland is so damn good, Zalatoris is phenomenal, Tringale is one of the most consistent players on the tour and Straka has already won this year.  I’m going to take the discount and know his ball striking is close enough to Hovland to match up well.    

Cameron Tringale (45)

Sepp Straka (63)

Group 4

Patrick Cantlay (4) - It’s so hard to fade this guy.  I wanted to take the risk on Keith Mitchell because he’s been hot but Cantlay has been unstoppable.  He looked fantastic at the Ryder Cup and while he’s never made it to the knockout round, I think he breaks that streak this weekend.

Sungjae Im (21)

Seamus Power (42)

Keith Mitchell (62)

Group 5

Scottie Scheffler (5) - No one has had a better start to the 2022 calendar year with two wins.  This former Texas Longhorn finished runner up in his first trip to the WGC-Match Play last year.

Matt Fitzpatrick (20)

Tommy Fleetwood (41)

Ian Poulter (59)

Group 6

Justin Thomas (6) - His ball striking has been just phenomenal over the last few weeks. 5 Top 10s in his last 7 starts.

Kevin Kisner (29)

Marc Leishman (37)

Luke List (53)

Group 7

Xander Schauffele (7) - This was probably the easiest one to predict because Tony is just not playing good golf right now.  Xander is probably the best all around player in the game, there aren’t many flaws to nit pick.  

Tony Finau (18)

Lucas Herbert (39)

Takumi Kanaya (56)

Group 8

Dustin Johnson (8) - The former number one player in the world won this event back in 2017.  While he’s not in top form, he had a fantastic run in match play at this last year’s Ryder Cup and I think he can handle this group.   

Max Homa (30)

Matthew Wolff (38)

Mackenzie Hughes (51)

Group 9

Bryson DeChambeau (9)

Talor Gooch (27) - I love Gooch this weekend because he’s played by far the best golf of this group.  Who knows what you are going to get from Bryson this weekend coming off of his injury, Westwood is showing his age and Bland is a nice story but not much to worry about.  

Lee Westwood (47)

Richard Bland (54)

Group 10

Louis Oosthuizen (10)

Paul Casey (19) - This is one of the most difficult groups to call because all of these guys are very similar players.  I picked him because he has made it out of the group stage four times with a runner up finish back in 2010. 

Corey Conners (36)

Alex Noren (50)

Group 11

Jordan Spieth (11) - This Texas native has no problem playing in those winds.  He has made it to the group stage three times including just last year.  Rose is the only other player to have made it out of the group stage in this group and he’s missed back to back cuts coming into this event.

Adam Scott (32)

Justin Rose (46)

Keegan Bradley (60)

Group 12

Billy Horschel (12) - Tom Hoge was tempting with his play this season but Horschel has really turned his game around.  2021 was a disappointing season but 2022 has been anything but.  Oh and did I mention that he’s the defending champ?

Thomas Pieters (26)

Tom Hoge (33)

Min Woo Lee (49)

Group 13

Tyrrell Hatton (13)

Daniel Berger (17) - No, he hasn’t made it out of the opening round before but the guy has one of the most well rounded games on the PGA Tour.  I trust him to come out of this group with a lot of inconsistency.

Si Woo Kim (48)

Christiaan Bezuidenhout (52)

Group 14

Joaquin Niemann (14) - While a guy like Russell Henley and Kevin Na have more experience in this event, I’m going to go with raw talent.  He just missed the knockout round in his debut last year.

Kevin Na (25)

Russell Henley (34)

Maverick McNealy (64)

Group 15

Abraham Ancer (15)

Webb Simpson (31)

Brian Harman (44) - When you look through this group, this may be the last guy you’d expect to come out but the reality is, he’s playing the best of the four.  None of these guys have shown any signs of life this season but Harman just finished 5th last week at the Valspar.  He has also gotten out of the group stage in both of his trips to the event.

Bubba Watson (57)

Group 16

Brooks Koepka (16)

Shane Lowry (28) - While Koepka is the cream of the crop in this group, you just never know if he’ll bring his A game.  Shane has played great golf since returning to the states with a runner up and two other Top 15 finishes.

Harold Varner III (35)

Erik van Rooyen (55)

This tournament begins on Wednesday morning, this is why you're seeing this article put on Tuesday instead of my typical Wednesday morning.  I'll post an article with example lineups for the Corales Puntacana on Wednesday afternoon morning.  When you think about it, there is a real possibility that all six of your golfers won't make it to the round of 16 and that just stinks.   

I wish you godspeed and good luck this week.

My One and Done Play is Taylor Gooch.