It was another fantastic week on the PGA Tour.  Congratulations to Kurt Kitayama on winning his first PGA Tour event of his career.  It was amazing to see him survive a triple bogey on the ninth hole to beat the likes of Rory McIlory, Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, and Tyrrell Hatton.  It was quite an eventful final round with six players owning at least a share of the lead at some point.  Kurt becomes the first player to win at the Arnold Palmer in his first visit since 1990 when Robert Gomez outlasted Greg Norman.  You have to feel good for a player like him who has grinded throughout his career.  He was called “The Project” in college at UNLV nearly 10 years ago.  The game developed throughout college and onto the DP World Tour where he won twice.  Now, in his 50th career PGA Tour start, he is a winner.  

I can’t describe how much I’ve enjoyed these “designated events” thus far.  They have felt like major championships with so many great players across the leaderboards.  I have to say that despite not having the likes of Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau in these fields, we’ve had fantastic tournaments.  We’ve had first time winners, we’ve had premiere players take home titles and everything in between.    We’ve got another one at the PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP this week which already has a reputation of being the unofficial fifth major.  

TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida plays host to this event and is known best for its signature 17th hole, a par 3 with an Island Green. This hole is one of the most exciting holes to watch on Tour and it has shattered the dreams of many PGA pros.  The 17th hole may be the big attraction for casual golf fans, but there is a lot more to dive into at Sawgrass.

Like most of the Florida course, accuracy is the name of the game.  This track is not particularly long at 7,275 yards but it can trip you up in many ways. These golfers will feel a false sense of security at times.  Scrambling will be vital because this course was designed by Pete Dye and if you’ve ever played one of his courses, you know it can be quite a humbling experience.  Luck plays quite a role at THE PLAYERS because depending on where you land the ball on these sloping greens, they can be your best friend or your worst enemy.  The greens are large but they are quite fast.      

The biggest factor this weekend will be the weather.  There is a 75 percent chance or greater of rain Thursday through Saturday.  You hate to see something like rain determine the winner but that’s the cold hard truth. 

When you look at course history, players who are known as good course managers have had the most success.  We're looking for Tee-to-Green players with excellent Greens in Regulation numbers and once again take a look at Strokes Gained: Approach.  These players have to avoid the hazards and getting themselves into disastrous situations, so length off the tee is not as important as keeping your ball in the fairway.  This is a difficult course and no tour player is completely safe from missing the cut.  There are 144 players in the field and the Top 65 and ties will see weekend action.

I just wanted to take a moment to remind all my readers that the players listed in my playbook are the golfers that I personally recommend using this weekend.  All the 9K plus golfers on DraftKings have the capability to win this tournament but you must draw the line somewhere because you obviously cannot use all of them.  After doing my research, the players I've listed are the ones that I'm building my lineups around but just because I did not list a certain player in the playbook, does not mean I am completely fading them this weekend.

As always, I wish you all the best of luck and make sure you follow me on Twitter @DrewPhelps05 and hit me up in the Discord throughout the week.

ONE AND DONE SELECTION: Viktor Hovland

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