UPDATED WEEKEND OPTIMALS AT 7PM EASTERN!!!

This is it, we're down to the final 30 golfers for the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia.  The former boyhood course of the famed golfer Bobby Jones, who by the age of 11 was shooting 80 and later put his name in the history books when he captured the 1930 Grand Slam.  The Atlanta Athletic Club relocated from East Lake in 1967 leaving behind 25 members who opposed the move.  In 1993, a partnership was formed to restore the club as a tribute to Bobby Jones.  The Tour Championship came to East Lake in 1998 for the first time and they' made it an annual stop in 2004.

Jordan Spieth took down the Tour Championship in 2015 to take home the FedEx Cup title which ended a truly amazing season for the rising star.  This year, he became just the second golfer in Playoffs history to enter the TOUR Championship atop the FedEx Cup standings without a victory in the Playoffs.  Tiger Woods did it in 2013 for the first time.  Five golfers who started the series outside the top 30 in points qualified for this week’s 30-man field at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. 

Look back at previous leaderboards at East Lake, there is a U.S. Open type feel which means that greens in regulation (GIR) and putting are vital to success.  Believe it or not, driving distance was the least crucial factor for finishing in the Top 5.  You should be targeting players who can place the ball on the greens in the right places as they deal with different shelf levels and big slopes.  We also want golfers who can be effective with their irons from 175 and 200 yards out.  If you are looking at some of the big bombers out there, make sure you check out their Total Driving numbers before plugging them into your lineups.  There is 10 million dollars on the line this weekend, we should see the cream rise to the top at East Lake this weekend.

I usually put about 16-20 golfers in my playbook on a weekly basis but there are only 30 golfers in the field at the Tour Championship.  This makes doing a full playbook worthless.  This event also has no cut which means every player plays all four rounds unless they withdraw.  I've also mentioned in many previous articles that in an event like this one, you should really avoid playing cash games and just play GPPs.  I'm going to release two optimal GPP lineups for both Draft Kings and Fanduel.  I've employed different strategies with each of these lineups from stars and scrubs to balanced.  When building your GPPs, do not feel the need to use every dollar of your salary cap because you must differentiate yourself from the pack with such a small field.  There will be a lot of repeat lineups, so playing my exact optimal lineup might not be in your best interest.

I must thank Steve Pimental for filling in for me last minute as I was in the emergency room.  I have recovered and am feeling much better but I just could not even think about doing a playbook as I was sitting in the waiting room.

Lastly, I can’t thank all my readers enough for all the support throughout the season.  It was a wild ride throughout my second full season as the Fantasy Alarm’s DFS Golf writer.  I look forward to another successful season in 2017-18.  

WEEKEND OPTIMALS ON DRAFT KINGS

GPP #1

Jason Day $9100

Justin Rose $8900

Jon Rahm $8700

Brooks Koepka $8300

Gary Woodland $7300

Webb Simpson $7200

GPP #2

Justin Thomas $9300

Jason Day $9100

Paul Casey $8600

Patrick Reed $7800

Gary Woodland $7300

Webb Simpson $7200

DRAFT KINGS OPTIMALS:

FANDUEL OPTIMALS:

MY PICK TO WIN:

JUSTIN ROSE