This week, the PGA Tour brings us the next Major of the season, with the 159th edition of the Open Championship, an event we did not get to see last year due to the pandemic stoppage. This year, the event will be hosted by Royal St. George’s, which is truly a links course. Expect uneven fairways, deep bunkers, and severe weather on a course positioned between two large bodies of water.
The weather is expected to be warm and dry, but expect plenty of wind at double-digit mph. We have adjusted our model accordingly and will look at golfers who play well under such conditions. Our key stat to focus on this week will be strokes gained off the tee and will lean more towards accuracy than distance. In this post, we use our full set of metrics and highlight some of our favorite golfers in the competition:
Jordan Spieth ($9,700-DK; +1400 to win)
Spieth won the Open in 2017 and has multiple top 20 finishes in the event since then. Spieth is easily a top 5 golfer in the world right now, but he is priced outside the top 5 on Draft Kings, which makes him a solid play in DFS contests this week.
Patrick Cantlay ($8,900-DK; +3500 to win)
There is no denying Cantlay’s form this season. Cantlay also excels in windy conditions, he ranks near the top in bogey avoidance, and he is an elite scrambler. Cantlay ranks extremely high in our model this week.
Tommy Fleetwood ($8,000-DK; +4000 to win)
For this pick, we are looking at one of the better golfers from the Euro Tour. Fleetwood also finished 2nd in this event when it was last held in 2019.
Robert Macintyre ($7,500-DK; +7000 to win)
We are going right back to another golfer from the Euro Tour here. Macintyre has shown excellent form lately and is priced way too low.
Stewart Cink ($6,900-DK; +13000 to win)
Cink is another golfer we love for DFS value, especially in cash games. Not only does Cink have multiple wins on the season, but he has also made his last 8 cuts. We like him to keep the streak alive here.
Sam Burns ($6,300-DK; +13000 to win)
Burns is another golfer that we believe is drastically underpriced. Burns stands out in our model due to his excellent approach. He should be priced about $1000 higher on DK, which means excellent savings. Burns should be considered in all cash game builds.
*This preview does not represent our final picks for this event. For our full set of picks, check out our Game Picks section!
**Odds accurate at time of posting.