We’ve finally reached the end of the 2018 PGA season, but there’s still 10 million dollars on the line this week for the winner of the FedEx Cup Championship. While only five players in the field fully control their own destiny for the FedEx cup crown, there are still many more guys with a shot at the title if they can top an elite 30-man field for the Tour Championship.
The Tour Championship is held at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, and measures out to a fairly long 7,350 yard, Par 70 layout. East Lake is primarily known for its difficulty to hit fairways and extremely undulating greens. While the fairways are difficult to hit, the rough at East Lake isn’t very difficult and the course doesn’t have a huge penalty for missing the fairway off-the-tee, other than taking some spin off of wedge approaches. The approach game on the other hand is where players will make their money this week. The greens at East Lake are some of the most difficult on tour and usually play as some of the fastest greens that we see all year, so proximity to the hole on approach shots is crucial.
We have plenty of course history to go on this week and East Lake is interesting in that it doesn’t really favor any one style of play, with both bombers and plodders being able to find success.
With this being only a 30-man, no cut event, we are really going to need to get contrarian in our lineup builds to give us a real shot at taking down a tournament. Personally, I’m doing this by leaving at minimum $500 of salary on the table. Any one in the field can win this week, so don’t be afraid to take some stands with multiple of the guys down in the sub $7,000 range on DraftKings.
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Key Stats
Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee
Par-5 Scoring
Birdie-or-Better Percentage
Ball Striking
The Tour Championship picks (Daily Fantasy Golf)
Brooks Koepka ($10,000)
While Koepka can’t seal the FedEx Cup crown this week without some help from the guys in the top-5, his game sets up perfectly for what East Lake will require. Koepka has shown himself to be somewhat of a specialist on long, Par-70 layouts, with wins at majors held at Shinnecock and Bellerive. Koepka is dominate on Par-4s, ranking in the top-15 on tour this season in Par-4 scoring and Par-4 birdie or better percentage. He also enters in solid form with five straight top-20 finishes and will likely be the lowest owned of the players priced above $10,000 outside of Dustin Johnson.
Tiger Woods ($9,500)
I’ve been on the Tiger train all season long (HOT TAKE ALERT), and have been extremely encouraged by his performances throughout the year. While Tiger has yet to break through with a win, he has been in contention multiple times throughout the season and a return win is certainly coming if he keeps putting himself in contention. Tiger is a former winner here at East Lake and his game will fit the options that East Lake gives players off the tee. No one has been better on approach shots this season, and if Tiger can keep the irons hot and finally get the Scotty Cameron rolling, he has as good of a chance as anyone in the field this week.
Webb Simpson ($7,500)
Simpson is having an excellent season by anyone’s standards. He finished inside the top-20 in every major this year, posted a dominate winning performance at THE PLAYERS, and was an automatic pick for the Ryder Cup team on points. Webb is set up excellently to contend this week at East Lake and it would not shock me at all if his all around ball striking carries him to a Tour Championship Title. East Lake shares a lot of similarities to Sedgefield CC, site of the Wyndham Championship, where Webb has an elite course history, backed up by a second place finish this season.
Kyle Stanley ($6,100)
Speaking of great seasons, 2018 has been a career year for Stanley and he is my favorite sub-$7,000 play this week. Stanley can he inconsistent at times, but I’m going to trust that he can find his ball striking game just in time to pop one more time this season at a course that should fit his tee-to-green ability. Stanley’s price point of $6,100 fits in perfectly with my strategy to leave plenty of money on the table in this no-cut event, and will help to allow you to jam in one of two elite studs at the top of your roster.
Others to Consider: Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Marc Leishman, Cameron Smith