There are some excellent value DFS fantasy games for this week’s CIMB Classic with our official fantasy partners at Draftkings and I’m sure there are plenty of our readers who will target the decent prizes on offer. Here is our idea of who to pick and who to avoid in your teams this week.
The first thing to note this week is that there is no cut which is fantastic as we are guaranteed maximum scoring opportunities for everyone in the field. The other thing to note is that the tournament is in Malaysia not America so it takes place in the early hours UK time rather than the evening.
This is going to be a low scoring birdie fest so we’re looking for players who hit the greens in the right number, who score on the par fives and who makes lots of birdies so here are the three stats we’re concentrating on this week merged in with the odd gut feel.
- Greens in Regulation
- Par 5 Scoring
- Birdie Average
We’ll go through the players in our usual three groups although the bottom group isn’t as loaded as the others this week.
Star Men
This group is for players who cost $8,000 and more and there seem to be a lot more of them this week than usual ones for some reason.
MAIN PICK – Patrick Reed $11,200
Yes it is a big chunk of our budget but do you really want to go in without Patrick Reed right now? We certainly don’t. Reed is playing hot and he is a rare American in that he loves travelling and gets results when he does so. I’m expecting the career of Reed to explode into life over the next 12 months and a bunch of birdies here can help it.
PICK – Gary Woodland $9,600
I like Woodland in these sorts of events and especially on courses like this where he can let his swing go off the tee. He does have issues with the short game but 23rd in GIRs last year and tied for 7th in par 5 scoring are both stats that should serve him well here. I’m expecting some decent scoring from the American here.
PICK – Brendan Steele $8,800
Last week’s winner went well here last year and with the confidence he has from winning there is no reason why he shouldn’t score well this week. He was driving the ball lovely last week and we know he has the length to reduce most of these holes to comfortable distances. I think winning could be beyond him given the win and the travelling but 25th in GIRs and 13th in par 5 scoring last season suggests he should score well.
PICK – Daniel Berger $8,600
Another of my favourite players here who drives it like a dream and makes a lot of birdies. He won on Tour for the first time last season so he should be tuned in for a big campaign this time around. 17th in birdie average on the Tour last year. A repeat of that should bump the points up nicely this week.
AVOID – Emiliano Grillo $8,600
I quite like Emiliano Grillo as a player but in a shootout I do worry about his putting. He is solid as a rock from tee to green but you have to hole putts and even when he won in California last year he lost ground to the field in putting. I don’t think you can putt badly and contend around here so we prefer others at this price.
AVOID – Branden Grace $8,400
Pretty easy one to dodge this. We’re in the middle of a quiet spell in the South African’s career. He’ll come out of it of course but a missed cut at the Dunhill Links which he has previously won and a T34 in Macau last week doesn’t suggest he’s ready to provide us with his best just yet. Much better options out there this week.
Mid-Range Players
This is for those players who cost us between $6,600 and $8,000 and there are quite a few in this bracket this week too.
PICK – Si Woo Kim $7,900
Won the Wyndham with a -21 score and a fantasy score of some 139.5pts so he isn’t afraid to score low which he’ll need to do this week. Ended last season with three successive top 20 finishes in the playoffs and nearly stole the Rookie of the Year title from Emiliano Grillo. Has been playing in Asia recently to good tune and everything is set up for him to score well here.
PICK – Brian Harman $7,200
Harman missed the cut in California last week but he finished last season well enough to suggest we should give him a look at this price. He is a wonderful putter which is something he has on his side and with no restraints off the tee around this golf course there is nothing to stop him scoring nicely. We’re guaranteed four rounds and there should be a good number of birdies in there.
PICK – Soomin Lee $7,200
Led after 54 holes on the European Tour in Malaysia earlier this year and while that wasn’t around here that bodes well for him. He hits a lot of greens and makes a lot of birdies and if he can handle playing at this level then we should get some decent scoring out of him.
PICK – Charles Howell III $7,000
He may not be the form pick but he is a birdie maker and over four rounds at this place that can be no bad thing. Howell III was in the top 10 in par 5 scoring on the Tour last season and he ranked 21st in birdie average and 38th for GIRs. They’re all statistics which should see lots of red on his scorecard.
AVOID – Kevin Kisner $7,700
Although I like Kevin Kisner he has only passed 75pts once in his last 10 tournaments and if we are forking out this sort of price we want a bigger return than that especially as it could mean we have to avoid one of the potentially top price better scorers. At this price we’ll avoid Kisner this week.
AVOID – Colt Knost $6,800
Six missed cuts out of seven for the American so the one good thing for him is that he will definitely be getting paid something this week but will we if we take him? I don’t think so. His confidence can’t be high and he isn’t the longest hitter out there or the best putter. He’s definitely not for us this week.
Bottom End Players
This is for those players who cost is $6,500 or less. This isn’t the deepest pool this week but there are still some we like and don’t like.
PICK – Hudson Swafford $6,500
Swafford cost almost $8,000 last week and he scored fairly well considering he was never in contention but we like him more this week especially when we can pick him up at this price. He was 22nd in GIRs last year and 26th in birdie average and those numbers suggest we’ve got a nice pick at a nice price here.
PICK – Marcus Fraser $6,400
We’ve said most of what we need to in our betting preview but this is a guy capable of making a lot of birdies and who is comfortable playing at this level despite his European Tour status. Expect solid numbers from the Australian this week.
AVOID – David Hearn $6,500
Nothing much in his recent form to suggest we want to be on him here and he isn’t a particularly low scorer either. His putting isn’t the best and so he might be a little on the expensive side here. We prefer the two above to him and a couple more.
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