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FanDuel Golf US Open Edition.
Erin Hills Golf Course
June 15th - 18th
The format (different this week):
Three Premium Priced picks
Two Mid-tier Priced picks
Three Bargain Basement picks.
Pricey Picks ($8,000+)
Brooks Koepka ($8,400)
Jon Rahm ($10,400)
Dustin Johnson ($11,200)
I'll start with the least exciting of these three because I am MOST excited about him this tournament. I think Brooks could be in contention Sunday afternoon. He's 5th in driving distance, 49th in strokes gained off the tee, 3rd in eagles, 12th in birdie's and currently sits on 8 straight cuts made with 5 top 20 finishes in that stretch. Jon Rahm is 13th in driving distance, 3rd in strokes gained off the tee, 2nd in strokes gained tee to green, finally missed at the Memorial after 15 consecutive made cuts this season inclusive of ten top 20 finishes. Finally - Dustin Johnson, the reigning US Open champion, 1st in official world golf rating, 1st in drive distance, 1st in strokes gained off the tee, 1st in strokes gained tee to green and 1st in stokes gained total (and he's the one of the three pricey picks I'm LEAST excited about).
Mid-Tier Picks ($6,000-$8,000):
Kevin Chappell ($6,700)
Tyrell Hatton ($7,600)
Kevin is 27th in driving distance, 51st in strokes gained off the tee and 32nd in strokes gained tee to green. In addition to this, he had his first win at the Valero Texas Open 2 months ago and has three top ten finishes in his last 6 tournaments. Tyrell is my gamble, most of the picks excel in their driving which is necessary at Erin Hills due to it's length. Tyrell is 117th in driving distance but he is 16th in strokes gained off the tee and 36th in stokes gained tee to green. In addition to this he's made 6 out of 8 cuts this year with 4 top 20 finishes.
Bargain Picks ($6,000-):
Andrew Johnston ($5,600)
Xander Schauffele ($4,800)
Michael Putnam ($5,000)
I have a theory that I'm testing on this course. Wide long terrain with brutal roughs sounds like a classic Open Championship venue. The same kind of venue that players like Andrew Johnston and Tyrell Hatton would excel at. Thus I'm picking "Beef". Xander is currently 22nd on the tour in driving distance and 55th in birdie average. Since February he has missed three cuts and finished in the top 30 three times. Michael Putnam meanwhile is 3/4 on cuts made this season with sub par rounds in 4 of his last 8, it's a cheap play and hope for someone who could make the cut on Saturday.