Fanduel Golf Picks: US Open

FanDuel Golf US Open Edition.
Erin Hills Golf Course
June 15^th -€” 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 5^th in driving distance, 49^th in strokes gained off the tee, 3^rd in eagles, 12^th in birdie's and currently sits on 8 straight cuts made with 5 top 20 finishes in that stretch. Jon Rahm is 13^th in driving distance, 3^rd in strokes gained off the tee, 2^nd 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, 1^st in official world golf rating, 1^st in drive distance, 1^st in strokes gained off the tee, 1^st in strokes gained tee to green and 1^st 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 27^th in driving distance, 51^st in strokes gained off the tee and 32^nd 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 117^th in driving distance but he is 16^th in strokes gained off the tee and 36^th 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 22^nd on the tour in driving distance and 55^th 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.