PGA Golf DFS

PGA Golf DFS Strategy: Guide to Winning DFS Battles on the Links

Fantasy sports bloggers in football, baseball, basketball, and soccer are pretty good about keeping track of opponents that potential DFS draft picks will be facing. Every NFL or NBA player who touches the ball is someone’s Fantasy draft choice in the next game. They’re each going up against a particular defense – weak, strong, big, or speedy. 

DFS tippers sometimes forget that there’s a “defense” in golf too. The golf courses! Just like defenses in other sports, every golf layout is different and poses a different set of challenges to each PGA Tour pro. 

Sure, a glance at a PGA golfer’s record at a certain course or event is standard in Fantasy-season and DFS links previews. But when younger players who haven’t built up a legacy on Tour are teeing-off somewhere for the 1st time, pundits often skip the step altogether. 

Or, when a veteran player like Tiger Woods has succeeded at a specific country club 10 or 20 years ago, PGA Tour DFS tips may include Tiger touts without stopping to think that he’s not necessarily suited for that course anymore. It pays to remember where golfers are playing – even if DFS points are always counted on your trusty old laptop. 

We’ll briefly go over the rules for Daily Fantasy Sports, or “DFS” golf games at FanDuel. If you already know the site’s golf DFS rules, scroll further for a more in-depth look at applying PGA Tour course knowledge to making winning draft picks on the links.

FanDuel’s DFS Golf Draft and Scoring Rules

Each competitor at FanDuel can select 6 golfers headed into a PGA Tour event. Salary caps are in place to prevent dreary repetition in team selections. 

If everyone could select any “6-some” among top world-ranked golfers, then the sextets would tend to look alike. The website’s cap of “FanDuel dollars” presents tactical choices to each DFS golf draft participant. Want to load-up on “A” draft selections like Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson? Fine – but it’ll cost you in “B” options. 

Our DFS golf portal gives Fantasy GMs the option of competing in an entire 72-hole stroke-play tourney, “weekend only” or final 36-hole matches, or “winner take all” Sunday-only Fantasy events with picks made on Saturday night. 

FanDuel uses an exciting system to score DFS draft picks’ performances. When a golfer finishes 1st or in the top 10 on Sunday, his Fantasy GM is rewarded with a bundle of points. For instance, a 3rd place finish results in an 18-point windfall for that player’s DFS team. Note, however, that there is no penalty if a drafted golfer finishes dead-last on Sunday. Nor are penalties for mishaps as substantial as rewards for birdies and eagles. 

Double Bogey or Worse – minus 3 points 

Bogey – minus 1 point 

Par – Plus 0.5 points 

Birdie – Plus 3.1 points

Eagle or Albatross – Plus 7 points 

DFS golf scoring is all about red numbers. A player’s score at the end of a round can be 71, or just -1 on a Par-72 layout. But if their scorecard includes 5 birdies in a row on the front 9, the golfer’s Fantasy GMs receive a boost of momentum. If a power-hitter makes 3 bogeys in a row and then eagles a short Par 5, his GM has scored 2 more immediate points than a DFS competitor whose golfer has scored 4 pars in a row. 

Weekend-Only DFS golf competition is more-weighted to the final leaderboard since drafted players have fewer holes in which to rack-up bonus points. On the other hand, at a major championship such as the U.S. Open, players could find themselves making so many weekend bogeys that some GMs are happy to get their leaders off of the course. 

DFS teams also receive a scoring boost when players string birdies together, bounce back with an under-par score following a bogey, finish a round without bogeys, or pepper a scorecard with red holes. GMs can also access PGA players’ average Fantasy Points Per Game, or FPPG while perusing DFS draft boards, though golf junkies would prefer “FPPT” for “Fantasy Points Per Tournament” or “FPPR” for “Fantasy Points Per Round.” 

Course and Player Knowledge in Golf DFS Strategy 

When John Daly won the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick in 1991, it was considered a massive upset. When Daly won another major title at St. Andrews in 1995, he was far from the most-popular “futures” pick on the Wednesday gambling board. 

However, each course layout allowed Daly to maximize his skill-set and hide his weaknesses. Crooked Stick was such a long course from its original “black” tees that modest drivers didn’t stand a chance through 4 rounds. Daly’s average of 300-yards plus off the tee took care of that problem. St. Andrews isn’t an especially long links, but its fiery fairways and short, tricky holes worked in Daly’s favor while sending other players’ Titleists scurrying into the rough. Daly was often found in the rough too, but near the green, where his fine short game turned bad lies into birdies. 

“Long” John’s worst on-course meltdown came during the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, a course that rewards accuracy over distance, and putting nerves over flop shots from the fescue. There is no long fescue on the Donald Ross layout, in fact, only pine needles and domed greens that cause brains in cranial domes to crack. Daly’s illegal putt taken in frustration wound up costing his Fantasy teams (and himself) 2 more strokes over par.

There is little video of John Daly's moment behind the 8th green of Pinehurst No. 2. So, @goldyeller recreated it, with Big John's commentary: @PGA_JohnDalypic.twitter.com/YoePmcrcsc

— Pinehurst Resort (@PinehurstResort) June 19, 2018

It’s good advice to match DFS draft picks with player-course “relationships” that will net more birdies and eagles. But remember that a course full of “birdie holes” for 1 set of PGA Tour golfers can be a layout full of grinding pars for another set of players.

Firestone has traditionally served as a difficult Tour course, among the rare PGA settings around which single-digits under par can win a Buick Invitational-type of event. But the layout strongly rewards pure distance, shot integrity, and putting, qualities that Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods possessed in spades in their primes. Therefore, the Ohio links were often a birdie-fest for Tiger and Jack while other contenders plodded.

Meanwhile, a tiny course like Merion can suit finesse players like Jordan Spieth, while cursing even the straightest long-hitters with deception and severe slopes.

Almost all birdies and eagles are converted with sunk putts. Look for players who are putting well to flourish when greens are flat enough to reward a smooth stroke. Rory McIlroy’s hot putter has helped him to twice-as-short betting odds as Brooks Koepka or Dustin Johnson to win 2020’s biggest golf tournaments. However, the evil greens at Augusta National or Harbour Town might level the field somewhat.

It doesn’t matter if your DFS draft pick’s 15-foot missed putts wind up 1 foot away on-average while another golfer’s misses wind up 2 feet away. Each scenario results in a tap-in for par, and successful DFS golf GMs are always looking for red figures. When greens are difficult, it’s the best short-iron players who become more-valuable Fantasy picks. After all, on a tough green (or any golf green) the best 2-foot putts are for birdies.

More Golf DFS Tips for Intermediate Fantasy GMs

It’s also crucial to avoid drafting players who could lose the plot ala Daly-at-Pinehurst, especially on Thursday and Friday of a 72-hole Fantasy match. The “cut-line” at a PGA Tour stop is usually “top 65 scores and ties” (down from 70-and-ties as of 2019) and if scoring is healthy, a golfer can score in the low 70s and still miss the cut. When a 72-hole DFS game becomes imbalanced, with 1 GM owning more golfers eligible to make birdies over the final 36 holes, the score tends to become lopsided. 

It’s easier for a PGA golfer to “blow up” with a score in the 80s when they’re going through style changes. Golfers like Tiger are more likely to be working on aspects of their swings at the Mickey Mouse Bahamas Classic than at Pinehurst, however. Top-ranked PGA pros will make equipment or coaching changes during the “silly season” and not when teeing-off in the majors. Therefore, sometimes a big-name (and FanDuel salary-cap expensive) golfer can be a poor draft choice going into a less-important event, but a stronger draft choice in an iconic setting like Pebble Beach. 

Prior to drafting a 6-player DFS team, trace over the Tour stop’s course map and take note of the yardages. If the Par 3s are all 200+ yards and the Par 4s are severe, then there is a chance an old-fashioned team of careful “target” golfers could each make the cut with room to spare, and help a GM overwhelm an opponent with consistent pars. 

But, even if a shorter layout is also full of hazards, any factor that helps players make birdies will help a DFS golf GM score points on route to Sunday afternoon.