Stricker: U.S. team will stand for National Anthem

The third tournament on the Florida Swing is THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The tournament will play as a par 72, measuring 7,189 yards and will be putt on TifEagle bermuda overseeded with Poa Trivialis/velvet bentgrass. The tournament was canceled after the first round last season due to COVID-19, and the TOUR subsequently shut down for three months. Before the tournament cancellation, Hideki Matsuyama (+4000, $8,700) shot 9-under in the first round, tying the course record. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: $2.5M Fantasy Golf Millionaire [$1M to 1st + ToC Entry] STRATEGY Forty-eight of the top 50 ranked golfers will be in attendance, all looking to win this illustrious tournament. The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is a Pete Dye design and probably his most notable. The course isn't challenging, it's not even Dye's most formidable track. Still, Sawgrass plays challenging when the wind picks up, especially if the golfers' irons aren't precise. TPC Sawgrass is a vintage Florida course with many bunkers and water hazards to navigate, bringing big numbers into play. In 2019, the tournament recorded the ninth-most bogeys and fourth-most double-bogeys. Dye also made sure golfers don't get "used" to the course by not having back-to-back holes featuring similarities of any kind. They'll dogleg in opposite directions, either into or against the wind, and vary substantially in distance. Par 5s follow par 3s, which then go onto a par 4. Some of these par 4s are behemoths, with four measuring over 460 yards. There are also three under 400 yards, so golfers will need to adapt at every turn. Like last week, scoring on the par 5s is a must with the difficulty and uniqueness of the par 4s. TPC Sawgrass recorded the second-most eagles on TOUR in 2019 and the third-most in 2018. The greens will be small and fast, which means overall proximity and Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green will be a priority. The tournament moved back to its March date last season for the first time since 2006. The course usually plays fast and firm when in May. One prominent difference golfers have mentioned is the use of more drivers off the tee. Winds are more troublesome in March than in May, and temperatures are a little cooler, so golf shots aren't going to roll out as much. Speaking of the winds, if it's gusting, this course will be challenging. If not, it should play relatively easy as a shorter, par 72. Similar to other Florida courses like Bay Hill last week, golfers with a lot of course history at TPC Sawgrass prevail. The last three winners have played this course a combined 21 starts with Rory McIlroy (+1600, $10,600) winning in his 10th and Jason Day's (+5000, $8,000) first win coming in his sixth. Pricing is generous this week, and lineups could skew more balanced. Contrarian lineups should consider pairing expensive golfers with players priced in the bottom half of salaries. In 2018, the top seven golfers in DraftKings scoring were below $7,300 with two below $7,000. In 2019, three of the top six golfers in DraftKings scoring were in the $6,000 range, with Jhonattan Vegas (+30000, $6,300) finishing in third place while priced at $6,100 GOLFERS TO CONSIDER Rory McIlroy (+1600 to Win, $10,600 on DraftKings) No one has been better on Pete Dye courses over the previous 50 rounds, tee-to-green, than McIlroy. We should see more drivers used this week over past years with its March date, and for the first three rounds last week, Rory was extraordinary, gaining 2.73 strokes off-the-tee. Rory also ranked ninth at Bay Hill with his irons and has been elite here, ranking second to only Adam Scott (+8000, $8,100) in Strokes Gained: Total since 2016. The move to March will give players like Rory a slight edge with how well he hits it off-the-tee. Patrick Cantlay (+2200 to Win, $9,200 on DraftKings) A recent pre-tournament WD back at the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship may temper his projected roster percentage, but if (and when) it doesn't, he should still be a worthwhile pick for your lineups. Cantlay ranks second to only Dustin Johnson (+1200, $11,200) in Strokes Gained: Total over the previous 36 rounds on Pete Dye courses and is averaging 3.7 strokes gained with his irons. He missed the cut in 2019 but finished with back-to-back top 25s in his two previous starts. This year will be Cantlay's fourth start at TPC Sawgrass, which could also be his fourth career win if he keeps striking the ball like he has been so far this year. Paul Casey (+4000 to Win, $8,400 on DraftKings) Casey's Sunday last week was forgettable, but it shouldn't overshadow an otherwise successful week, ranking sixth in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green at Bay Hill. The Englishman is on a fantastic run with a win, a top 5 and no worse than a 12th-place in his past four worldwide starts. His record here is less than ideal over his 13 previous starts, with six missed cuts and two withdraws. Still, the years he's made the cut are impressive with no worse than a T23. Two of his three wins on the PGA TOUR have come in Florida, and he ranks 12th in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green over his previous 36 rounds on Dye courses. Abraham Ancer (+8000 to Win, $7,500 on DraftKings) Ancer missed the cut at The Genesis Invitational but gained seven strokes tee-to-green at the WGC event at The Concession Golf Club a couple of weeks ago. A good Masters Tournament showing last November and an excellent track record on Pete Dye courses should put Ancer right in the mix like he was back in 2019, when he finished 12th. Another golfer in this range, Russell Henley (+12500, $7,400), should garner some attention at $100 cheaper. Henley is one of the best ball-strikers on TOUR and is making his eighth start at TPC Sawgrass. Like Casey, his finishes are a mixed-bag of missed cuts and good golf, finishing no worse than a T35 in the three tournaments he's made the cut. Ryan Moore (+27500 to Win, $6,800 on DraftKings) Moore had been inconsistent this year with three missed cuts before his 26th-place finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last month. His experience at this course rivals few with 13-straight starts, finishing with a 20th-place finish in 2019. Moore has been great tee-to-green at Dye course, ranking seventh over the previous 24 rounds on his courses. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: $2.5M Fantasy Golf Millionaire [$1M to 1st + ToC Entry] Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. 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When K.H. Lee looks back to the starting point of his golf journey, he can only marvel at how a twist of fate which saw him learn the game with a Ted Lasso-type swing coach has since led him to stardom on the PGA TOUR. In May, Lee became the eighth and latest Korean winner on TOUR following his triumph at the AT&T Byron Nelson which cemented his rise to prominence. And it all began with an initial foray to the local driving range as a 13-year-old trying to lose weight following an initial tinker as a shot put athlete. “My dad had a restaurant and next door was a driving range. I followed him for fun and eventually took lessons. My main motive was to go there and lose weight, but I never lost any weight,” laughed Lee, who tipped the scales at 212 pounds during his teens. After being bitten by the golf bug, Lee found encouragement through the uplifting and inspirational ways of a local golf pro, whose teaching style can be likened to Ted Lasso, the fictional soccer coach starring in the self-titled sports comedy-drama streaming TV series. “The reason I continued was the pro who was teaching juniors, and he kept giving me positive feedback about my swing. He was very encouraging and complimented me often and I felt good. That kept me going in golf and he bragged to others about me, and it made me work hard. I remember my mother was a violin teacher and she tried to teach me which did not go well. When she asked me to practice a piece 10 times, I haphazardly did it without any concentration. Golf was different. It was fun and I could go on for hours.” Within a few years, Lee’s exceptional talents saw him being part of the gold medal Korean Team at the 2010 Asian Games in China, which exempts him from mandatory military service. He turned professional soon after and amassed two victories each on the Korean Tour and Japan Golf Tour from between 2012 to 2016. He subsequently took the big leap of faith to America and qualified for the Korn Ferry Tour in 2016 and two years later, three runner-up results saw him secure his dream PGA TOUR card which Lee cherishes, largely due to the sacrifices and support of his parents through the years. “Like everyone else, my parents sacrificed a lot. They supported me with everything. They never told me to quit even when my game was not going well. My father wanted to be a baseball player, but his parents were against it. Since he could not do what he wanted, he decided to support his son, me,” said Lee, who is the only child. “He encouraged me and helped in every way possible. He was there since the beginning. We would go abroad to practice every winter and he was my chauffer to tournaments. When my father was with me on the Korn Ferry Tour, he had a difficult time with the food. It was difficult to find a decent Korean or Asian restaurant in the countryside and I remember he had his tooth pulled out during one trip! They gave me everything they could, and I cannot sufficiently show my appreciation.” Lee is now one the most jovial golfers on the PGA TOUR, and joked during an interview that he had two big goals in life – to become the No. 1 player in the world and the sexiest golfer alive. “When I won in May, my goals went viral as many golfers were amused by this story,” he said. “Being sexy means to be a muscular guy. It’s in my dream but not quite possible in reality. I want to be muscular, but I enjoy eating so much. For example, I try not to eat dinner if I have a big lunch, but when dinner time comes, I am usually hungry again. I will work out hard, but I will eat hard as well.” With this week’s THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT in Las Vegas being a “home” game for Lee and the other Koreans in the field – the tournament is being played outside its traditional home in Korea for the second straight year due to the pandemic – Lee hopes to hit the jackpot again to get his 2021-22 Season going. “Last season was the best and I couldn’t be more ecstatic. It was my best year on the golf course, and we had a baby,” said Lee, who welcomed the arrival of his first child, a baby girl named Celine Yuna Lee, in July with wife, Joo Yeon Yu. “I’m looking forward to the new season, and the goal will be to have another victory and getting myself into the top-50 in the world. Playing for Korea, representing the International Team in the Presidents Cup next year would also be a huge ambition. I’m trying to focus on winning and if I can get into the top-50, it would probably assure me of a spot in the Presidents Cup. I would be honored beyond measure to represent my country,” added the Korean, who finished 31st on the FedExCup standings last season.

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