Emergency 9: Fantasy golf advice from Round 1 of the WGC-Mexico Chammpionship

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POTOMAC, Md. — Three years and 364 days since his last victory, Jason Day describes himself as “obsessed” with honing his new swing and improving his results, even if he never gets back to No. 1 in the world. RELATED: Leaderboard | Determined to improve attitude, Matthew Wolff opens with 65 at Wells Fargo Championship There wasn’t much room for improvement Thursday as Day shot a 7-under 63 to take the first-round lead at the Wells Fargo Championship. Joel Dahmen was a shot back on what could be the best day for scoring at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, with rain, wind and unseasonably cool temperatures in the forecast through Sunday. “Obviously, we’ve got some weather coming in, so I feel like we’re going to go into grind mode over the next few days, which I typically like,” Day said. “It’s going to be difficult.” The 34-year-old Day has been working with instructor Chris Como on a swing that will protect his chronically balky back, and he says it feels solid with every club except the driver. His renewed dedication and relative good health are encouraging signs from a player who won eight times in a 15-month span in 2015-16, including the PGA Championship and THE PLAYERS Championship. “I think about the golf swing in the morning, I think about the golf swing during the day and I think about the golf swing at night,” Day said. “There’s been conversations at 12 at night with Chris just because I have an idea in my head and a certain sensation and a feel.” Day’s last win came in this tournament at Quail Hollow. The Wells Fargo Championship moved to the Maryland suburbs of Washington this year because its usual venue is hosting the Presidents Cup in September. The International team at that event would surely welcome a resurgent Day, who made five of his eight birdies from inside 10 feet on Thursday. The Australian took the lead with a chip-in on the par-4 15th hole. “The thing that’s different between now and when I was No. 1 in the world, even though the technique might not have been as crisp as it is right now, I had all the confidence in the world, especially on the greens. So that’s always the goal,” Day said. Matthew Wolff, local favorite Denny McCarthy and PGA TOUR rookies Aaron Rai, Callum Tarren and Paul Barjon were two shots back. Rory McIlroy, the top-ranked player in the field at No. 7, had an up-and-down 67. Wolff’s previous two competitive rounds were an 81 and a 78 at the Masters, where the 23-year-old long-hitter finished behind every 60-something past champion in the field. He played a casual round at his home club a few days ago and lost every ball in his bag. Beware the player with nonexistent expectations. “I can go out and shoot 90 tomorrow and as long as I have a good attitude, I can put a check mark on this week and say that I’ve grown as a person and as a player and that’s just all I really care about right now,” Wolff said. “To be honest, it’s funny, but I’m not here to win a golf tournament, I’m here to have a good time.” Dahmen enjoyed his quick surge to the top of the leaderboard. After a 7-iron from 173 yards to 7 feet on the par-4 eighth hole, he stared at the scoreboard behind the green while waiting for playing partners Patrick Reed and Jason Dufner. Then he holed the putt to reach 6 under. “I like seeing my name up there. It’s something that, you know, that’s what we work for, right? To have a little bit of pressure in the first round I think is great,” Dahmen said. Dahmen’s putter cooled on the back nine, but he finally made another birdie when he missed an ace by inches at the par-3 17th. McIlroy’s only big mistake was a tee shot that started too far left and drew into the water on the par-4 fourth, his 13th of the day. A penalty drop and a sloppy chip led to double bogey, but he rebounded with birdies on the next two holes. “I said to myself walking off the green, if I could just get back to 3 under for the day by the end of the day after that, I would be pretty happy, and obviously I did that,” McIlroy said. Rickie Fowler hit two shots into the right-side wetlands on the par-4 sixth, then holed out from 134 yards to save bogey. He hit driver to 11 feet for eagle on the 305-yard, par-4 13th in a round of 66 that he summed up as “interesting.” “There was a couple that were a little offline and cost me a little bit early in the round, but other than that, a lot of good stuff,” said Fowler, who is working through swing changes and has dropped to 146th in the world. “Definitely happy with today.”

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This week, the PGA TOUR travels to Fort Worth, Texas, for the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club. The course will play as a tightly intertwined par 70, measuring 7,209 yards, and will feature bentgrass greens. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $1M Pitch + Putt [$250K to 1st] STRATEGY Colonial Country Club will host the Charles Schwab Challenge once again this year and remains the longest active host for a non-major event on the PGA TOUR. The par 70 setup features doglegs and heavily tree-lined fairways, making accuracy off the tee a must this week. Players who miss the fairway may have their approaches blocked off by large overhanging trees. Water also comes into play on six of the holes and is featured predominately on the 18th, where a large pond guards one side of the green. Last season, Colonial played to a 69.567 scoring average and was the 13th-toughest venue on the PGA TOUR. The winners at this event the last three seasons have also all failed to reach anything better than 15 under par. Last year, Jason Kokrak grabbed the second of his three PGA TOUR wins, besting 2017 Colonial champion Jordan Spieth by two strokes. Kokrak had a fantastic week ball-striking, gaining +11.0 strokes combined in Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee and Approach stats while also gaining +5.5 strokes putting. The smaller bentgrass greens put an emphasis on approach play but do tend to run very pure, and we often see a lower than average amount of three-putts this week, as compared to other venues. With smaller greens and seven par 4s that range between 400-450 yards, players like Brian Harman ($7,800), Kevin Na ($8,100) and Kevin Kisner ($7,400) tend to excel at Colonial thanks to excellent approach and short games. Distance is certainly de-emphasized this week, and the focus for daily fantasy should be on finding players efficient from 150-175 yards on approach and good at scoring on shorter par 4s. GOLFERS TO CONSIDER Abraham Ancer ($9,300) It was a disappointing Sunday for Ancer at the PGA Championship, starting the day in the mix before fading to a T9 finish. Ancer posted his second ever top-10 finish in a major last week, though, and also had his best ball-striking week of the season, gaining +4.6 strokes on approach alone. He appears to be sharpening into form and has the perfect style of game for long-term success at Colonial. Ancer ranks third in driving accuracy off the tee and will also be putting on his preferred surface this week, as he’s up to ninth now in Strokes Gained: Putting on bentgrass greens. Coming off a great week in Tulsa, Ancer makes for a logical starting point in daily fantasy golf lineups on DraftKings this week. Gary Woodland ($7,900) Woodland is another player who gets a bump this week for the setup. He’s 24th in Strokes Gained: Putting on bentgrass greens over the last 50 rounds and is now ranked 10th in Strokes Gained: Approach over that same span. Woodland has had an up-and-down season, as he’s accumulated three top-10 finishes since the beginning of March while also missing three cuts during that same span. Shorter courses aren’t necessarily a poor fit for Woodland, he has posted T9 and T14 finishes at Colonial the past two seasons. He gained strokes everywhere last week, except around the greens, and with easier around-the-green structures in play at Colonial, a big week for Woodland could easily be ahead. Maverick McNealy ($7,500) The last couple golfers to win the Charles Schwab Challenge after it directly followed the PGA Championship came off slow weeks at that major. That’s why I don’t mind playing McNealy for a bounce-back result this week. He struggled at Southern Hills but has been great for daily fantasy purposes, landing 14 made cuts in a row now dating back to last fall. McNealy has made the cut at Colonial in his three appearances at this event and gained over a stroke putting in each of those starts. He’s shown big upside when that club gets rolling and is available this week at a very friendly price on DraftKings. Brian Harman ($7,800) is another player with good course history who looks undervalued this week, given the setup. If you want to take a little more of a risk-reward approach, consider Emiliano Grillo ($7,000), who has finished T19 or better at this event in three of the last four seasons. Grillo has been striking ball poorly this year but comes in off two made cuts in a row. He sets up as a low-owned boom-or-bust target for big tournaments. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $1M Pitch + Putt [$250K to 1st] Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. Place your golf bets at DraftKings Sportsbook or by downloading the DraftKings Sportsbook app. I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and customer (my username is wavegoodbye) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information. 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