Inside The Field: Dean & Deluca Invitational

Golf is back once again in the Olympic Games after returning for the Rio games in 2016. Now in Tokyo, both the men and women will play on the East Course of the Kasumigaseki CC, a private club in Saitama, a little over 30 miles northwest of Tokyo. The course is 92 years old and was renovated four years ago to add length (and difficulty) in preparation for the games taking place in 2020. The course measures 7,447 yards, is a par 71 and should have bentgrass greens. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: INTL GOLF $700K Gold Golfer [$200K to 1st] STRATEGY Up to 60 golfers (in both men’s and women’s events) will be competing in a stroke-play, four-round, no-cut event similar to a World Golf Championships (WGC) event. Top-ranked players Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau have tested positive for COVID-19 and will not be competing. Patrick Reed (+1400, $10,100) has taken DeChambeau’s place on the United States team. The men’s tournament starts on July 29 and finishes on Aug. 1. Tom Fazio was responsible for renovating the course to fit the modern tests and parameters of today’s game. Fazio lengthened the course, added fairway bunkers where golfers should hit their drives and reshaped the greens similar to what’s on TOUR. The fairways are treelined and wide and the greens will be huge, so proximity to the hole will play a factor this week. Fazio says this course reminds him of Donald Ross’ designs in the Northeast (Plainfield CC, Sedgefield CC). If we know anything about Ross courses, it’s all about the second shot and position golf Off-the-Tee. Other Fazio courses on TOUR are Firestone CC (WGC-Bridgestone), a redesign of Quail Hollow (Wells Fargo), Conway Farms (BMW Championship in 2013, 2015 and 2017) and Shadow Creek (2020 CJ Cup). With no cut, all six golfers are going to make the weekend. Similar to WGCs, placement points and birdie or better scoring are a must if you want to win a GPP this week. The top five golfers in birdies or better gained over the previous 24 rounds are (starting from highest) Rory McIlroy (+1200, $10,300), Sungjae Im (+2800, $9,000), Sepp Straka (+25000, $6,400), Cameron Smith (+2800, $8,900) and Xander Schauffele (+800, $10,700). GOLFERS TO CONSIDER Justin Thomas (+1100 to Win, $10,900 on DraftKings) When in doubt, zoom out. Over the previous 50 rounds, Thomas ranks seventh in DraftKings points gained over the field and third in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. Thomas’ recent finishes aren’t pleasant for the fourth-ranked golfer in the world, with only one top 10 since his win at THE PLAYERS back in March. Still, he’s got one of the best win rates outside of Collin Morikawa (+650, $11,200) among the top players, winning a tournament, on average, every nine events dating back to the BMW Championship in 2019. Thomas gets even better when it’s a no-cut event, ranking first in Strokes Gained: Total over his previous 50 rounds in these events, and with nine of his 14 wins coming in this format. Paul Casey (+1200 to Win, $9,500 on DraftKings) Casey’s success this season started with a win overseas at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and has continued throughout the season on TOUR with three top 10s and three top 5s since then. Over the previous 50 rounds, Casey ranks seventh in birdies or better gained and fifth in bogeys avoidance. Viktor Hovland (+1100, $9,900) is playing well, ranking second in Strokes Gained: Total over the previous two dozen rounds, but he’s projected to be the highest-rostered golfers in this range as of press time. Cameron Smith (+2800 to Win, $8,900 on DraftKings) The Australian has a knack for performing well in similar events, with Top 5s at the 2014 and 2017 CIMB Classic, a top 10 at the WGC-Mexico in 2019 and an 11th-place finish at the most recent WGC-Workday Championship at Concession. The 28th-ranked player in the world has three top 10s in 2021, which includes this year’s Masters Tournament. A winner at the 2021 Zurich Classic with fellow teammate (then and now) Marc Leishman (+3500, $8,500), Smith could be in line for a solid finish, especially since he ranks seventh in approach and fourth in birdies or better gained over his previous 24 rounds. Refer a friend and get $20 DK Dollars! Head to the DraftKings Playbook Promo page for more details! Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: INTL GOLF $700K Gold Golfer [$200K to 1st] Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. All views expressed are my own. 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OAKVILLE, Ont. – Matt Kuchar was the victim of Jordan Spieth doing Jordan Spieth-type things Sunday at The Open Championship, losing to the 23-year-old by three shots after bogeying the 72nd hole of the championship. But you wouldn’t know it to see him early this week at the RBC Canadian Open. Kuchar, ever affable, has been smiling that classic Kuchar smile, signing every autograph thrust upon him, and acknowledging the early-week cheers of ‘Kuuuuuch.’  And, of course, he’s been putting in some prep work for this year’s Canadian Open, a tournament he’s been feasting on the last few years, notching four straight top-10 finishes. However, he admitted Wednesday this week has a new set of challenges. “It is one of the great things about the game of golf… it’s pretty easy to leave the past the past when Thursday gets here. It’s a whole new week and no one cares what you did last week. It’s a fresh start,â€� he said. There was a buzz the first few days of the RBC Canadian Open week at Glen Abbey about the performance of Spieth, not so much the crumbling of Kuchar. “Matt Kuchar didn’t lose the tournament, Jordan won it,â€� said Jack Nicklaus, who was on site Tuesday as part of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony for this year. Nicklaus said he and Kuchar saw each other earlier in the week and they chatted about his result. Certainly Nicklaus knows what it’s like to fall just short at majors (despite his 18 victories, he also was runner-up or tied for second 19 times), and he said he and Kuchar chatted about his result. “He just ran into a buzzsaw the last few holes. That’s what it amounted to,â€� said Nicklaus. Kuchar holds no hard feelings to Spieth for how things shook out Sunday, and he accepted he just got beat by one of the best players in the world. “I did all I could last week and I had one guy out play me,â€� said Kuchar. “To win a major championship… it’s really exciting. To be so close and not win the event is a little bittersweet but I’m definitely going to take as many positives as possible. Our goal when we start playing as a little kid is to etch our names into those trophies, but playing against the best in the world, you realize it’s a challenging task.â€� And if you ask any other TOUR pro about what happened Sunday, they’d said that Spieth just has something not a lot of TOUR pros have. “Jordan has something special, man,â€� said Graham DeLaet. “Everybody knows it but nobody knows what it is, and he’s got it. He’s got that ‘it’ factor that special athletes in every sport, generationally, have.â€� Ian Poulter, who is playing his first RBC Canadian Open, said he saw Kuchar Tuesday and congratulated him on a great finish. But, he said second place at the Open Championship is a bit of a bittersweet feeling. “Remarkable from Jordan. Obviously you feel a bit sorry for Matt,â€� said Poulter. “Matt would have thought at that time, had he finished 2-under for the last five, perhaps he could have been holding the (Claret) Jug, but as it turned out, Jordan did his thing.â€� It’s a new week though, and Kuchar has refocused himself on the task at hand, especially considering Glen Abbey is playing – after record rainfall in the Greater Toronto Area in 2017 – much different than in year’s past. He’s looking for his first win on TOUR since 2014, but is feeling good returning to a place he’s had success before. “I’ve enjoyed coming to Glen Abbey, I enjoy the course and I feel like I can manage my way around it pretty well,â€� he said. “It’s great to carry any momentum you can, but when you peg the tee into the ground Thursday, it doesn’t matter what you did last week. Everyone starts at even par and you need to make the most out of this week that you can.â€� 

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