Tiger Woods shot a third-round 67 and is right in the thick of it at Innisbrook, where he’s just a shot off the lead.
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Past 3 U.S. Open champs grouped for opener
The PGA TOUR remains in Hawaii for the second consecutive week, as Waialae Country Club hosts the Sony Open in Hawaii. The course will play as a par 70 that measures 7,044 yards and features Bermuda greens. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $600K Pitch + Putt [$200K to 1st] STRATEGY After last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions no-cut event, we are back to a standard full-field TOUR event with a 36-hole cut. Waialae is on the opposite end of the spectrum compared to Kapalua – last week was a driver’s paradise whereas this week it will be all about hitting fairways and being precise with your irons. There are only two par 5s at Waialae, but both should be reachable in two for the majority of the field. Speaking of the field, it’s another good one, featuring the likes of defending champion Hideki Matsuyama and fellow Presidents Cup reps Jordan Spieth, Sungjae Im and Tom Kim will all be teeing it up this week. GOLFERS TO CONSIDER Sungjae Im ($10,300) Im opened his 2023 with a strong showing at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, finishing in a tie for 13th. He made 24 birdies compared to just six bogeys (and one double), which has become quite the theme for the two-time PGA TOUR winner. Im closed out 2022 on absolute fire, posting five top-10 finishes (including three runner-up finishes) across his last nine starts. In that time frame, Im ranks second in this field in total birdies made, fifth in eagles and 13th in bogey avoidance. If you take a broader view, he ranks No. 1 in this field in SG: Tee-to-Green, SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Total. He’s been absolutely locked in for some time now and is the best player in this field, despite being the second highest-priced golfer on DraftKings this week. At just $10,300, Im should be the first guy you lock into your lineups in both cash games and GPPs alike, as no one in this field has the floor/ceiling combination that he offers. Cameron Davis ($8,500) Davis used to be a beacon of inconsistency but turned that around last year as he missed just five cuts across his 24 PGA TOUR starts. The Aussie ranks seventh in this field in SG: Total across his past 48 rounds, thanks to an incredibly well-rounded game (13th in SG: Tee-To-Green, 15th in SG: Ball Striking and 31st in SG: Putting). After missing the cut in his first career start at Waialae, Davis has now made three straight weekends, while posting a T9 and two additional top-31 finishes in that time frame. It’s no surprise that he’s had success at this event, being that it usually turns out to be a birdie fest. Davis ranked 13th on the TOUR in birdie or better percentage last season and ranks No. 1 in this field in total birdies across his past 48 rounds. His $8,500 price tag is really nice value when you consider some of the options priced around him. Keith Mitchell ($8,300) Mitchell had a great season in 2021-22, posting five top-five finishes, including a T7 at this very event. He’s played Waialae five times now, finishing T25 or better in four of those starts. Out of everyone in this field who has made at least three starts at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Mitchell ranks sixth in SG: Tee-to-Green per round at 1.23 at Waialae. Over his past 48 rounds in this field, Mitchell ranks No. 2 in this field in SG: Off-the-Tee and 17th in SG: Total as well. Mitchell should be living in the fairway this week, giving him quality looks at birdie on most holes. He also crushed par 5s last season, ranking 12th on the TOUR in par 5 scoring average, which will be important this week as you’ll absolutely need to take advantage of both par 5s on the course. In addition to all of this, Mitchell also is a much better putter on Bermuda greens, which is what is featured. His lone TOUR victory, at The Honda Classic in 2019, was a par 70 which also featured Bermuda. All the contextual factors are in place for Mitchell to crush this week, and he’s simply too cheap for his talent level at just $8,300 on DraftKings. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $600K Pitch + Putt [$200K to 1st] Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and customer (my username is Lan1228) 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.
As we hit the last event of the regular season and get ready to ride the rollercoaster of the FedExCup Playoffs, it seems an apropos time to check in on our bold predictions that came way back from last October. It has been another brilliant season full of highlight moments. We’ve seen the resurgence of some stars like THE PLAYERS champion Webb Simpson. We’ve seen Brooks Koepka become a major force. We’ve seen some newcomers emerge with the likes of Austin Cook, Aaron Wise and Satoshi Kodaira leading the rookie race. We’ve seen T.J. Vogel become a Monday king – getting through qualifying an incredible eight times. And we’ve seen some bigger names slide. But they’ve still got time to round back into form. Were we able to predict it all? Let’s see. 18. THE PLAYERS champion Si Woo Kim finds his consistency and becomes a regular threat on the PGA TOUR. Last season Kim shocked the world with his dominant PLAYERS win because for the remainder of the season he was virtually irrelevant. He made 14 cuts in 30 starts with six WDs. While he has certainly been much better this season with 20 made cuts and five top-10s from 27 starts it would be a stretch to claim he’s been a regular threat. We’ll be generous and give ourselves half a point here. 0.5/1 17. Phil Mickelson breaks his win drought. Mickelson arrived at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship having not tasted victory since 2013. But he was able to hold off a red-hot Justin Thomas to finally return to the winner’s circle. Thomas holed out for a dramatic eagle in regulation play to be part of a playoff but Mickelson held his nerve. 1.5/2 16. Three players will have a taste at World No. 1. Oh we were so close. And it could still come true during the last five weeks of the season. Dustin Johnson has continued to be a pretty good mainstay at the top, holding court for all but four weeks of 2018 so far. Justin Thomas was given his first view from the top in May. Justin Rose had a handful of chances to get to the top and still might, and Brooks Koepka is now breathing down Johnson’s neck. 1.5/3 15. Rose will bloom, and win, among the azaleas. As mentioned above Justin Rose has had a couple of chances to climb to No.1 in the world in what has been a pretty decent season. Wins at the World Golf Championships–HSBC Champions and the Fort Worth Invitational. He also won the Turkish Airlines Open and Indonesian Masters and was inside the top 25 of all four majors and THE PLAYERS. But he did not go one better than his 2017 runner-up at the Masters, finishing T12. Half a point. 2/4 14. Hideki Matsuyama wins a major. Can’t hide behind it. This one was wrong. After winning plenty of tournaments in 2016-17 it seemed a decent gamble on Japan finally getting a major champion. But instead, Matsuyama has seen a significant drop in form. He has just two top-10 results on the PGA TOUR this season. His best major result was T16 at the U.S. Open. Perhaps we should have seen it coming. Most players have a small dip in results after the birth of a first child. But they also bounce back the season after so let’s watch this space. 2/5 13. Rookie of the Year Xander Schauffele will keep on going. This kid is the real deal, so we were right about that. But we also said he’d win again this season, and so far, the trophies have eluded him. Two runner-up finishers. A third. A total of five top-10s and just four missed cuts from 23 starts. Who knows, he may just defend his TOUR Championship title and prove us fully right yet. 2.5/6 12. Tiger Woods plays again on TOUR. What a difference a year makes. This was considered a BOLD prediction last October. We had no idea if Woods would ever return to competitive golf as he recovered from a fourth back surgery, this time a fusion. Of course he has and he’s been amazing. His recent runner-up finish at the PGA Championship was his second of the season. Five top-10s in just 12 starts. Not only has Woods played, he could win this season. If he doesn’t get a trophy, you can be sure the prediction next season will be about claiming an 80th title. And some. 3.5/7 11. Someone will play late Sunday with the career Grand Slam on the line. This was true at the first major of the season as Rory McIlroy moved into the final group behind Patrick Reed at Augusta National. The problem for Rory was he never really threatened from there with a final-round 74 dropping him into a tie for fifth. Phil Mickelson was never a threat at the U.S. Open, and Jordan Spieth needed a late Sunday charge at the PGA Championship to finish T12. 4.5/8 10. Sangmoon Bae makes the FedExCup Playoffs – and so does a Chinese player. Well, we were off the mark with Bae as he returned to the TOUR from his Korean military duty. In 16 starts he has just one top-25 finish and ranks 201st in the FedExCup. And our history-making Chinese players haven’t fared much better. Zinjun Zhang sits 165th in the standings and Marty Dou is way back in 227th. 4.5/9 9. Justin Thomas will keep narrowing the gap between himself and Jordan Spieth. This has certainly happened, but just as much for Thomas’ great play as Spieth’s lack of it. The FedExCup champion has a huge chance to the be the first player to go back-to-back and win the FedExCup again after three wins already. His career win total sits at nine, while Spieth has stalled on 11 after a winless season to this point. Spieth has five top 10s – it certainly has not been a terrible season – but by his own standards he has dipped. The good news? There is still time to turn it around in the Playoffs. 5.5/10 8. Expect two or three wins from among this quartet: Maverick McNealy, Beau Hossler, Aaron Wise and Cameron Champ. Well, Wise held up his end of the bargain with an impressive win at the AT&T Byron Nelson, showing great poise down the stretch on Sunday. He’d been runner-up his previous start. Hossler has threatened often, twice a runner-up including a playoff loss at the Houston Open are part of five top 10s. Champ and McNealy have spent the majority of their time on the Web.com Tour where Champ has a win and a locked-up TOUR card for next season. McNealy has been fair without being great but will have a chance to advance from the Web.com Tour Finals. 5.5/11 7. Anirban Lahiri will use the Presidents Cup as a springboard to win on TOUR. Not yet he hasn’t. The Indian national has four top-10 finishes this season without being a serious threat. Still has the potential to be a superstar. 5.5/12 6. Jason Day and Adam Scott return to winning form. This one is already half true and might become full reality. Both players had been winless last season but Day certainly has returned as a TOUR threat. Wins at the Farmers Insurance Open and Wells Fargo Championship proved it. Scott, however, appeared to be heading for a long-term funk until lately. Scott led the PGA Championship with four holes to play before Brooks Koepka stepped up. His third-place finish was just his second top-10 of the season. Maybe he can push through the FedExCup Playoffs with a win. 6/13 5. U.S. Team will win the Ryder Cup in France. This seemed an obvious statement after their demolition of the International Team in the 2017 Presidents Cup, but as we head toward the contest, the European Team looks very strong. Players like Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood bring fresh form and Ian Poulter has his fire back. It should be an epic contest. 4. We will have a three-peat winner. Nope. Justin Thomas missed his chance at the CIMB Classic (T17). Hideki Matsuyama was a WD in his dual title defense in Phoenix, and Daniel Berger couldn’t keep pace with a dominant Dustin Johnson at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. 6/14 3. Justin Thomas will win THE PLAYERS Championship. Not this time. Instead he settled for T11. No one really competed with the resurgent Webb Simpson, who lapped the field with an incredible putting performance over four rounds. 6/15 2. There will be another first-time major winner along with Matsuyama. We did get two first-timers at the majors with Patrick Reed winning the Masters and Francesco Molinari taking Italy’s first major title at The Open Championship. But as Matsuyama was not one of them, we can only claim a half point. 6.5/16 1. The 25-and-under brigade will equal if not better their numbers from 2017. While Justin Thomas has kept winning and others like Aaron Wise and Jon Rahm have helped him out, reaching the incredible 18-win total from last season has remained out of reach. 6.5/17. Final Verdict: Currently 6.5/17. Bold predictions are meant to be just that. But we were still hoping for a better than 50 percent record! With that in mind…we’re hoping to earn more points with win from the U.S. Team at the Ryder Cup, and wish Scott, Hossler, Schauffele, Lahiri and Koepka the best in coming weeks.
