Paulie’s Picks: 2023 Fortinet Championship

The PGA Tour is back again after a few weeks break…well, sort of. We are in a transition year going from the wraparound schedule to a calendar year schedule.The first event of the fall is the Fortinet Championship being held once again at the Silverado Resort. The events this fall are basically to determine who will be retaining status for the 2024 season and who will be eligible to get into the bigger events. So how does that affect the fields? Well, you can expect the majority of fields to be much weaker as many of the top players are taking a break. The biggest difference, however, will be in the bottom half of the field as we won’t be having any of the KFT graduates playing like we normally do. Instead, we get journeymen PGA Tour players, many of whom are struggling to hang on to the dream of being on the PGA Tour.

For purposes of constructing DraftKings lineups, that will make things difficult, as the bottom tier players don’t have any value and force us to try and find the best six players from the middle and upper salary tiers. This all while staying under the $50,000 salary cap. Let’s take a look at three players to build your lineups around this week.

Sahith Theegala $9,800

Theegala’s price is very cheap this week when you consider that he has the third best odds to win the event and the two players ahead of him (Max Homa and Justin Thomas) are making a cross-world trek back from Italy and may have their minds focused on preparing for the Ryder Cup later this month. Theegala has played in this event three times, with two top-15 finishes, including a sixth place last year in a much stronger field. I fully expect Theegala to get a win this fall as it’s practically a free roll with his status already locked up for the 2024 season.

Justin Suh $8,600

Suh is one of the most consistent players on the PGA Tour. He has only missed two cuts in his last 26 events. There are a lot of unknowns about form for many players since they have had a month off from tournament golf. Suh, however, just recently played on the DP World Tour at the Omega European Masters, finishing 24th. The $8,600 seems like a pretty cheap price for a player who is very likely to make the cut and help your Draftkings lineup move up the leaderboard.

Chez Reavie $8,500

Most people who see Reavie at this price tag will automatically pass over him. But when we dig in, we see why he is priced at $8,500. He has played at Silverado nine times and has finished 33rd or better on seven of those occasions. He has made the cut in 12 of his last 14 events, so once again we should expect a very high chance to make a cut this week, especially given the weak bottom half of the field. He leads the field in Strokes Gained Approach, gaining over 27 strokes in his last six events. Now yes, he hasn’t played since the Wyndham but any semblance of a golf game this week should pay off his $8,500 salary.