Paulie’s Picks: 2017 RBC Canadian Open

Well, we racked up our 8th win of the year last week with Jordan Spieth. To make things even better, we also had Kuchar who finished second. Hopefully we can continue the hot streak into this week as we head to the RBC Canadian Open. Stay up to date by following me on Twitter @friedegggpaulie

I expect this week to be filled with birdies and eagles. This week’s host course, Glen Abbey, is home to some of the shortest par 5’s on Tour. The only protection this course has is it’s difficult green surrounds and bunkering. With that being said, I’m going to focus on guys who have had good success at this track in the past, have good recent form and play well on par 5s. We have seen two types of players succeed at this track, either the bomber (DJ) or the short accurate player (Furyk/Kuchar). So I will also put a bit of an emphasis of gaining strokes off of the tee. Here are this week’s picks:

DraftKings

Chad Campbell $7,500

Campbell checks a lot of the boxes by having great course history and solid play of late. In his three starts at Glen Abbey, he has finished 26th, 11th and 16th. He is currently on a streak of five top 18 finishes in his last seven events (including his last three). At a course which rewards driving prowess, Campbell has gained strokes off the tee against the field in 10 consecutive events.

Chez Reavie $7,500

Reavie, the 2008 champion at Gleneagles, is very close to another breakthrough. He has finished in the top 50 in each of his last five starts. He has gained strokes off the tee and with approach in each of those weeks. If he has a decent putting week….watch out!!!

Ollie Schniederjans $7,200

Schniederjans played this event back in 2015 and almost had his coming out party. A final round 73 derailed him to a 22nd place finish. A 65 on Sunday that week would have put him in a playoff. We somewhat expect young players to struggle when in contention for the first couple of times. Now that Schniederjans has some experience I look for him to capitalize this week and maybe walk away with a W. He is the perfect DraftKings play as he makes a ton of birdies and makes a lot of cuts. He led the field in 2015 with 26 birdies!!! In 10 of his last 12 events, he has gained strokes off of the tee which bodes well for this week. He also is near the top in Par 5 scoring.

One-and-Done

Matt Kuchar

If you have Kuchar left, he is a must play this week. He is fresh off a runner up finish at the Open Championship. On top of that, he finished in the top 10 in his last three appearances at Glen Abbey.

Charley Hoffman

Hoffman is near the top of the field in Par 5 scoring and has the ability to take it super deep. He is generally a very strong driver of the golf ball as shown by him gaining strokes off the tee in 12 of his last 14 events. He has finished 7th, 16th and 28th in his three appearances at Glen Abbey. If you still have him left, this would be a good place to use him

Tony Finau

Finau is known for his length, driving ability and hence his ability to dominate par 5s. He may not have had the best success at this venue in the past with finishes of 70th and 22nd but he fits the course great and is playing some of the best golf of his early career. He has finished in the top 40 in 11 of his last 12 events gaining shots against the field off the tee in each of those events.

Longshots

Cameron Percy (100-1 to win, 8-1 top 10, +330 top Australian)

Percy is the perfect combination of current form and course history. He has finished 12th in his last two events. In his three appearances at Glen Abbey, he has finished 26th, 18th and 44th. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him finish in the top 10 this week. I think he is one of the best values of the week is taking him +330 as top Australian as he is competing against Luck, C. Smith, Ogilvy, Chalmers, Ruffels and Drewitt.

Ricky Barnes (70-1 to win, 6-1 top 10)

Barnes has finished fifth and 11th in his last two starts at Glen Abbey. He is fresh off a 15th place finish at the Barbasol and is close to finding his game.

Brandon Hagy (125-1 to win, 10-1 top 10)

Hagy is one of the longest drivers on Tour and feasts on easy tracks where he can dominate the par 5s. He should perform well at Glen Abbey as he has gained strokes off the tee in eight straight events and is near the top of the field in par 5 scoring.