Paulie’s Picks: SBS Tournament of Champions

Finally!!! The 2017 golf season is here!!! This week, the pros visit the winners only event at Kapalua. With this being a limited field with no cut, I look for standings on DraftKings to be very condensed due to a lot of roster overlap. I expect very high ownership on Spieth, DJ and Matsuyama this week. Picking the correct player or players from that group of 3 will be key to your success this week.

When trying to fill out the rest of your lineup, it may make sense to take a look and see what type of players have historically performed well at Kapalua. Many people think it is a pure bombers course, but upon further review we see some of the best short game experts excel here such as Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed (both finished top 2 in their last 2 appearances). Here are two players who fit that mold and may fly under the radar:

Cody Gribble $6,700

With the scoring expected to be low as usual at Kapalua it often turns into a short game contest. Gribble is averaging 5 birdies a round and has a positive 1.5 strokes gained putting. Those stats could pay dividends this week as he is priced below $7,000.

Mackenzie Hughes $6,900

Hughes is similar to Gribble in that his strength lies in his short game. He averages 4.3 birdies per round and has a positive 1.1 strokes gained putting per round.

One-and-Done

It’s hard to make a pick this week because you may not want to burn one of your top picks in a week where a top 10 is easily attainable. I would suggest picking a player with upside to win but not wanting to waste a person you may pick in a Major this year (aka not Spieth, DJ or Hideki). Here is my pick this week:

Patrick Reed

He has a win and a 2nd here in his last two appearances. It’s hard to argue against that. With only a few courses where he would be used in this format, I feel comfortable rolling him out this week.