Our PGA Newsletter is Fan-Manned by LineStarApp volunteer CoachSzustak. Hope you enjoy it!

Course Info

Welcome to the second edition of the Drive. Our goal here is to help you break down the upcoming PGA event. This is the Career Builder Challenge. This is a part of the tour’s California swing, it is played on three different courses (PGA West Stadium, PGA West course, and La Quinta Country Club) with a cut coming after 54 holes instead of the traditional 36.

According to the forecast there are no major weather concerns as Friday is only day where the wind is going to be in double digits (12 mph). With little to no chance of precipitation which means I am looking for some low scores all week. Now that that is out of the way let’s take a look at a few golfer’s who should be on your radar this week.

Keys To The Course

This section will be limited to courses where we have course history. We look at players who finished in the top 5 over recent history at PGA events played at the current course(s) and which common stats contributed to those top 5 players doing well.

Top 3 Stats For This Tournament:

1. Putting Average

2. Scrambling

3. Greens In Regulation

Top 10 Players In Field For Combined Ranking In These 3 Stats

Generally we'll be pulling top 10 players over the last month or two, but since so few players have played lately we'll be taking from all of the events played this season still.

• Bud Cauley

• Brian Harman

• Zach Johnson

• Webb Simpson

• Jon Rahm

• Chez Reavie

• Chris Kirk

• Kevin Kisner

• Lucas Glover

• Brandt Snedeker

Studs

Mid-Price Value Plays

Bargain Barrel

Last week didn’t go as planned for the barrel, but this week I have 3 guys who I feel meet the criteria.

• Brandon Harkins (8.4K FD/6.7K DK): He has made the cut in each of his last 5 events while averaging 1.61 Putts/hole during that time. If he can keep the driver in play he will be worth the risk.

• Xin-jun Zhang (7.5K FD/6.7K DK): He has made the cut in 5 of his last 6 events. He is average to above average in GIR, driving accuracy, driving distance, and putting. Given his low price he will find a place a couple GPP lineups.

• Tom Hoge (8.3K FD/7K DK): How can he be so low priced coming off such a great week? Time will tell whether he is mispriced or overvalued. His game seems to fit this course and I plan on rostering him beyond my GPP lineups.

Avoids

It would not be a complete article if I didn’t tell you who I am avoiding. I like to go through and take guys out of the pool that I really don’t like. Here are my 2 for this week.

• Phil Mickelson (11.7K FD/10K DK): This is his first tournament since October, so he could be a bit rusty this week. He has good course history here but for his price tag give me someone from above. That being said, he does fit this course well because driving accuracy is not that important here.

• Patrick Reed (11.3K FD/11.1K DK): I hope he used the last 6 weeks to work on his game a bit. In his previous 4 events his was average or below average in GIR, scrambling and driving Acc%, his one savior was his putter. Pound for pound or Price for Point, I’ll pass!

I hope you find some value in this article and as always, MAY YOUR LINEUPS BE LIVE AND SCREENS BE GREEN!

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