A team event … on the PGA TOUR. Wait just one second, what tour is this? Yes, you read that correctly. The Zurich Classic is up next on the PGA TOUR and with the Zurich comes team golf. This week, golfers will be paired in twosomes (of mostly their own choosing) and competing in both Best Ball and Alternate Shot formats to determine a victor.
It is one of the wildest events on the PGA TOUR so buckle up and lets dig in.
Note: Because this is a team event, both players from any given pair will score the same amount of fantasy points. Therefore if you roster Xander, he will get the same number of points as Cantlay. And if you roster Cantlay, he will get the same number of points as Xander. Additionally, you cannot roster any two golfers playing together in the same lineup. So you can’t stack Xander and Cantlay on the same team.
Course & History
The Zurich is played at TPC Louisiana and by most standards its a rather traditional PGA TOUR setup. Given that golfers are paired up in teams, playing very different formats than normal, including alternate shot, where each player only hits every other shot during the second and final round, and I’m not sure its worth spending a whole lot of time on course stats and who may fit well here. That said, let’s move on.
Last year, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay teamed up and won the event. This year they are back together to defend their title. Challengers include Max Homa and Collin Morikawa or Team “Homakawa” if you ask them, Sungae Im and Keith Mitchell, Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim, Sam Burns and Billy Horschel and a host of other duos. Almost every stat that you look at says that Schauffele and Cantlay will defend their title, but our friend golf variance might have something to say about that. Variance, and the fact that its pretty hard to defend a title are about the only thing (other than your own personal Reignmakers collection) that make you look past the top pairing.
Contest Selection
On the OTM Monday Recap & Preview show we highlighted some information related to Reignmakers contest selection by tier from the RBC Heritage (you can watch the clip from the show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFn3XQ5oVlY&t=512s starting at 25:20) and what stood out to me was this:
Lineups from the single entry contests from RBC for both CORE and RARE tiers had a higher percentage of the best plays. At first this shocked me, but on the show TJ eloquently stated why he thinks this makes sense. While there wasn’t a massive difference in ownership, a difference still existed between the larger Guaranteed Prize Pool contest vs. the Single Entry contest. Given this info, I’m definitely more inclined to play the best plays in the Guaranteed contest and get different with Golfer 4 or 5 after seeing this data. For Single Entry, I’m more inclined to play something a bit more “off the wall” in hopes that the variance gods are on your side. And if you’re sitting on multiple Rahm’s, Scheffler’s, Cantlay’s, Schauffele’s, etc. well then jam them in!
Worth noting, in the ELITE tier, the opposite situation occurred. Single entry teams had a lower percentage of the best plays when compared to the bigger Guaranteed contests. Do with this info what you may, but I’ll continue to keep an eye on on details like this when it comes to contest info.
Golfers (Teams) to Target
As always, I’ll give you three pairings of golfers I like across the odds ranges. Best odds (+2000 or better), mid range(+2000-9000), and long shots (+10000 and up).
Best Odds: Cantlay/Schauffele LOW ASK*, CORE $22.69, RARE $108.99, ELITE $790
- I hate to do it, but its just impossible to ignore Cantlay and Schauffele. Like I said in the intro, they lead this field in just about every statistical category you can dream up. On top of that, their recent form is incredible as both guys are playing at the top of their game. Lock them into your CPT spot this week.
Mid Range: Benny An/S.H. Kim LOW ASK*, CORE $2.65, RARE $11.50, ELITE $123.69
- When Byeong Hun An (Benny An) is on top of his game, the only thing that holds him back is the putter. But this week he gets a playing partner in S.H. Kim who has had a bit of a hot putter as of recently. Both players strike the ball well and it could be a nice change of pace to get bailed by a playing partner from the big numbers they make. I like this duo to feed off of each other and put together some ham and egg that you just can’t get at any continental breakfast!
Long Shot: Justin Lower/Dylan Wu LOW ASK*, CORE $0.82, RARE $5, ELITE $44.99
- I’ve had my eye (and my collection) aimed at Dylan Wu for weeks now. He hasn’t missed a cut since the Farmers Insurance Open despite losing 3, 4, and even 5 strokes across a variety of categories at times. It isn’t pretty down here in the long shot range, but if Lower can give Wu some support, I think this pair could certainly make the weekend. Beyond that, who knows, but I really like the way Wu has been playing. And yes, I’m talking about Dylan Wu, not to be confused with Brandon Wu.
*Note – I’ve listed the LOW ASK prices for the team above. When shopping in the marketplace, you may need to decide who you want to purchase (if you’re a buyer) but remember each player gets the exact same amount of fantasy points across the entire tournament this week.
That does it for this week’s article. I’ll be live on YouTube tomorrow at 2PM ET building some of my teams, going through my thought process on the above picks, and answering any questions the listeners might have. Join me if you can or drop a question in chat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JpTkymgGKo
As always, best of luck, and I’ll see you on the leaderboards.