Welcome everyone, my name is Drew, but I am known throughout the DFS Golf industry as Redkacheek. I am ranked in the Top 35 of all DFS Golf players and best known for winning the DraftKings Millionaire Maker contest during the week of The Masters earlier this year. I am very active around the community, always willing to help whether with strategy or research and you can find me on Twitter @Redkacheek and also each week on the Fantasy Golf Bag Podcast. One last note, my history is in professional golf, which definitely adds a unique perspective to DFS that most people do not have and you will find really gives you an edge when evaluating players each week.

Now that the regular season has come to completion and the final 125 players are now set for the 2017-18’ FedEx Cup Playoffs. The Northern Trust is the first of four events that comprise the playoffs with the season finale in five weeks at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. This is a super busy week for me because with The Northern Trust and the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, we also get the Fantasy Golf World Championship (FGWC) and many other HUGE contests across the industry. The pricing is soft in spots, but overall very tight from top to bottom so lineup construction will be tricky.

Before we get into my Core plays, let’s take a look at the course and what the players will be facing. The Northern Trust will be hosted this week at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, NJ. This tournament uses a rotation of three courses, so remember when looking at past results that this event was only played on this course in 2008, 2010 and 2014. Ridgewood Country Club is a classic, old-school layout with its beginnings’ dating back to 1890, designed by A.W. Tillinghast. As in most traditional courses, position off-the-tee is key and will allow the player to have opportunities coming into these greens. Because of this emphasis on Driving Accuracy and placement in the fairways, not necessarily Driving Distance, I am really focusing on players with strong Total Driving numbers over the past 24 rounds.

Once the players are in position off-the-tee, their work is not done yet. These old-school greens are heavily guarded and iron play stats will be the final Ball Striking category I will be focusing on. The stats that I am weighing the most here are SG:APP and GIR percentage. These will help me target players gaining the most opportunities for birdies over the field, preferably over the past 12 to 24 rounds. As we all know, golf can be quite variable throughout the course of a season so it is our job to find those players peaking or at least trending in the right direction in recent weeks.

My Core plays below will be those I see using in my FGWC lineups ($6,250 entry fees), but can also be used in Cash and GPPs. These players are those that I see with the best combo of recent form and Key Stats. I typically weigh course history, however with this tournament being a rotation of several golf courses, 2014 and 2010 is just too far back for me to put too much weight to those results. With all that out of the way, let’s get into my Core plays for this week…

Dustin Johnson (DK 11,500)

I rarely try to write-up the most expensive player because generally I see it like patting yourself on the back for saying how great a play they are, and in reality, everyone already knows that including the DraftKings algorithm. But for this week, considering the super strong field and how I am trying to narrow my pool down for my FGWC lineups, DJ is coming out on top both statistically and recent form. As much as I like to use recent form, you will find that these high-priced guys actually fluctuate around a decent bit on form, perhaps from a top 3 to a 12th. But their stats are what I keep an eye on and DJ ranks out exceptional in the last 24 rounds: 1st in SG:T2G, SG:BS, SG:P4 Scoring, SG:TOT, 5th in SG: APP and 10th in GIR%. Again, you will find many guys this week that look awesome but I think my stand will be starting with DJ.

Francesco Molinari (DK 9,500)

The mid-9k range will be tough for most people and I don’t blame them. You have Rahm, Spieth, Fleetwood, Simpson…lots of really good names, but the one I think I can count on the most in this range is Francesco Molinari. Now, I will say I really like Rahm and Fleetwood here as well, but for the FGWC, safety is the name of the game and if I had to put my money on someone to rely on, it would be Molinari. I think everyone is aware of the run he has been on this summer, but he flipped it back on at the PGA and finished T6. I think this is a great course for Francesco where position A to B to C is the name of the game. Statistically he rates out the best of anyone, probably no surprise, ranking 2nd SG:T2G, 4th in GIR%, 3rd in SG:BS, SG:APP, SG:P4 Scoring, and finally 5th in DK Pts. All-in-all, I think this is a really strong venue for Molinari this week, especially with added motivation to win the FedexCup.

Patrick Cantlay (DK 8,600)

As we go down the pricing into the 8k range, Patrick Cantlay is the name I will go to for safety and upside to contend and even win here. He has only 2 MC’s this year (one being The Masters) and throughout 2018, he has gained strokes too-to-green (T2G) in all but 2 events! Quite remarkable, and for being priced under 9k, I really like that floor. You will notice he doesn’t rate out as well statistically as guys like Francesco and Dustin Johnson, which shouldn’t be a surprise, but he is very steady in every category. Cantlay is a GIR machine, and on a course like Ridgewood CC this week, that is the kind of player I want to target.

Rafael Cabrera Bello (DK 7,900)

Rafa is my last core guy, and in all honesty, it was between him and Ryan Moore. I really like Ryan this week as well, but he has some red flags that I am not sure I can put $6,250 behind. But Rafa is the guy who should garner some ownership at 7,900 after being priced over 10k last week and really playing pretty solid. I am most interested in his T2G stats where he has gained over 3 strokes on the field in all but 3 events this entire year. As we know, SG:T2G is our most reliable stat so seeing his price drop over $2,000 with stellar recent form and T2G stats to back it up, Rafa will be one of the best values on the board this week.

Also consider: Justin Thomas, Jason Day, Tiger Woods, Tommy Fleetwood, Zach Johnson, Gary Woodland, Ryan Moore, Stewart Cink, Keegan Bradley, Joel Dahmen, and Ryan Armour.

Good luck this week everyone!