Opinion & Analysis
Redkacheek’s DFS Rundown: 2018 Dell Tech Championship
Welcome back everyone, after an amazing FGWC experience last week with some of my fellow FGB members taking home around $25,000, we get another week of really nice prize pools and various contest structures. The Dell Technologies Championship is the second leg of the Fedex Cup Playoffs, being played at TPC Boston. We have lots of course history to go off of so really makes our process nice and tidy this week. Statistically, I am looking primarily at SG:T2G, Iron Play and a small dose of BoB and par 5 scoring. I have tossed around some driving distance numbers because I do see that being somewhat of an advantage this week.
Before we get into my core plays, let’s take a look at the course and what the players will be facing. The Dell Technologies Championship will be hosted this week at TPC Boston. We have a good bit of course history to go off of, even dating back to a Tiger Woods’ win in 2006, so we will definitely be considering that when narrowing down our player pools. TPC Boston will be playing as a par 71 at 7,283 yards, which for these guys is the standard in today’s game. I definitely see distance as an advantage but as you will read, this tends to be a “second-shot-and-in” type of course, so Driving Accuracy will not be weighed to heavily for me.
Scoring will mainly be set up by the players approach game and their performance on the par 5s, although every week par-4 scoring is pertinent. Scores are typically pretty low at this event with around 15 under winning each year so a player will need to be on their iron game in order to make enough birdies to keep up. Looking through statistics of the past events played here, SG: APP proved to be a very important benchmark on a player’s success that given week. Also, scoring on par 4s, specifically from the 450-500-yard range, proved key as there are a handful of long par 4s scattered throughout this layout. With all that out of the way, let’s get into my Core plays for this week…
Tiger Woods (DK $9,700)
I am approaching this week a little different. This is most likely going to be the last chance to have an edge playing cash games and single entry tournaments, so I am going to build a couple main lineups I will put in everything and then run about 100 lineups in the $6 DK Mini Main Event. So I will address these players as core for my main lineups, and as of now I do not plan to build any with an $11k-plus player.
Tiger is my first core play, and I feel really good about it. Coming of an abysmal showing last week where he lost nearly five strokes putting, his driving was actually much improved and he is still striping his irons, as he has all year. Tiger won this event back in 2006, which is somewhat irrelevant but it is still Tiger Woods and if he has won this event once he could do it again. This course is a bit more forgiving off the tee so even if he falls back into a wayward driver somewhat, I think he should still have plenty of opportunities with his irons to make birdies. After that, we are just betting on a slight improvement with his putting which should show positive regression of about six to 10 strokes.
Hideki Matsuyama (DK $8,900)
You are about to see a trend here with my balanced lineup approach, but first off as we get into the $8k range is Hideki. In the last three years at this event, he has never finished worse than 25th. He has some really nice form coming in this year as well, gaining strokes off the tee and with his irons in his prior two events and on top of that, he hit about five greens more than the field average the last two weeks. Hideki definitely has upside to win, and at that price, I really don’t “need” him to win to pay off his value. Hideki is not my favorite play in the $8k range but will definitely be one of my top plays to build around this week.
Tommy Fleetwood (DK $8,500)
Here is your free square everyone! Just kidding, there is practically never a free square in PGA DFS, but I think Fleetwood is as close as you’ll get to one. In this field, Tommy ranks inside the top 10 of GIR percentage, birdie-or-better, and par 5 scoring. He has only missed one cut on the PGA Tour in the past 12 months, which is a testament to the consistent player he is. Just like Hideki, Tommy has upside to win this week and at this price it really offers some flexibility in our lineup construction. He has never played this event, but we can use the course history for others to help us determine this is a great fit for him. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Tommy is that he gains strokes in every single category, almost every single week.
Rafael Cabrera Bello (DK $7,300)
Just like last week, Rafa is another core guy for me this week and at an even lower price. He is really a phenomenal ballstriker, so I feel great about his ability to play this course well. He finished poorly last week but I am not going to let one bad round (77-R3) persuade me to avoid him here at TPC Boston. He has only played here once, finishing 18th in 2017. Again, Rafa is a player that hits a ton of greens and even more fairways every single week, so it is easy to see at $7,300 that he would be someone to build around. He was actually over $10k just two weeks ago, so now we are in a position to grab him at a lower price, depressed ownership, and with that price it provides us the opportunity to play DJ or JT in some really solid GPP lineups.
Charley Hoffman (DK $7,300)
Charley Hoffman is perhaps my favorite play this week. He has quietly been racking up top 20s in the past few months (five of his last eight events) and finished with a sneaky top 20 last week. Statistically, it is hard to ever consider Charley a core play, but this week I am adding him to my “overweight” list. Charley has played here at TPC Boston for over a decade and in that span he has had a wide variety of finishes, but does have a win in 2010 and a third-place finish in 2015.
I see Charley trending in the right direction coming here this week, and I think he is the perfect play in a limited field to gain leverage on the field. The most tempting thing for me, is that Charley is known as a supreme iron player but the Driver can become a problem; luckily this course sets up with slightly wider fairways and less penal rough, so this should suit him even more.
Also consider
- Justin Thomas
- Brooks Koepka
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Justin Rose
- Patrick Cantlay
- Tony Finau
- Paul Casey
- Tyrrell Hatton
Good luck this week everyone!
Opinion & Analysis
AVL: My U.S. Amateur local qualifying experience
This past Monday, I played in the U.S. Amateur local qualifier at Rock Creek Country Club in Portland, Oregon. A full tee sheet from 7:30 a.m. to 1:55 p.m., the top 11 scores would make it to the U.S. Amateur final qualifying.
I teed off at 10:48 a.m.. With the 7:30 am tee time, you can get a feel for the leaders’ pace, and they were off and running on the challenging setup at Rock Creek.
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Getting to the highlight of the round on the par five 17th, a drive up the left side and 212 yards left to the front hole location. I took out a 5-iron with plans of middle of the green. The ball ended up 8 feet left of the hole, pin high. A slight downhill putt dropped in for an eagle 3 on the 17th. With the cut line looking to be anywhere from -2 to even par. This was the boost I had been waiting for all day.
With making par from the trees on 18, it was time to wait for a potential playoff with a posted score of one under par 71.
Three hours later, it was playoff time. 8 players for 6 spots. I made par on the playoff hole, which was good enough to advance to the U.S. Amateur final qualifying in July. USGA qualifiers sure deliver on all of the emotions in golf!
Club Junkie
Building my 2026 gamer WITB: Ranking the contenders and new putter projects – Club Junkie Podcast
The annual What’s In The Bag build is underway, and on this episode of Club Junkie, Brian breaks down the clubs currently leading the race for a spot in his 2026 gamer setup. From drivers and fairway woods to irons, wedges, and shafts, he ranks the equipment that’s performing best and explains what’s separating the front runners from the rest of the field.
Brian also heads into the workshop to discuss several putter projects currently on the bench. From head options and shaft choices to build ideas and testing plans, he shares what he’s working on and which putters could become serious contenders for the bag this season.
If you’re a gear junkie who loves equipment testing, club building, and the never-ending pursuit of the perfect setup, this episode is for you.
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Club Junkie
Tour Edge Exotics mini driver review + TaylorMade Spider ZT Max first look – Club Junkie
On this episode of Club Junkie, I put the new Tour Edge Exotics Mini Driver to the test and break down the performance, forgiveness, distance, and where it fits compared to a traditional driver or strong fairway wood. If you have been curious about adding a mini driver to the bag, this one is worth a look.
I also dive into the new TaylorMade Spider ZT Max putter that was recently spotted and discuss the growing zero torque putter trend. Plus, there is a closer look at the new Project X Titan Yellow shaft showing up on the PGA Tour and what makes it different from other profiles currently out there.
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ergon
Aug 30, 2018 at 1:12 am
Nicklaus/Woods versus Lebron/Kaepernick …. and the winners are ……………………!
Matt
Aug 29, 2018 at 5:04 pm
What are your thoughts on Rose this week? I love him at that price and don’t see him missing the cut, but does he have enough to bounce back and contend for a win?