The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool is the final major championship of 2023. Just as major championships bring more viewers and bettors into the game, the same goes for the DFS world. DraftKings has more contests, entries, and winnings up for grabs this week, and I have 5 players listed below that I believe deserve consideration when building your lineups. Let’s get into it.
Top Tier Plays
Scottie Scheffler ($12,500)
Scottie Scheffler is the best golfer since Tiger. And he will go down as one of the greats.
Now, you can take that 2 ways. Some of you will have read that and thought, “Yeah, that’s obvious idiot.”
And to that, I say that’s fair.
But some of you will also think it’s an outrageous and arrogant statement, outdoing historic golfers like Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy with 24 wins a piece. Scottie only has 6. And can’t putt.
And to that, I say that’s fair.
However, I challenge you to find any golfer that has ever statistically dominated the fields like Scottie Scheffler has this season. He currently ranks 1st in the following categories:
- Total Strokes Gained
- SG: Off-the-Tee
- SG: Approach
- Bogey Avoidance
- Round 1 Scoring Average
- Round 2 Scoring Average
- Par 4 Scoring Average
- Front 9 Scoring Average
- Back 9 Scoring Average
- Early Scoring Average
- Late Scoring Average
He has been putting up a historic statistical season, and I have no reason to believe it will stop. In fact, it can only get better with the putter. And Scottie Scheffler, just like most golfers, has been known to be hot and cold with the putter so far in his career. Almost in a cyclical fashion.
I’m one to believe Scottie’s putter will start to improve. While he lost almost 2 strokes at the Scottish Open this past weekend, he had gained putting in the 2 tournaments prior to that. The putter struggles also get much more notice because of his elite ball striking giving him more opportunities. With Scottie’s price at $12,500, I’m expecting most to drop to Rory ($11,900) going for back-to-back wins here at Royal Liverpool.
With a discount price, you can easily justify starting lineups with Scottie Scheffler. That still gives you an average of $7,500 for the remaining 5 golfers. And with the value players listed below, that is plenty for putting together a quality lineup.
Rickie Fowler ($9,800)
Rickie Fowler is back to being Rickie Fowler. At $9,800, he has the 9th highest price tag. Statistically, he has been consistently gaining across the board. At this point, Rickie is hot enough to say there are no real weaknesses in his game, other than the occasional bad putting week. But again, as I stated with Scheffler, every golfer has those ruts.
If his current form isn’t enough to convince you, Rickie has one of the best course/tournament histories in the field (no one comes close to Rory). He finished as a 2-stroke runner up to Rory back in 2014, the last time Royal Liverpool hosted. He also has 2 other T6 or better finishes rounding out a 10/11 made cut record at The Open.
Fowler’s current form is approaching the peak of his career. His 50-round rolling average currently sits at 2.13 strokes gained. When he finished T2 here in 2014, his 50-round average was only 1.01 strokes gained. Starting lineups with Scottie and Rickie makes for some tough decisions on cheaper golfers, but it is certainly possible.
Value Plays
Patrick Reed ($7,600)
Arguably the most hated golfer on the planet, I’m hoping Patrick Reed goes a bit overlooked this week. He has quietly put together a very solid 2023 season. This includes 5 Top 5 finishes on LIV, a T4 at the Masters, and a T18 at the PGA Championship.
While LIV does not used specific strokes gained, we know the type of player Reed is from his history. His world-class short game is his biggest asset, and his streaky ball-striking generates his wins. He’s gained strokes to the field in all but 1 event dating back to February, so it’s safe to say Reed is coming into Hoylake with great form.
With short game being so important in Open Championships, we can confidently back Reed at $7,600. If he were still repping PGA and had been playing in all the elevated events, I would fully expect him to be closer to $9,000. He can compete with the world’s best, and that’s exactly what he’ll do at Royal Liverpool.
Denny McCarthy ($7,300)
This is a classic mispricing. This price suggests that Denny McCarthy is an even player to Si Woo Kim and Abraham Ancer and less of a player than Harris English and Russell Henley. When you put it like that, it sounds outrageous.
You could truly make a case for Denny McCarthy being a top 10 golfer in the world. While he hasn’t broken through with his first win, he has had some very strong finishes in 2023. He’s had 5 finishes of T14 or better in the elevated events, including his runner-up finish at The Memorial. He’s playing the best golf of his career in the toughest fields he faces. He has always been a top putter on the planet, and the rest of his game has really picked up. He’s gained strokes approaching the green in 8 of his last 12 tournaments.
If he can gain a few strokes with his irons, his accuracy off the tee and consistent putter can, and will, put him in contention to hoist the Claret Jug. I expect this pricing will garner a lot of interest, as McCarthy should be one of the higher-owned players on the slate. Typically the high ownership would keep me off a player, but not in this case. His stat profile fits perfectly for Royal Liverpool. I will eat all the chalk that comes with McCarthy and will look to use him in as many lineups as I can.
Alexander Bjork ($6,700)
Most of you probably do not know who Alexander Bjork is. And that’s not a shot at any of you…I didn’t even know who he was 2 weeks ago. At first glance, he seems like your typical DP World Tour player that could never pile up enough finishes to make it to the PGA. However, I’m here to tell you this 33-year-old has found something in his game that could make him a real contender.
He currently ranks 2nd on DP World Tour for strokes gained approach, and 10th for putting. Last week at the Genesis Scottish Open, he ranked 2nd on approach facing the world’s best ball-strikers. PGA Professional Michael Block was laughed at for saying if he had Rory McIlroy’s distance, he’d be one of the best in the world. If Bjork had said this, I genuinely don’t think you could argue with him. Distance is quite literally his only shortcoming. He has lost strokes Off the Tee in every single event this season while gaining on accuracy in all but one. He will not miss many fairways, but will typically have another 15-20 yards to go than your average player.
While distance of the tee will certainly help this week, it’s not the most important factor for success at Royal Liverpool. For this reason, and the fact that the rest of his game can contend with anyone in the field, I will be using Alexander Bjork as a cheap fill-in for most of my lineups.
For more on The Open Chamionshipyou should also check out my Top Picks, Best Bets, and Sleeper Plays.