PGA Tour Top Five Fantasy Picks: Genesis Open

Charl Schwartzel — $8,100

Professional golf can be a highly volatile arena, so for fantasy managers, consistency is always an important criterion when selecting a lineup. They don’t come much more consistent than Schwartzel, who hasn’t fallen outside of the top 50 in the year-end Official World Golf Ranking in more than seven years, so he should be a popular pick in most formats this week.

Schwartzel has survived the cut at Riviera Country Club in each of the past four years, notching back-to-back top five finishes in 2013 and 2014. Typically, the course rewards strong ball striking, and the South African ranks among the PGA Tour’s best players from the fairway, placing seventh in strokes gained: approach-the-green last season. As for his recent form, Schwartzel notched a pair of top five finishes on the European Tour late last year before missing the cut in Malaysia last week. While that early exit won’t do much for his momentum, it surely helped him to shed some of the rust that accumulated over his eight-week hiatus.

At $8,100 in DraftKings, Schwartzel is priced reasonably enough, so don’t be shy about betting on his course history. He’s also a good pick for the PGA Tour Avis game, with good numbers in both the approach and short game categories.