Draftkings Picks: 2019 Wells Fargo Championship

Now that we have finally moved past the Zurich Classic, (a team event that Draftkings did not offer contests for last week) we can turn our attention to the Wells Fargo Championship in North Carolina.  

Before I provide my picks for the week, let’s take a quick look at the golf course hosting the Wells Fargo Championship that the field will contend with this week.

The 2019 Wells Fargo Championship returns to the Quail Hollow course in North Carolina. The course is a par 71 that is 7,554 yards. Last year’s Wells Fargo Championship, which was also played at Quail Hollow, ranked as the fifth most difficult course on the PGA Tour in 2018.

The statistics I am looking at this week are driving distance, strokes gained putting, and scrambling. Driving accuracy does not appear to be as important this week. The 2018 Wells Fargo Champion (Jason Day) hit less than 50% of the fairways and still found a way to win.

How did Day win the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship after missing so many fairways? He was 2nd in strokes gained putting and 9th in strokes gained around the green. The moral of the story is if you are going to miss fairways around this track you need to bring a very good short game.

Now that we have covered the course, let’s get to my picks for the Wells Fargo Championship!

Rickie Fowler (10,600)

The 2019 Waste Management Open Champion has displayed arguably the best consistency of any golfer on the PGA Tour this year. He currently is ranked 2nd on the PGA Tour with 19 consecutive cuts. For me, having a golfer in my DFS lineups with that type of consistency is outstanding.

In my opinion, Rickie also brings high win equity to your lineups this week. He clearly loves playing here. Ricky has played this event 7 times at Quail Hollow compiling 5 top 21 finishes including a win in 2012. Additionally, Fowler finished 5th at the 2017 PGA Championship which was also played at Quail Hollow.

Starting your lineups with Fowler and fading Rory McIlroy (11,800) and Jason Day (11,000) would be a great way to differentiate your lineups.

Phil Mickelson (9,100)

Lefty fits the narrative of course horse this week. Phil has played this event 15 times and never missed the cut. Additionally, he has performed outstanding at Quail Hollow. Mickelson has finished at least 18th in 13 of the 15 times he has played here.

Lefty finished 18th at Augusta National in his last event. Phil has a few missed cuts in 2019. However, Mickelson is a guy that shows up and plays well on courses that he loves. I expect the same this week. Another reason I am backing Phil is he still hits the ball a long way. The 48 year old American is currently 27th on the PGA Tour in driving distance.

Jason Kokrak (8,700) 

Kokrak has compiled 13 straight cuts in 2019. Kokrak is another golfer that will provide consistency to your lineups. He also is a bomber. He currently ranks 32nd on the Tour in driving distance.

Kokrak finished 16th at the RBC Heritage in his last event. The RBC Heritage is played on a course that has some correlation to Quail Hollow. He finished 2nd at the Valspar Championship in March. Kokrak has yet to win a title on the PGA Tour. However, in my opinion, that will change very soon. I would not be surprised if Jason Kokrak was holding the trophy this Sunday.

Sam Burns (7,200)

The 22-year-old American has been playing some very good golf as of late. Excluding last week’s team event, Burns has made 5 straight cuts. He currently ranks 18th on Tour in driving distance. He also ranks 24th on Tour in strokes gained putting.

Burns finished a very respectable 9th at the RBC Heritage in his last event. I know that I am taking on some risk here with Burns. However, I am backing him with confidence. I think he provides my Draftkings lineup great value with high upside at 7,200.

If you are looking for additional lower priced players to fill your lineups I also like the following golfers:

Cameron Tringale (7,000)

Peter Malnati (6,700)

Julian Etulain (6,600)

As always, good luck this week!