FedEx St. Jude Invitational: Draftkings Picks for the First Round Showdown Contest

The WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational will begin on Thursday morning. So let’s take a look at the Draftkings First Round Showdown Contest!

Before I discuss my DraftKings Showdown picks, I feel it is important to note some key differences in this contest compared to the more traditional PGA Draftkings contest. Since you are focusing on a golfer’s performance in one round, a player’s ability to perform at a high level immediately is of vital importance.

Quite simply there is no tomorrow, which is unlike the traditional Draftkings full event contests.  You can’t say, “well D.J. can play well in the second round and get my lineup back into it.” Unfortunately, that approach is not going to work. Draftkings Showdown contests are a different animal indeed.

For DraftKings showdown contests, I look for players that can score and tend to avoid bogeys or worse. Key statistics that I like for this contest are birdies or better percentage and bogey avoidance.

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Additionally, for showdown slates, I do look at the weather. I try and determine, based on the weather forecast, if the morning or afternoon wave has any type of advantage. For example, if the morning forecast is relatively calm and high winds are predicted for the afternoon, I would focus on golfers that have early tee times.

if the weather is not a factor, I tend to slightly favor the morning wave most of the time. The reason for that is, in my opinion, the early wave of golfers generally gets fresh receptive greens.

Now that I have discussed some of the different dynamics related to showdown contests, let’s shift gears to my player picks.

Here are my DraftKings showdown picks for the first round of the FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

Justin Thomas (10,000)

J.T. missed significant time on the PGA Tour due to a wrist injury that he sustained at the Honda Classic in March. After approximately a six week absence from the Tour, he returned to the Memorial Tournament and missed the cut. However, he has steadily been getting back to the form we are used to seeing from a player of his talent level.

Thomas finished tied for 20th at the RBC Canadian Open in June and more recently 11th at last week’s Open Championship.

As far as key statistics go, Thomas certainly checks that box. He currently leads the PGA Tour in birdies or better percentage. Additionally, J.T. Is 11th on Tour in strokes gained around the green.

Thomas has an outstanding record in the World Golf Championship events. I just have a feeling he is going to get it going early in round one and finish like a train. He did shoot a final round 62 at the WGC: Mexico earlier this year.

Henrik Stenson (8,900)

I have always been a big fan of Stenson. He is an outstanding ball striker. Stenson has the ability, in my opinion, to jump out to a first-round lead in a quality field.

Let me provide clarity to that statement. Stenson has done it before. Henrik won the FedEx Cup in 2013. He also has won the Open Championship. A major winner. He can get it done.

This year, Henrik initially started out slow missing his first two cuts. Since that time, he has played rather consistently well. Coming into this week’s event, Stenson has three consecutive top 20 finishes.

I also love the fact that Stenson currently leads the PGA Tour in strokes gained approach. When he is striking his irons well, Stenson is dangerous.

Chez Reavie (7,700)

Chez Reavie has had a good year up to this point on Tour. Chez finished 14th at the PGA Championship and third at the United States Open. He followed up those impressive results with a win at the Travelers Championship.

When I reviewed his statistics I saw a few that popped off the page for me. Chez is currently ranked 14th in par 4 scoring and second in driving accuracy on the PGA Tour. Those statistics tell me that he can find the narrow fairways at TPC Southwind and score.

Prior to his missed cut at last week’s Open Championship, Reavie’s first-round scores in his three previous events were: 68 at the U.S. Open, 65 at the Travelers Championship, and 65 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. I think that clearly illustrates that Reavie can start a tournament on fire.

I also think that Reavie’s DraftKings price of only $7,700 is outstanding and frankly too low. Getting Reavie in your lineup provides the DraftKings player great lineup flexibility. That is obviously a good thing.

Those are my three DraftKings picks for the first round showdown. As always, good luck!