The Northern Trust: Draftkings First Round Showdown Picks

The Northern Trust kicks off the FedEx playoffs on Thursday from Jersey City, New Jersey! Let’s take a look at the Draftkings showdown contest for round one!

Before I discuss my picks, please remember that this article is focusing on my player selections for the showdown contest. The showdown contests are much different in scoring. etc. than the more traditional Draftkings classic contests.

For those readers that are not aware, the classic Draftkings contests are for an entire tournament. In direct contrast to that contest, the showdown contest focuses on only one round. This article is focusing on my player selections for the Draftkings round one showdown contest.

If you need a refresher on the showdown contest details and rules, you can obtain that information on the DraftKings website.

Ok. Now that I have got that out of the way, let’s get straight to what I love doing the most!

Here are my player picks for the Northern Trust’s first round Draftkings showdown contest!

Sungjae Im (7,500)

The 2018 Korn Ferry Tour player of the year is having an outstanding rookie season on the PGA Tour. Let me provide some data to provide some clarity to that statement. Im has an impressive 10 top 15 finishes on the PGA Tour in 2019. I must say that is an outstanding rookie season, but he is not done yet!

Sungjae arrives to the Northern Trust in very good form. He has made seven of his last eight cuts on the PGA Tour. His only missed cut was at the Open Championship. For me, Im is not a golfer that I would expect to perform well on a traditional links golf course. So to make a long story short, I am looking past that missed cut. Not that relevant to me.

Let’s take a look at some of Sunjae Im’s recent tournament results on the PGA Tour: seventh at the RBC Canadian Open in June, 15th at the 3M Open in July, and a sixth place finish in last week’s Wyndham Championship.

Now that I have pointed out Im’s very good recent form, let’s take a look at some of Sungjae’s recent first round scores. Obviously, this information is highly relevant as we are looking for golfers that have the potential for low first round scores.

I reviewed Im’s first round scores in is his last seven tournaments. I have to say, I was quite impressed at what observed. His last seven first round scores are: 64, 68, 69, 65, 68, 71, 62. That is an average of 66.7. The one blip on the radar was a 71 at the Open championship. As I said earlier, I am disregarding his play at the Open.

Additionally, I liked some of Sungjae Im’s current statistics as well. Sungjae currently leads the PGA Tour in overall birdies (433) made this season. Im also is currently ranked 26th on Tour in birdie or better percentage.

In a showdown contest, you need a golfer that has the ability to post a low round score. The total birdies made and birdie or better percentage statistics that I just mentioned, clearly indicate to me that this man can go low.

Billy Horschel (8,000)

If you look at Billy Horschel’s career you will notice a trend each year with regard to his results. That trend is crystal clear to me. Mr. Horschel peaks with regards to his performance towards the latter part of the year.

You may recall that Billy’s play was smoking hot during the latter part of 2014. That great surge in results late in the year was capped off by Horschel winning the FedEx Cup and the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in 2014.

Horschel is continuing his trend of peaking at the correct time in 2019. Let me provide some data to back up my point with regard to this year.

Billy has five top 20 finishes in his last seven starts on the PGA Tour! Last week, he was on fire on the weekend. Horschel fired a third round 65 and a final round 64 to shoot up the leaderboard. Horschel’s great final two rounds propelled him to a sixth place finish at the Wyndham.

Billy’s tournament statistics at the Wyndham were also impressive. Billy led the Wyndham field with 25 total birdies. He was also seventh in the field in driving accuracy (76.8%)

Additionally, putting is not generally considered one of Horschel’s strengths. However, at the Wyndham last week, Billy led the field in putts (1.600) per GIR (greens in regulation).

If you need some additional lower priced golfers to complete your Draftkings showdown lineups I like the following to possibly perform well in round one as well:

Charles Howell III (7,500)

Howell III has been playing rather well over the last few months. In his last 12 rounds on the PGA Tour, Charles has shot 10 rounds in the 60s. Howell III’s last three first round scores on the PGA Tour are: 66, 65, 68. Those are some outstanding first round scores.

Scott Piercy (7,300)

At the Wyndham last week, Piercy had round scores of 69, 66, 66, 68. Additionally, Piercy fired a first round 62 at the 3M Open in July. In my opinion, he has great upside in a showdown contest.

Denny McCarthy (6,600)

Denny’s last six first round scores on the PGA Tour are: 69, 66, 66, 67, 71, 65. That is an average first round score of 67.3 in his last six opening rounds. He comes in at an outstanding Draftkings price of only $6,600. I have to say, that is outstanding value in my opinion. He will certainly be in some of my lineups.

Good luck. Enjoy round one of the Northern Trust!