European Tour Fantasy Golf Preview: 2019 Open de España

The European Tour travels to Spain for the 2019 Open de España. Fantasy golf/Draftkings players will be presented with a relatively weak field of talent. However, the field does include John Rahm and Sergio Garcia.

Before I discuss my fantasy golf selections let’s take a quick look at the golf course the field will play this week and the key statistics I will be focused on for this event.

This 2019 Open de España will be played at the Club de Campo Villa in Madrid. This track is a par 71 that measures approximately 7,112 yards. This track is a classical golf course with tree-lined fairways. It should be noted that although the course is tree-lined, the fairways are rather wide.

Unfortunately, fantasy golf players will not have an abundance of course history to evaluate for this week’s tournament. The Open de España alternates courses each year. Club de Campo has hosted this event five times previously. However, this track has not hosted the Open de España since 1997.

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It appears that if a golfer wants to win the Open de España in 2019, he will need to score early and often. For that reason, as I review the European Tour’s 2019 statistics, I will be looking for golfers that have the ability to score birdies or better on a consistent basis.

The key statistics I will be focusing on for this event will be strokes gained off the tee, GIR (greens in regulation), and scrambling.

Jon Rahm $12,000

Rahm arrives on the fantasy golf/Draftkings slate at $12,000. Some DFS players will fade him this week due to his high cost. I certainly won’t be fading him. Let me explain in more detail why Rahm’s high cost is not a concern for me and why he leads my fantasy golf selections for the Open de España.

Ok. First of all, John Rahm is currently the fifth-ranked golfer on the planet for a reason. He arrives at this event in a rather nice form. He has finished in the top 12 in eight of his last nine tournaments (PGA and European Tour combined)! I would say rather emphatically that is outstanding play.

Let’s look at a few of Rahm’s recent quality results. He finished third at the United States Open in June, won the 2019 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in July, finished in a tie for third at the Northern Trust in August, and finished runner up at the BMW PGA Championship in September.

I am aware that Rahm missed the cut at the Alfred Dunhill Links last week. However, I am not concerned. In my opinion, Rahm is not the type of golfer that is going to enjoy a ProAm event where rounds can exceed six hours.

In direct contrast to last week, I think Rahm will enjoy this more traditional golf tournament in his home country. I am quite sure that Rahm will be highly motivated to play well in front of his home fans.

I should also note that Rahm won the 2018 Open de España. It is often hard for golfers to win the same tournament in consecutive years. I don’t think that will be a problem for this man.

I will not be shocked at all if Mr. Rahm is holding the Open de España trophy for a second consecutive year on Sunday afternoon. Why? Well, quite simply, this man is clearly the class of this tournament’s field.

If you are looking for additional golfers to complete your fantasy golf/Draftkings lineups I also like the following golfers to possibly sneak inside the top 20 this week:

Calum Hill $8,700

He won the Made In Denmark Challenge on the European Challenge Tour in August. He stepped up to the main Tour last week and finished 26th at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Jeff Winther $8,000

Winther finished 11th at the Porsche European Open in September. Additionally, he has made his last six cuts on the European Tour.

Alvaro Quiros $7,500

He finished third at the BMW International Championship in June.

Andres Romero $7,200

Romero finished 23rd at the Irish Open in July, second at the Omega European Masters in August, and 21st at the KLM Open in September. In my opinion, Romero presents outstanding value at a Draftkings price of just $7,200.

Eduardo De La Riva $6,900

The Spaniard finished second on his home soil at the Andalucia Masters in June.

Next. Rory McIlroy is way off base when it comes to “easy” course setups. dark

As always, good luck!

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