European Tour Fantasy Golf: 2019 Turkish Airlines Open

The road to Dubai continues as the European Tour travels to Turkey for the Turkish Airlines Open. Let’s take a look at this event from a fantasy golf perspective!

Before I discuss my fantasy golf/Draftkings player picks let’s take a look at the golf course the field will contend with this week, the key statistics that I will be focusing on and my DFS strategy for DraftKings contests.

The 2019 Turkish Airlines Open will be played on the Montgomerie Maxx Royal in Antalya, Turkey. As the name suggests, this track is a Colin Montgomerie design. This course is a par 72 that measures 7,133 yards. This golf course is a coastal track that offers tree-lined fairways. Additionally, this golf course is rather unique as it presents five par-five holes.

It should be noted that the Turkish Airlines Open had been played at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal course from 2013 through 2015. If you are looking for previous course form data, make sure that you are looking at course form data from that three-year span.

The key statistics that I am focusing on for this event are GIR (greens in regulation), strokes gained approach, birdie average per round, and putts per GIR.

Now let’s quickly touch on my DFS strategy for this event. While I can understand why many fantasy golf enthusiasts will have no problem paying up for two-time defending Turkish Airlines Open Champion Justin Rose ($11,800) in DraftKings contests, I just can’t do it.

For me, the smart play from a fantasy golf perspective is to find value in golfers at far lower DraftKings prices than Rose. My reasoning behind this strategy is the quality of golfers that are in this tournament’s field. So for me, fading Rose is the smart play.

Let’s shift our focus to my DraftKings picks for the 2019 Turkish Airlines Open!

Paul Waring $8,000

Paul Waring has played consistent and quality golf throughout the 2019 European Tour season. An illustration of Waring’s consistency is the fact that he has made the cut in 16 of the 18 tournaments he has played this year.

Now to better understand Waring’s outstanding quality of play in 2019, let’s take a look at a few of Waring’s stellar tournament results. Waring finished sixth at the British Masters in May, seventh at the Irish Open in July, 20th at the Scandinavian Invitation in August, third at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in September, and finally he finished eighth at last week’s WGC-HSBC Champions.

It also has to be said that Waring has played well at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal golf course previously. Waring finished 25th in the 2013 Turkish Airlines Open.

As far as statistics go, Waring certainly checks that box for me as well. Waring currently ranks third on the European Tour in GIR (greens in regulation). In 68 total rounds played this season, Paul Waring has hit a very impressive 73.53% of his greens in regulation.

Additionally, I like the fact that Waring currently ranks 27th on the European Tour in birdie average per round (4.10).

If you are looking for additional golfers to complete your DraftKings lineup I like the following players to possibly finish in the top 20.

Marcus Kinhult $7,600

He has four top 20 finishes in his last six events, including an 18th place finish at the Italian Open in October.

Mikko Korhonen $7,100

Mikko has two top 25 finishes in his last three events. Korhonen also won the Volvo China Open earlier this year.

Shubhankar Sharma $6,800

He has three top 21 finishes in his last five events, including a seventh-place finish at the Italian Open.

Justin Walters $6,500

Waters has two top 10 finishes in his last three events on the European Tour.

If you have any player questions feel free to contact me on Twitter at @geeversgolf. Good luck!