Slate Breakdown | THE PLAYERS

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THE PLAYERS Championship is here! The Fifth Major, as some call it, provides thrills and, certainly, plenty of spills. Each and every year, all of the best PGA TOUR golfers in the world descend on Ponte Vedra, Florida and compete for one of the most coveted trophies in the game of golf.

This year the tournament gets even better, as DraftKings has announced its new Reignmakers PGA TOUR game. For general strategy or an intro to the game, click on either title to read that article! For those of you who are now seasoned vets and are looking for a few targets this week, read below!

In this article, I’ll cover a variety of topics, including a brief overview of the tournament itself, the course that will play host to this week’s event, and then a breakdown of the players playing it. Specifically you'll find a rarity tier value table for the top 10 golfers playing this week, and then I'll cap it off with my top 3 values for the slate.* Without further ado, let’s dig into THE PLAYERS Championship.

The Tournament

Including this week, there are 27 events remaining in the 2023 PGA TOUR schedule. Thirteen of those events are considered “elevated” events in which most, if not all, of the best PGA TOUR golfers will play. The format for the event is a typical PGA TOUR event, where there is a cut after 36 holes, with the top 65 golfers (and ties) advancing to play the weekend.

In DraftKings Reignmakers PGA TOUR these elevated events are considered “Deluxe” events and come with a total prize pool of $350,000, spread throughout the rarity tiers with a STARTER tier available for the next four weeks. The largest prize pool this week can be found at ELITE where first place will take home $20,000 in a contest offering $100,000 in prizes.

The Course

Most consider this to be the crown jewel for world-renowned architect Pete Dye. TPC Sawgrass has a fascinating story and it has now evolved into the premier course for the PGA TOUR which has held its biggest event of the year on it since 1982!

A par 72 that measures 7,200 yards, TPC Sawgrass has yielded all types of winners. From short, straight hitting Webb Simpson to the long hitters like Rory McIlroy and every other type of golfer in between. It has seldom been overpowered, with only one winning score better than 18 under par.

Last 5 Winners & Winning Score

2022: Cameron Smith (-13)
2021: Justin Thomas (-14)
2020: CANCELED
2019: Rory McIlroy (-16)
2018: Webb Simpson (-18)

The Golfers

The most important part of weekly fantasy golf contests is of course the golfers competing. This week's field will start with 144 golfers, with only one of the world's top 20 (Cameron Smith) not present. his week it’ll be 144 of them. Beyond Smith, only Joaquin Niemann, Abraham Ancer, Thomas Pieters and Mito Pereira are missing from the top 50. That means 45 of the top 50 ranked golfers in the world are competing this week.

This next graphic will show the five best players in the world, so the effectiveness of it may not be great here this week, but half of the tournaments will feature one or maybe none of these golfers, so as the season marches on, I expect it to become very valuable. This graphic will cover a golfer's odds to win and their current card prices at each rarity tier.

Three-Ball: Three Options for Reignmakers PGA TOUR This Week

Since the PGA TOUR goes out in threesomes every Thursday and Friday, I’ll always leave this article with three Reignmakers PGA TOUR targets for the week that are not in the above graphic. The reasons for targeting could be a weekly pick, a season-long pick, a value pick or a combination of all of the above.

Tom Kim: The emerging superstar from South Korea has burst onto the PGA TOUR over the last few months and relishes under the spotlight. The spotlight doesn’t get much bigger than this week and with his accuracy versus power approach to the game, he should find TPC Sawgrass to his liking. His prices right now are about 40% less across all rarity tiers when compared to the top 5 players.
Taylor Montgomery: Montgomery is a PGA TOUR rookie that’s had a very hot start to the season and has risen all the way up to No. 56 in the world. That marker gives him at least a shot at earning an invitation to The Masters, where he has to rank inside the top 50 in the world a week prior to the event to get in. That, his priority ranking on tour, and a few other factors should have him playing every week leading up to The Masters.
Justin Suh: Another very talented PGA TOUR rookie who has stepped up his game a bit over the last few weeks and should continue to get better as the season progresses is Justin Suh. While he’s not as close as Montgomery is to getting in to The Masters, his priority ranking on the PGA TOUR and FedEx Cup standing should have him playing quite a few times this year.

Author Bio

Jason Rouslin

Hailing from the great, but little, state of Rhode Island, Jason decided that year-round golf was too hard to pass up. So, after 29 years of bitter cold, and only being able to play golf 4 months a year (comfortably), upended those roots and moved to the sunshine state, Florida. 5 years later Jason is the proud Dad of two young boys and a black lab Bella. . In his professional time he can be found diving into the DraftKings Reignmaker game, researching PGA Tour stats, and investing, with a heavy focus on equity markets. In his spare time, playing golf is likely on the docket. If not that, then it's likely something to do with Disney, as he enjoys just about everything, from the theme parks to the Marvel movies. Shoot him a message on Twitter @dfsgolfer23, he'd love to chat!

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