Who Are the Best Daily Fantasy Picks For the AT&T Byron Nelson?
The AT&T Byron Nelson is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this year and celebrating in a unique way—it’s moving. For the last 35 years, it has been held at the TPC Four Season. This year it will be held at a new course, the Trinity Forest Golf Course.
It appears that the new location has caused some of the game’ top golfers to hold off on taking part this year. Last season, four of the top six and nine of the top 20 played. This year, they have five of the top 21.
So, it will probably be a little tougher to see who the best daily fantasy players are going to be this week. But before diving into an examination of what some of those options may be…
How about a little information about the course and weather?
The tournament is held in Texas in May so you can count on one thing—it’s going to be hot. Temperatures are expected to be in the mid-80s throughout the tournament. Some cloud cover on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. However, there is a good chance that cloud cover could come with some rain.
There is a 30 percent chance of rain on Thursday. But there is a zero percent chance Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, there will be a ten percent chance.
Winds will not be too strong on Thursday (6 MPH) and Sunday (7 MPH). But they are expected to reach 13 and 15 MPH Friday and Saturday.
As for the course, Trinity Forest is a new course, so no one is going to have a familiarity advantage. The course is 7,380 yards long and is a par-71.
The Players
Nothing from last year matters since the tournament is moving to a new course. That also makes past performance at the Byron Nelson a moot point as well. But even if the tournament were being held at the same place this year, I would have a hard time backing last year’s winner, Billy Horschel.
He has missed the cut five times since February alone including a stretch of four in a row. Yes, people can go through slumps and break out of them eventually. You could say he has the last few weeks. He tied for fifth at RBC Heritage, tied for 11th at the Valero Texas Open, and won the Zurich Classic.
But then he fell back down to Earth last week at The Players Championship (tied for 37th).
The more prudent view this week may be to stick with the proven guns—which is fine since some good ones are playing:
- Jordan Spieth: The last couple of tournaments have not been kind to Spieth (t41 at the Players; missed cut at Zurich). Prior to that, he finished in third at the Masters and tied for third at the Houston Open. Tack on the fact that he is the No. 3 golfer in the world and it is hard not to be in his corner.
Since he’ll be the local favorite, most fans will be.
- Matt Kuchar: He’s one of those guys who is good but not great. He’s made the cut in every tournament he’s entered this season, finished in the top 25 in five of them and in the top ten in three. He wasn’t bad at the Players Championship last week (t17), but he was unspectacular with rounds of 66, 71,71, and 70.
With many of golf’s stars skipping this one, a guy that isn’t going to lose it for you like Kuchar could be a good bet.
- Buyer Beware: Sergio Garcia and Hideki Matsuyama—Since they are two of the higher ranked golfers in the field it would be easy to gravitate towards them. But neither is playing well right now. Garcia finished in 70th last week at the Players Championship and missed the cut in his previous three appearances.
Matsuyama missed the cut at the Players and has had just three rounds in the 60s in his last ten. Both guys are good golfers, but even good golfers play poorly at times. You are better off going with unknown guys than either of these two.
- Others worth considering include Charles Howell III, Chesson Hadley, and Jimmy Walker.
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