2022 US Open DFS Golf Picks This Week: Best DraftKings Value Plays

The 122nd running of the U.S. Open is on tap for this week, and it looks to be riveting from the get-go. There is a rivalry forming between different leagues with lots of LIV Tour players in the field — who just last week were on the PGA Tour. The venue also looks excellent, as The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., will be hosting the event for the first time since 1988. The venue will play as a par 70 at 7,254 yards and looks likely to frustrate players with some rolling and firm fairways and smallish greens.

Like every U.S. Open, expect really thick rough and impossibly fast greens, which will make approach strength and short games equally important. The last five winners of this event were all ranked in the top 30 of the OWGR at the time of their win and had also already played in the U.S. Open at least three times prior. It will also be a tough week for scoring in daily fantasy golf, as the cut line will feature just the top 60 players and ties, making 6-for-6 lineups hard to come by. We’ll look to who is projecting as the top players in the Stokastic site projections and target some of the best DFS golf picks for DraftKings and FanDuel fantasy golf contests.

U.S. Open 2022 DFS Golf Rankings & Expert Picks

The Country Club is a shorter par 70 by U.S. Open standards that stretches to 7,254 yards. The venue was redesigned by Gil Hanse and also rerouted specifically for this event. Smaller greens will give it a unique feel, and the fairways feature lots of natural mounding with some fescue-style grass surrounding the course to also give an Open Championship look. Expect the shorter venue to bring a few more styles of golfer into play, but like most U.S. Opens, par will remain a very good score for the week.

The Country Club Stats and Info

The greens at The Country Club are pure Poa annua for the most part. TPC River Highlands (home of the Travelers) is another East Coast venue that features similar green types.
The venue has at least seven par 4’s that measure over 450 yards. There are two shorter par 4’s on each nine, plus two par 5’s, although one stretches over 610 yards.
With firm fairways and smaller greens, tee-to-green games will be tested to the max. Approach and around the green will be vital, but also look for players who had success of late hitting out of the rough or at tougher venues in general. Fairway accuracy will be extremely low.

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U.S. Open 2022 DFS Golf Picks & Fantasy Golf Rankings

Patrick Cantlay: Grades: A, Values: A

While the top couple of golfers this week are very tight in rankings, the best values on the board are very clear in the Stokastic projections, with Patrick Cantlay leading the charge. Cantlay is priced at just $9,200 on DraftKings but projects for the sixth-most points on the slate and a 3.46% winning percentage. He is coming off a poor PGA Championship (poor is underplaying it — he was awful) but rebounded in a big way with a third place at the Memorial, where he again showcased a complete all-around game.

Cantlay with a confident putter is a dangerous beast, as he showed last year in the PGA playoffs, and the 4.4 strokes he gained putting at the fast greens at the Memorial are a good indicator for his chances at The Country Club. He finished a career-best 15th at this event in 2021, and just a couple of events ago he gained over eight strokes on approach at Hilton Head, which features smallish greens — at least somewhat similar in style to this week. As a top-end value or second man in, the Stokastic projections say Cantlay should be one of a main target.

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 17.7% | FanDuel: 17.3%

The Stats:

Has lost strokes off the tee just once over his last 20 starts on the PGA Tour.
Fifteenth at the U.S. Open last season and has six top-10s and a win on the PGA Tour since June 2021.

Eytan Shander and Ben Rasa give a full 2022 U.S. Open betting preview and find some of the best predictions for this week’s major.

Sam Burns: Grades: A, Values: A

Sam Burns has been on a tear over the last year or so, accumulating three wins since the beginning of the fall swing and bumping himself into elite status in what is a highly competitive era on the PGA Tour. Like Cantlay, Burns projects as massively underpriced this week and sits seventh in the Stokastic projections despite having just the 21st-most expensive salary on DraftKings for the week.

Burns projects as perhaps the most heavily rostered player of the week, but his value score on Stokastic also makes him a near must-play given his recent form. He’s gained absurd amounts on approach of late, including 9.3 strokes in Canada alone on his way to a fourth-place finish there. Burns will be playing the U.S. Open for the third time and should be primed for a big week after a PGA Championship that saw him stall out in 20th. Take the mega discount on Burns and look to differentiate with some of the players highlighted below.

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 39.2% | FanDuel: 21.0%

The Stats:

Has gained 3.9 strokes or more on approach in each of his last three starts; has also gained over four strokes putting in six of his last seven starts.
Ranks fourth in strokes gained with short game and first in strokes gained on approach over the last 24 rounds.

Low-Owned Daily Fantasy Golf GPP Flier

Daniel Berger ($8,400)

With the U.S. Open being an event where the best typically dominate the leaderboard on Sunday, it’s best not to get too complicated with GPP pools this week. One player who does seem to be going a little under the radar, though, is four-time PGA Tour winner Daniel Berger, who finished seventh at this event at Torrey Pines last season. The top-10 was Berger’s second at the U.S. Open in his career, and the fact he was able to grab such a result at the far longer Torrey Pines may speak volumes about his actual chances.

Berger’s modification to a high spin rate off the tee has allowed him to hit more fairways in 2022, and that could really work in his favor at The Country Club, a venue he’s also very familiar with. His missed cut at the PGA Championship is certainly what is helping keep his ownership suppressed (that and Burns’ presence), but most seem to be ignoring Berger’s two starts since then (23rd at Colonial and fifth at Muirfield) and the fact he gained over five strokes on approach and putting at the Memorial. A confident Berger has proven he can compete with the best in the world, and at under 10% owned, he looks like a great pivot play in the $8,000 range in large contests on DraftKings.

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 8.0%

If you’re looking for an edge in the golf betting market, be sure to watch who golf betting experts Ben Rasa and Eric Lindquist are putting their money on to win the U.S. Open.

Top 3 Under 5% in DraftKings Fantasy Golf This Week

This section will target players that should end up under or close to 5% ownership in larger DraftKings Golf GPPs. These picks are boom/bust PGA DFS players with an almost 100% focus on the upside.

Adam Scott ($7,200)

It’s interesting to see a seasoned U.S. Open player like Adam Scott trending with minimal to no ownership (1.8% projected). He had a roller coaster Memorial where he gained eight strokes on approach but was a disaster in other areas. His putting has improved, though, and even an average week around the greens could see him push for a top-20.

Brendan Grace ($6,900)

Branden Grace is one LIV Tour player worth some interest as a GPP flier, as he finished third last week in London. Grace can be a streaky player but has a world-class short game and looked confident with the putter on a tough course last week. He has posted three top-10s at the U.S. Open in his last seven appearances and is trending for almost no ownership right now.

Ryan Fox ($6,700)

Most people won’t be aware of this, but Ryan Fox is on a tear right now. His last six non-PGA Tour starts have produced five top-15s and a win. Fox is strong off the tee and has been putting the lights out of late. Seeing him push for a big week wouldn’t be shocking, and he sets up as a solid GPP target at well under $7,000 on DraftKings.

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