DFS Golf Picks & Expert PGA Rankings This Week: The Masters 2022

The Masters is the first major championship of the year and marks one of the best times to be a daily fantasy golf player. There are currently three DraftKings Fantasy Golf Milly Maker tournaments in the lobby, along with a bunch of other large tournaments across the PGA DFS industry. Grab an advantage this week with Awesemo’s expert PGA DFS stats and tools to make the best daily fantasy golf picks for DraftKings and FanDuel. Awesemo has all your needs covered for the Masters, including a full betting breakdown with expert Masters picks and predictions, comprehensive DFS guide to winning the Masters and even a full segment on how to bet Tiger Woods at The 2022 Masters.

The Masters tournament starts on Thursday, and with so much on the line, it is worth checking out the tee times and weather just in case a wave split develops. As of now, there is a colder forecast for the weekend with highs in the low 60s. Gusts are expected to reach 20 mph in spots as well, with the Friday p.m. wave potentially being one to avoid. A higher-scoring week looks to be on tap and there will be more updates on the live Masters daily fantasy golf shows throughout the week.

The venue this year is also something to dive into. Golf fans are almost certain to see a winning score this year similar or worse to the 10 under par Hideki Matsuyama put up last season. The forecast is part of that, but so is the fact that Augusta lengthened and toughened the course. The 15th, one of the easiest holes on the course, now plays 30 yards longer and the already tough par-4 11th hole now plays at around 520 yards and will likely be the toughest hole on the course. With higher winds, also expect scrambling and three-putt percentages to be far worse than the tour average this year. Players trending well on approach and around the greens are the two key areas to focus on.

DFS Golf Rankings & Expert 2022 Masters Picks

Augusta National Stats and Info

Scrambling percentages for the field are typically 5% to 7% lower than the PGA Tour average here every season; three-putt percentages are also much higher than normal — good around-the-green games and three-putt avoidance can be things to key in on here.
Expect greens-in-regulation rates to be much lower than they were in November of 2020, putting a bigger emphasis on around-the-green play.
The scoring holes should still allow lots of birdies (even if conditions are tougher), and it is worth noting that Matsuyama went 11-under on the par 5’s at this event last season (and won at 10 under par).
Matsuyama was also fourth in bogey avoidance last year, for the week, and five of the top players in that stat at this event last year also finished inside the top five, for the week.

Putting Splits

The greens at Augusta National are pure bentgrass and some of the most undulating and unique on tour. Three-putt percentages for the week at Augusta are often the highest seen all season. Experience at Augusta can often help in this regard, as getting too aggressive on putts can often lead to horrible results. Here is a more general look at some of the best and worst bentgrass putters in the field, relative to their strokes gained on other surfaces. Use caution with these in your fantasy golf picks; they are not the be-all, end-all, but they make for a nice tiebreaker.

Positive Bentgrass Putting Splits, Last 50 Rounds

Rory McIlroy: +25 strokes on bentgrass, -4 on all other surfaces
Patrick Cantlay: +36 strokes on bentgrass, +8 on all other surfaces
Seamus Power: +20 strokes on bentgrass, +6 on all other surfaces
*+ equals total strokes gained | – equals strokes lost

Negative Bentgrass Putting Splits, Last 50 Rounds

Russell Henley: -29 strokes on bentgrass, +11 on all other surfaces
Marc Leishman: -13 strokes on bentgrass, +30 on all other surfaces
Brooks Koepka: -7 strokes on bentgrass, +5 on all other surfaces

Latest PGA DFS Content

Masters DFS Golf Picks & Fantasy Golf Rankings for DraftKings & FanDuel

Jon Rahm: Grades: A+, Values: C, B

The DFS Golf projections are quite clear this week on Awesemo about which top player to target. Jon Rahm rates out with a point projection nearly seven points higher than the second-rated player this week. The projections are often high on Rahm but to see him this far out in front after just a subpar start to the year should be exciting. Rahm’s ownership this week will not be overtly low, but he is also not trending to be one of the top-three owned players either and could slide in popularity as the week progresses.

Rahm has now played Augusta five times in his career and finished ninth or better in each of those appearances. Despite a poor Match Play performance and Players Championship, Rahm has been smashing the ball of late, gaining over nine strokes ball striking against the field in three of his last four stroke-play events. The around the game needs to improve but Rahm’s ball striking means he only needs an average week in that regard. If his ownership keeps dropping, do not hesitate to go overweight in big fields.

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 16.9% | FanDuel: 19%

The Stats:

Ranks first in bogey avoidance over the last 50 rounds and 100 rounds.
Leads the field in strokes gained tee to green, off the tee and ball striking over the last 50 rounds.

Tyrrell Hatton : Grades: B, Values: A

There is a bit of a negative aura around Englishman Tyrrell Hatton in majors, specifically since this is often where he underperforms the most. There is certainly truth in that, as Hatton has produced missed cuts now in five of the last seven majors he has played. He has also produced some solid results that often go overlooked, though. Since 2016, Hatton has five top-10 finishes in major championships and produced his best finish ever at Augusta last year, when he grabbed an 18th place.

The fact that his solid finish came with tougher conditions last year should not be shocking as he is well known for tackling tougher venues in Europe and had his only PGA Tour win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in terrible conditions. There is cold and wind on tap for this week and Hatton enters this year having produced multiple top-10 finishes already, along with a 21st place in his final stroke play start where he gained 5.4 strokes on approach. Hatton rates extremely well in the Awesemo Fantasy Golf Model this week, projecting with the best point projections and value score of anyone under $9,000 on DraftKings, where his $8,000 slate salary makes him look like one of the bargains of the week.

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 19.2% | FanDuel: 20.3%

The Stats:

Has gained strokes putting in eight straight PGA Tour starts.
Gained seven strokes ball striking in his final start at the Valspar and shot a final-round 68 at this event last year to finish a career-best 18th.

Awesemo golf betting experts Ben Rasa and Eytan Shander will be coming to you every week on the OddsShopper YouTube Channel with the Putting for Dough golf betting show, where they give you their expert PGA picks and predictions for the week. This week, they are giving their free golf betting picks for the 2022 Masters.

Low-Owned Daily Fantasy Golf GPP Flier

Rory McIlroy

These are almost the perfect conditions for super low ownership on Rory McIlroy this week. He is just off a week where he busted over one-third of the DFS lineups with a missed cut (as a +750 favorite) and now comes to Augusta where he missed the cut last season. Poor weather and Augusta trends, like the fact that the last time a winner missed the cut in his final start prior to winning the green jacket was 2009, will also play into the anti-Rory narrative.

You have to decide what side of the fence you are on with McIlroy, but his larger body of work should win out. He won recently last fall and came near shipping another title early in 2022 at the Dubai Desert Classic. Prior to Valero, he had shown better approach play and has now gained strokes around the green in eight straight PGA Tour starts, a crucial stat considering there will likely be low green in regulation percentages thanks to the wind forecast this week. McIlroy sets up as a solid pivot and potentially massive leverage target over chalkier players in his range this week.

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 3.4%

Top Three 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.

Joaquin Niemann ($8,200)

It is doubtful Niemann will come in under 5% owned this week but he is trending well under 10% in the early ownership projections. He is also a player to watch this week as his short game and approaches have been lights out to start 2022. Anything under 10% owned would be great for daily fantasy golf purposes.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout ($6,700)

If the conditions are cold, windy and tough as they are forecast to be, it is an advantage for Bezuidenhout, who has one of the best short games in the world. He has gained multiple strokes in that area in each of his last three starts and ranks fifth in bogey avoidance over the last 24 rounds.

Ryan Palmer ($6,500)

Palmer is not someone expected to win, but at $6,500 he is fully capable of providing some excellent birdie/eagle returns, as he did last year when he made 16 birdies and two eagles for the week. He hit the ball well in all four rounds last week and if his putter shows up, more great fantasy production from him could be on the way. Expect less than 2% ownership.

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