PGA DFS: Honda Classic Preview & Fantasy Golf Picks DraftKings & FanDuel

For some, the Florida swing marks the end of building lineups in the morning, and for others it makes for very late nights. It also marks the turn of the PGA Tour calendar, as golf ramps up and tries to cement its place in the sports world. With the NFL ending and the MLB’s status unknown, the PGA Tour is in a great spot to capitalize on some already massively growing trends. In addition, PGA DFS contests will see that growth in the coming weeks, with multiple millionaire makers scheduled over the next 60 days. Contests for the first Florida event — the 2022 Honda Classic this year — are always slightly less than Riviera’s last week, as everyone adjusts to the new starting times, which are between 6:40 a.m. and 7 a.m. ET on Thursdays. As always, we star the week with a comprehensive PGA DFS preview before we settle into our Fantasy Golf Picks this week on DraftKings and FanDuel.

The first stop this year in the Florida swing is the Honda Classic. With many of the top 10 players in the World Golf Rankings playing each of the last two weeks, none of them decided to make the trip to PGA National this year. That provides plenty of chances to golfers looking for a breakthrough week at the Honda Classic. Let’s take a look at some of the other important information and statistical trends from the event for our DFS golf picks.

PGA DFS & Fantasy Golf Preview | 2022 Honda Classic

Course Facts & Figures

PGA National is a daunting test to start Florida golf. It has all the elements one would imagine, with water lurking just about everywhere, especially in the famous “Bear Trap” holes 16 through 18 that have water in play on every single shot. It is one of the best finishing stretches of holes in all of professional golf, concluding with a reachable par 5 with water in play on both shots. Anything from an eagle to a double bogey or worse is possible on the hole, making the late-tournament dramatics quite appealing. But the toughness of the course and the spot in the PGA Tour’s schedule caused most of the world’s best to skip the event in the past couple of years.

Par & Yardage

Par- 70 7,261 yards

Course Difficulty

PGA National 3/41 — +1.93 or 71.93

Hole Dispersion

Par 3’s — 217, 226, 179, 175
Par 4’s — 365, 464, 395, 479, 427, 421, 508, 450, 438, 388, 465, 434
Par 5’s — 538, 566

Grass Types & Hazards

Grass Type: Bermuda
Rough Length: 2 inches
Green Size: 7,000 square feet
Holes with water in play: 15

Designer

Jack Nicklaus redesign

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’re giving their free golf betting picks for the 2022 Honda Classic.

Best Stats for DFS Golf Picks This Week

Off the Tee: With long rough and hazards in play everywhere, it is no secret finding the fairway this week is paramount. Plenty of 3 woods and irons will be hit off the tee, which brings the average driving distance down quite a bit to around 285 yards. Even with that, the driving accuracy is not all that high, checking in last year at around 65%.
Approach to the Green: Missed fairways and long approach shots equal lower greens in regulation; just about 64% were hit in regulation last year.
Around the Green: Missing the greens here almost ensures a bogey about 50% of the time, as the course does not get any easier the closer one gets to the green.
On the Green: Once on the greens, however, they are not particularly difficult for to making putts.

Honda Classic Course History

Since this event has been played here for quite some time, course history can go back as far as one would like. Typically going back further than five years limits the number of golfers that had a chance to compete in the event and or competing against vastly different fields. It is important to note, nonetheless.

Only Tommy Fleetwood, Gary Woodland and Sungjae Im have two top-10s here without missing a cut in the more recent history. Others like Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger have a few good starts mixed in with a few missed cuts. Lee Westwood is in a similar fashion to them, with a top-five and a missed cut in the last two years. However, but before that, starting in 2015 going back to 2010, he made the cut in all six years and had three top-10s.

To add to the European Contingent competing at this event, Shane Lowry has made the cut in all four trips here but has yet to crack to the top 20, with his best finish being 21st. Others like Cameron Tringale, Mackenzie Hughes, Ryan Palmer, Aaron Wise, Jhonattan Vegas, Brendan Steele, Harry Higgs, Michael Thompson, Zach Johnson, Sepp Straka, Sam Ryder, Brandon Hagy, Beau Hossler, Matthew NeSmith, Mark Hubbard and defending champion Matt Jones have made the cut in at least each of their last two starts.

PGA DFS Golf Rankings & Stats

Only three holes this week will feature more than 100 birdies and total just about 40% of the total points scored. The third hole is by far the easiest, an almost must-birdie or better. The hardest holes are the fifth hole, sixth hole and 10th hole.

2022 Honda Classic PGA DFS Player Preview

No golfer in the top 10 in the official world golf rankings is set to play this week, but seven out of the next 20 are. They are headlined by Louis Oosthuizen, who has yet to figure it out at PGA National. Local residents Koepka and Berger give the field a bit of class and bravado. Others like Billy Horschel, Joaquin Niemann and Im are coming into the week all having a solid start to the season.

Latest PGA DFS Content

Honda Classic Stats: Strokes Gained Review

One of the longest odds to win on tour last year, Matt Jones played the best golf of his career to get his first PGA Tour Victory. He did so in rather dominant fashion, outscoring Aaron Wise by 25 points, making him basically a must-own for PGA DFS. His tee-to-green performance included 4.2 strokes gained around the green, and he matched that up with a solid putting performance of over two strokes gained for the week. Only Adam Scott lost strokes putting for the week while still finishing inside top 10.

Averages for Last Year’s Top 10

Strokes Gained Off the Tee: 0.40
Strokes Gained on Approach: 0.645
Strokes Gained Around the Green: 0.47
Strokes Gained Putting: 1.1
DFS Points Scored: 119.5
DFS Ownership: 9.49%
Average DFS Salary: $7,600

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Author

Jason Rouslin

Jason established his roots in the littlest state that could...Rhode Island. But after 29 years of bitter cold, and only being able to play golf 4 months a year, upended those roots and moved to Florida. Now four years later, Jason is a husband to Sarah and father of two boys, James & Myles. A dog and more specifically Lab lover (Bella), he dedicates his time to serve as the lead of PGA content at Awesemo.com. In the time he is not diving into the PGA stats and covering this week's current tournament, you can find him researching and trading stocks, on the golf course, at Disney World, on a hike, or somewhere in between. Want to chat? Have a question about Golf/Stocks or anything else? Hop on twitter and give him a message @dfsgolfer23. You can also contact Jason by emailing [email protected].