PGA DFS: Showdown Spotlight Round 4 of the Houston Open

This column is a quick-hitter article to give you the stats you need to make informed PGA DFS picks for your DraftKings + FanDuel daily fantasy lineups and give you a couple of recommendations for the third round of the Houston Open. On a typical Showdown contest, DraftKings will offer upwards of $50,000 to first for rounds 2 and 3 showdown and sometimes up to $100,000 for the final-round contests. They also provide weekend-long contests that have been offering $25,000 to first for most weekends. Lastly, FanDuel has also tried to get into the weekend-long and final-round contests, offering $10,000 and $5,000 to first.

Houston Open Round 4 DraftKings Showdown Picks

Previous Round Recap

PGA Tour Live subscribers had a nice treat this morning, as Hideki Matsuyama got it going early, and for an hour, we also got to see first hole coverage. Hideki would turn in one of the best rounds of the day, a four-under 66, and is tied for tenth heading into Sunday. We then got to see Brooks Koepka find some form as he turned in one of the rounds of the week at 65. As I suspected and predicted, he would get himself into contention for at least a top 10. Perfect timing.

Dustin Johnson also continued to look strong, putting himself in contention tomorrow, sitting just three back of the lead, and played to a bogey-free 66. He is #1 on my radar for next week. Just please don’t fall down any stairs. I’m hoping he doesn’t win tomorrow, though. Will Gordon almost had the course record to himself today, as he got it to seven under at one point before doubling his 15th hole of the day. Still, he finished with a five-under 66 and jumped from a tie for 6th to a tie for 19th.

The leaders jockeyed throughout the afternoon, with three golfers holding the solo lead at one point in the round and at least four that were tied for it at one point. Ultimately, the final group today will end up being the final group tomorrow as well, but a late three-putt by Jason Day sends Sam Burns to the lead by 1 heading into Sunday.

Strokes Gained Ball Striking vs. Putting:

It’s been an abysmal showing on the greens the first three days for local product Jhonattan Vegas, as he has lost over three and a half strokes with his putting but has gained almost nine with his ball-striking. A five-stroke differential. Sam Burns is second, followed by Harold Varner, Karmer Hickok and Mark Hubbard. Maverick McNealy was about to gain 1.32 strokes on the day, a good sign heading into Sunday.

Strokes Gained Ball Striking Differential

Vegas also shows up in this category, gaining over three more strokes in round 3 than in round two, from a positive two to a positive five, wow! However, Erik Van Rooyen led this category gaining 3.87 more strokes in round three, while Cam Tringale also gained three more strokes. They were the only three golfers to gain three more strokes in round three. HA. that was funny.

Click here for all of them in tournament statistics.

PGA DFS Slate Preview

Lock Time

Around/Estimated 8:30 a.m. EST

Contest Preview

DraftKings

• DraftKings is offering $20,000 to first and $60,000 guaranteed for the final-round slate.

FanDuel

• FanDuel is offering $1,000 to first and $5000 guaranteed for the final-round slate.

General Strategy and Houston Open PGA DFS Picks

Fairways have proved to be rather important this week, as the Bermuda rough is growing long in a few spots. Ultimately though, it’s about executing the shots on the scoring holes. There aren’t many of them out there this week.

*Reminder finishing points are allocated to players for the final round showdown contests. 

Top 10

For some reason, DraftKings didn’t really want to pay attention to the leaderboard this week, as they typically do, and the pricing has suffered because of it. Jason Day is only $7,200? What? He could and probably should be about 70% owned tomorrow, maybe even higher. Also, Sam Burns, who’s been in the lead since Friday, is $7,700? Dustin Johnson, the clear best player in the field, who sits in a tie for 5th, is the fourth-highest priced golfer? Yikes.

Aaron Wise ($7,400)

Maybe he’ll be the lowest owned? With Day Burns & Straka all priced in the low 7s, it’ll be hard to get anyway from any of them. Aaron struggled just a little bit with his irons, but with how he’s been hitting them recently, I’m going to give him a pass. He’s got a chance at a top 5, which would be his best finish in quite some time and give him confidence into the new year.

Stud or Value Pick Outside the Top 10

Brooks Kopeka ($8,800)

It’s pretty much pick your six golfers tomorrow, and you’ll be able to roster them. Maybe that’ll end up bringing down ownership on Brooks a bit. I think Viktor Hovland & Tyrrell Hatton go even lower owned, so if you are looking to diversify the lineups that way, I’d turn to those two. I think Brooks will get around 25% owned, which for the final round slate isn’t all that bad. He’s been coming on strong these last two rounds and will surely want to take good feels into next week.

Sneaky Pick Outside the Top 10

Jhonattan Vegas ($7,000)

He’s gotten better each of the first three days, as the local Houston resident will look to match up the ball striking to his short game tomorrow. Even with a horrendous short game, Vegas still was able to shoot a couple under today. That tells me if he puts them both together, 66 is in the cards. That’s good enough to get him pretty darn close to the top 10. It will also make up any ground lost due to positional points. He should be very low owned as well.

Houston Open Lineup Fill-Ins

Tyrrell Hatton ($10,500)

Hideki Matsuyama ($9,000)

Will Gordon ($7,200)

Nate Lashley ($6,500) 

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