We’re David Barnett and Pat Perry, the voices behind Tour Junkies. We’re excited to begin contributing regular content to Golfbet platforms to dig deeper into the DFS and betting angles in play each week!

This week we’re looking at a solid field as the PGA TOUR heads to Texas for the AT&T Byron Nelson as a handful of the stars are surely here to stay sharp leading up to the PGA Championship at Oak Hill. With Jordan Spieth withdrawing due to a wrist injury, it leaves the top end of the DraftKings pricing to Scottie Scheffler and Tyrrell Hatton.

So far in the two years TPC Craig Ranch has hosted this event, two things have been true: K.H. Lee has won both years, shooting a combined 51 under, and a “studs & duds” lineup approach has proven profitable in the DFS streets. Lineup construction in DFS is sometimes an overlooked aspect of what it takes to craft winning lineups. It helps to understand each week not just who will be in popular lineups, but also how chalky lineups will be constructed with certain combinations of players.

We’re always looking for players that can score DraftKings points in large volumes, but at TPC Craig Ranch, scoring is even more critical to success. Again, K.H. Lee has won here the last two years at FIFTY ONE UNDER total! You have to stay aggressive at TPC Craig Ranch from the moment you get out of the car in player parking, given you’ve likely got to shoot 5 under just to play the weekend.

With Scheffler, Hatton, Jason Day, Tom Kim, Hideki Matsuyama, and of course Lee near the top of the pricing on DraftKings, we’re likely to see a balanced approach take down the DFS contests again this year for the AT&T Byron Nelson. We like the idea of playing two to three guys up top and then filling out the rest of your lineup with a strong mix of the less popular targets at the bottom. It’s certainly easier to predict how the “studs” up top will perform, so pick the ones you like while taking into account ownership projections. Then at the bottom, sprinkle in or rotate a handful of options so one or two guys don’t tank your entire weekend across too many lineups.

Given the lineup construction strategy of nailing down some core plays up top, let’s start there with a high-upside stud. Our stud this week is Hideki Matsuyama. Matsuyama seems to always carry some variance and risk anytime you play him, but that’s exactly what we want here up top with Scheffler more than likely taking a large amount of the ownership. Matsuyama played quite well last year at TPC Craig Ranch, finishing third behind K.H. Lee. He’ll likely scare some people with the ever-present neck/back question marks, but if he tees it up – you know he’s got all the tools to conquer Craig Ranch.

Dropping down the board a bit but still staying in the stud range, we just can’t avoid Matt Kuchar grinning right at us. He’s been playing sneaky well this year with three top 10’s and five top 25’s since the beginning of 2023. Kuch has teed it up twice at TPC Craig Ranch and finished in the top 20 both times. In our opinion, you can easily click Kuchar in DraftKings cash and GPP lineups, making him a safe starter with plenty of upside potential.

There's a famous bar in West Lafayette, IN (home of Purdue) called Harry's Chocolate Shop. Their slogan is “Go Ugly, Early” and I think that's appropriate for some of the less expensive, lower-owned players this week that we’re simply going to have to hold our nose and play.

We’ll kick it off with Mr. Ben Griffin. If I showed you a lineup of five generic PGA TOUR players, could you pick him out of a lineup? Probably not. But there are several things Griffin brings to the table. First, he’s a great course fit. Griffin fills it up with the putter, and while the ball-striking the last few events hasn’t been tremendous, we’ve certainly seen it spike for a large part of his rookie season.

Adam Schenk may not be the most recognizable face in your DraftKings player pool, but he’s a solid value in the $7K range coming off a near-win at the Valspar. He’s similar to Griffin in that his two biggest strengths are around the green and putting. However, unlike Griffin, Schenk actually found something with his driver the last five events, gaining at least +0.73 strokes per round in four out of his last five events. Plus, if you believe in a good narrative, Schenk’s got the “Nappy Factor” working for him as he and his wife just welcomed a baby boy to the world. Hellooooo Strokes Gained: Home Life!

Finally, we have our eye on Joseph Bramlett. He’s played TPC Craig Ranch both times they’ve held the event here and played above his expectations, finishing T7 and T51. Bramlett has been trending nicely, particularly the last three events, where he has gained strokes off the tee, on approach and around the green. With fewer “safe” options in the $7K range on DraftKings, Bramlett’s floor feels among the highest. But, as he showed last year, Bramlett has proven he can provide some top-10 upside.