DraftKings: Farmers Insurance Open preview

The PGA TOUR heads to La Jolla, Calif., this week as Torrey Pines Golf Course hosts the Farmers Insurance Open. There will be a two-course rotation and we are back to a standard 36-hole cut, where the top 65 and ties make the weekend. Golfers will play both the North and South Courses at Torrey Pines over their first two rounds while returning to the South Course for the final two.

The South Course is one of the longest on the PGA TOUR, measuring at 7,765 yards, while the North Course is 7,258. Both courses are par 72s, but the North Course features bentgrass greens while the South Course has poa.

There is another strong field on tap this week, with five of the top-ranked players in the Official World Golf Ranking teeing it up.

Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $600K Pitch + Putt [$200K to 1st].

GOLFERS TO CONSIDER

Will Zalatoris ($9,700)

Zalatoris is still working his way back into game shape after not playing competitive golf in over five months due to a back injury. He has opened the season with a T11 and a T36 finish. His bread and butter is long, tough courses that require length off-the-tee and pinpoint iron play, like Torrey Pines for example.

The 26-year-old will be making his fourth career trip to La Jolla for the Farmers Insurance Open, but really just his third as a full-fledged PGA TOUR regular. In his past two starts at this event, the Dallas native has finished runner-up and T7, respectively. Zalatoris also ranks No. 1 in this field in SG: Tee-to-Green per round at the South Course at TPGC among anyone with more than one career start.

Additionally, he ranks No. 1 in this field in both SG: Approach and SG: Ball-Striking over his past 48 rounds, while also putting .13 strokes better on poa compared to other surfaces. The most important thing is that he came out of his first two starts of the season fully healthy. At $9,700 on DraftKings, you could pair him with a Jon Rahm or Xander Schauffele, or simply just start your rosters with him. Either way, he’s a phenomenal play on a course he’s shown to like quite a bit.

Max Homa ($9,100)

This price tag was one of the first things that stood out to me when I took a look on DraftKings this week. Homa, who is a five-time PGA TOUR winner, is priced less than Taylor Montgomery ($9,200) and costs just $300 more than Jason Day ($8,800). Montgomery has been a steady finisher since joining the TOUR but is yet to win like Homa.

Homa ranks sixth in this field in Total Strokes Gained over his past 48 rounds, and he’s getting it done in every facet of the game, ranking 22nd in SG: Ball-Striking, fifth in SG: Around-the-Green and 14th in SG: Putting. He’s got virtually no weaknesses in his game right now and always plays well in his home state of California.

Homa also has both great recent form and course history at Torrey Pines. He’s coming off a T3 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions a few weeks back, which was on the heels of an incredible fall swing that saw him win the Fortinet Championship. He missed the cut at this event last year but finished T18 and T9 each of the previous two years, respectively. Homa is checking way too many boxes for a $9,100 player with the win equity he possesses. He makes for a great play in all formats.

Kurt Kitayama ($7,600)

Kitayama may go a bit under the radar this week, as his recent form has not been his best after a T73 at the Sony Open in Hawaii and T42 at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. However, prior to that he’d been playing some strong golf, most notably with a T2 at THE CJ CUP in South Carolina and T19 at the BMW Championship. Kitayama’s long-term form also stands out in this pretty strong field, as he ranks 22nd in Total Strokes gained over his past 48 rounds, including 19th from tee-to-green.

Kitayama also, and maybe most notably, gained 1.87 strokes from tee-to-green on the South Course last year in his lone start. He missed the cut, but that was due to a poor putting performance. Kitayama has the requisite distance (20th in Driving Distance on the PGA TOUR in 2022) to compete at Torrey Pines, and if his putter cooperates he could quite easily post a T20 or better this week, which would be incredible value for his $7,600 price tag.

Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $600K Pitch + Putt [$200K to 1st].

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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and customer (my username is Lan1228) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.