Welcome back to Golf News Net's weekly fantasy golf picks. Each week of the PGA Tour season, we'll present our top picks for that week's tournament and make recommendations for DraftKings' one-week fantasy leagues and suggest daily fantasy golf lineups.
The final World Golf Championships of the year unfolds this week at the WGC-HSBC Champions. We have nine of the top 11 players in the world in the field, including FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy and U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson. Jason Day and Jordan Spieth are the only players skipping in the top 11.
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2016 WGC-HSBC Champions top 10 picks
1. Rory McIlroy -- McIlroy has a consistent record in this event (and in China in general), and he's been playing brilliant golf. New driver and fairway wood in the bag this week, so it'll be interesting to see the adjustment.
2. Paul Casey -- Casey has been a top-10 machine of late, and there's no reason to believe that strong play won't continue this week.
3. Dustin Johnson -- Johnson is making his "season" debut, his first start since the Ryder Cup. He's a past champion here, and Sheshan International fits his game.
4. Justin Thomas -- The CIMB Classic winner has been playing great golf going back into the playoffs...you know, way back in September. His slashing style should work here.
5. Hideki Matsuyama -- Hideki Matsuyama has bolted into the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking, and he's been playing very strong golf for two months. Putting always a question.
6. Alex Noren -- Alex Noren has won three times on the European Tour this year, and he's been tearing it up of late with length off the tee and brilliant play inside of 150 yards. Sounds like a recipe for success.
7. Patrick Reed -- Reed was T-7 here last year, and we'll consider the T-51 finish at the CIMB Classic a blip that ends a string of top 25 finishes dating back to early summer.
8. Adam Scott -- Scott is one of a handful of players in the field that has good, consistent experience in this event. Continues playing consistent, top-10 golf.
9. Ryan Moore -- The Ryder Cup clincher deserves some love, although his relative lack of length is a potential problem. Consider him a hunch to continue playing well.
10. Martin Kaymer -- Kaymer is not only playing well overall, but he has a win here and owns the course record. Sneaky good pick here.
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My DraftKings team for this week:
1. Justin Thomas - $9,300
2. Patrick Reed - $9,000
3. Martin Kaymer - $8,700
4. Alex Noren - $8,000
5. Rafa Cabrera Bello - $7,600
6. Louis Oosthuizen - $7,400
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If you want to win at DraftKings daily fantasy golf, you have to figure out a way to find six golfers that play all 72 holes and earn roughly 85 points each.
You likely have to identify a couple of players in the top five, at least the top seven, and you'd ideally not have a player finish outside the top 20.
Doing that takes research, looking at a variety of factors, including:
- Finish trends, both in recent weeks on the PGA Tour and at that week's event,
- Salary trends, deciphering which players are showing value based on their performance, and
- Statistical trends, identifying the common threads among winners in that week's event
That's what Golf News Net will deliver each week to GNN Plus members in this space, offering a complete research package which dives into these three areas to find the players that should be in your lineup for this week.
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