Looking for 2018 Safeway Open picks, either for betting or fantasy golf games like DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo, Golf Channel or the PGA Tour?
We have your 2018 Safeway Open rankings and expert picks, as we do each week of the PGA Tour season.
The PGA Tour season starts anew this week in Napa, Calif., as the Safeway Open returns to the Silverado Resort to kick off a new campaign. Phil Mickelson and Patrick Cantlay are the highest-ranked players in the field, though a number of top-100 players are competing alongside the variety of of Web.com Tour and Web.com Tour Finals graduates.
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2018 Safeway Open rankings: Top 10 picks
1. Patrick Cantlay -- Cantlay kind of has to be on top of this list because of his world ranking. However, he only finished outside the top 27 once in his final eight starts of the season.
2. Denny McCarthy -- Perhaps this is an aggressive ranking for the University of Virginia product, but McCarthy won the Web.com Tour Championship, was the best in the Web.com Tour Finals and was putting it together before his PGA Tour season ended.
3. Sungjae Im -- Im is just 20 years old, and he's going to be a special player. The South Korean went 1-2 to star the Web.com Tour season and never ceded the money list lead. He won the regular season finale to lock up fully exempt status, then was solid enough in the Finals, only playing three events.
4. Joaquin Niemann -- Niemann had the FedEx Cup playoffs off because he wasn't officially a PGA Tour member. Now he is, and he should be among the best in this field. The question is ring rust.
5. Dylan Frittelli -- The South African cashed in all four Web.com Tour Finals events to get his PGA Tour status. At 28, he's just hitting his stride as a pro golfer.
6. Sam Burns -- Burns wasn't playing his best with some medical issues in the Web.com Tour Finals, but the 22-year-old is poised to make an easy leap into the PGA Tour world.
7. Brandt Snedeker -- Sneds won the Wyndham Championship on the back of a 59, and then had back problems throughout the FedEx Cup playoffs and didn't look good. Hopefully three weeks of rest will help him out.
8. Phil Mickelson -- I might regret this, but I have to point out Mickelson because he is, really, one of the best players in the field. His Ryder Cup and Tour Championship aside, his start to the FedEx Cup playoffs was solid. Back-to-back top-10 finishes here.
9. Brendan Steele -- Have to acknowledge the two-time defending champion here. However, he missed the cut in his final four cut-making events of the season. But he stumbled at the end of the 2016-17 season, too, and won in Napa.
10. Peter Uihlein -- Uihlein is wildly inconsistent. He's capable of winning and missing the cut. But he played OK in the FedEx Cup playoffs, and he started well last season.
My primary DraftKings lineup
- Patrick Cantlay - $11,600
- Chris Kirk - $8,600
- Dylan Frittelli - $7,600
- Hunter Mahan - $7,500
- Sam Burns - $7,100
- Sungjae Im - $7,000
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