Each week, including this week's 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Golf News Net offers PGA Tour betting picks and daily fantasy sports (DFS) lineups using our proprietary model, which is weighted toward longer-term performance.
However, we don't just use our model when making these picks. We also need to look at current form, course fits and horses for courses. This data can and should help inform our decision making, including validating things we see in the model. If everything lines up, then a player can become an auto-play. If only some parts of the equation suggest a player will perform well this week, then we may look more tepidly at investing in a player.
2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans history and current PGA Tour finish trends
Finish Trends
Recent PGA Tour Trends
We start by looking at the recent past, back at players who have finished inside the top 15 in the last five individual PGA Tour events.
- Patrick Cantlay - 2 - T-14 The Masters, 3rd RBC Heritage
- Wyndham Clark - 2 - T-6 Corales Puntacana, T-5 Valspar
- Collin Morikawa - 2 - T-13 The Players, T-10 Masters
- Xander Schauffele - 2 - T-10 The Masters, 4th RBC Heritage
- Nick Taylor - 2 - T-10 Valspar, T-15 Texas Open
- Matt Wallace - 2 - WIN Corales Puntacana, T-7 Valspar
Event Finish History
We like to look for potential horses for courses with most PGA Tour events, particularly those with regular host courses. We're typically looking at players who finished in the top 15 in this particular event in the last four years, regardless of partner.
- Sam Burns - 2
- Patrick Cantlay - 2
- David Hearn - 2
- Billy Horschel - 3
- Martin Laird - 2
- Ryan Palmer - 2
Course Fits
A player is a course fit -- or a potential course fit, at least -- if their Strokes Gained breakout when they finish in the top 25 is similar to the average for top-25 finishers at this week's event.
We don't really have fits this week because the course has been redesigned and renovated since it was last an individual event.
Find course fits using our member-only tool which shows this week's course numbers relative to the field.
I've also created a new listing which helps you find correlated courses by looking at the course fit breakdown for each recurring host course on the PGA Tour. You might be surprised to see which courses seem to relate to the Riv.
This week's model
We don't have a model this week for a team event, but it'll return next week in Mexico.
We also have a tool for members which lays out the last field, our model and their results in the last five PGA Tour events and last five years of this week's event. Check it out!
We have also dramatically updated all of our tools with better data presentation, export and more to come soon!
Good luck this week!
