From one coast to the other, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida is home to the PGA Tour this week with PGA National hosting The Honda Classic. PGA National registers at 7,140 yards, with a pair each of threes and fives on both the front and back nine.
Among the balance, three par fours are less than 380 yards, while at 556 yards, Hole 18 is the boomer. The 488-yard par four sixth hole carries the moniker for the toughest on the course, while the 388-yard lucky #13 is the next most difficult to master.
As a result of Hurricane Irma, a bunch of the trees that were giving golfers grief lost the battle to the storm, and though newbies are planted, the vulnerability to the wind increases even with the hazard gone. Bearing all of this in mind, I tried to focus on the short game as I pared down my roster for this week.
Don’t forget you can join a foursome playing the DraftKings Weekly Hybrid PGA.
Alexander Noren ($10,100): Ok, Noren is not so sharp with this short game, ranking #197, but, coming off a 16th-place at the Genesis, the Swede has made eight consecutive cuts with one top-10 and a weekly fantasy point average of 75.1.
Tommy Fleetwood ($9400): The Brit tied for 37th at the Genesis, but this was his 11th straight cut with six top 10s and a fantastic 90.9 average points per week logged.
Kevin Kisner ($8500): Kisner ranks #12 around the green from 30 yards out, hitting it 50 percent of the time while averaging 76.3 points per week. Kisner has made five of six cuts with one top 1- finish.
Rafa Cabrera-Bello ($8100): Cabrera-Bello — whose Spanish background adds to the international flavor of this roster — is as steady as anyone on the tour right now, with 10 cuts out of 10 tries, four top 10s, and 82.9 points per week notched. Cabrera-Bello also ranks fifth around the green from 30 out; down from first last week.
Ryan Palmer ($7300): Palmer came up short at the Farmers, dropping to third during a playoff in notching his one top 10 this season. But he has three cuts over four tries, a decent 74.5 points, and ranks fifth (with Cabrera-Bello) hitting the green up close.
Derek Fathauer($6600): The value pick of the week, Fathauer has played the weekend seven of 10 times and averages 56.9 points, ranking #98 around the green. But he had a good showing at the Genesis (#16) and all he needs to do is play the weekend, right? Is that too much to ask?
