DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: Scottish Open

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Updated on July 5, 2016 8:31PM EST

SCOTTISH OPEN

Purse: £3.25M ($4,244,922)
Winner's Share: £760,544 ($993,369)
FedEx Cup Points: None -- European Tour event
Location: Inverness, Scotland
Course: Castle Stuart Golf Links
Yardage: 7,193
Par: 72
2015 champion: Rickie Fowler

Tournament Preview

With the cancellation of the PGA Tour's Greenbrier Classic, we turn our attention to the Scottish Open. It's the final tuneup for next week's Open Championship and offers a fairly strong field, including some Americans, among them Phil Mickelson, who captured the event in 2013 in advance of his stunning major win at Muirfield. That's the last time the tourney was played at Castle Stuart, a co-Gil Hanse design that dates only to 2009. It was also played there in 2011-12, so that three-year stretch should be your focus. The Scottish Open actually dates to 1935, though with a nearly half-century "break" from 1937-71 and another hiatus from 1974-85. Castle Stuart, naturally, is a links course, with wide-open fairways. It's quite short, though the 18th is a 607-yarder, which should create final-hole drama. At No. 6 in the world, Henrik Stenson heads the field, along with Branden Grace, who fell to Mickelson in a playoff in 2013. Martin Kaymer, Shane Lowry, Chris Wood and Rafael Cabrera-Bello represent the Euro contingent; besides Mickelson, Americans include Patrick Reed, J.B. Holmes and even Steve Stricker. For Stricker, it will serve as the final chance to qualify for Royal Troon, as the top four non-exempt golfers who finish in the top 12 will get in the Open Championship. Weather-wise,

Champion's Profile:

Donald, Singh and Mickelson couldn't be more different, but all won at Castle Stuart. Donald was amid his final great year and got to 19-under before the final round was cancelled. That prompted an extremely short course to be lengthened a bit. Singh and Mickelson both won at 17-under. Golfers will be able to bomb it off the tee with little penalty, so second shots and, especially, scrambling will be key. In other words, links golf. Putting can always be a difference-maker, but the Castle Stuart Greens are not overly fast.

DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS (Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap)

DraftKings Tier 1 Values

Henrik Stenson - $12,200 (Winning odds at golfodds.com: 8-1)
Branden Grace - $11,600 (12-1)
Phil Mickelson - $10,900 (15-1)
Chris Wood - $10,000 (30-1)

DraftKings Tier 2 Values

Rafael Cabrera-Bello - $9,900 (25-1)
Andy Sullivan - $9,800 (25-1)
Russell Knox - $9,400 (30-1)
Matthew Fitzpatrick - $9,000 (40-1)

DraftKings Tier 3 Values

Luke Donald - $8,100 (50-1)
Thomas Pieters - $8,000 (50-1)
Richard Sterne - $7,100 (80-1)
Raphael Jacquelin - $6,900 (100-1)

DraftKings Long-Shot Values

Bradley Dredge - $6,800 (125-1)
Johan Carlsson - $6,600 (Field, 5-2)
Alexander Levy - $6,500 (Field, 5-2)
Eduardo De La Riva - $6,100 (Field, 5-2)

MY PICKS THIS WEEK

Lower-Risk Cash Game Lineup ($50K Salary Cap)

Branden Grace - $11,600
Chris Wood - $10,000
Luke Donald - $8,100
Raphael Jacquelin - $6,900
Bradley Dredge - $6,800
Julien Quesne - $6,600

Grace will be highly owned, and deservedly so. He has improved exponentially since his playoff loss two years ago and is on form heading in. Wood is No. 24 in the world, won the BMW PGA in late May and has followed that with three top-25s, one at the U.S. Open. If Donald will play well anywhere, this is the place: a short course where short game is paramount -- can you say "wheelhouse"? Jacquelin missed the cut last week, but that was on the heels of back-to-back top-10s. Plus, he was T8 at Castle Stuart in 2013. Dredge is one of the premier scramblers on the European Tour, and his price is awesome. He was runner-up to Rory McIlroy at the Irish Open in May. Quesne? He is one of two guys on the Euro Tour whose last name begins with Q (Alvaro Qurios). But he's also a top-50 scrambler and tied for 16th last week at the French Open.

Higher-Risk Tournament Lineup ($50K Salary Cap)

Henrik Stenson - $12,200
Phil Mickelson - $10,900
Soren Kjeldsen - $8,400
Johan Carlsson - $6,600
Eduardo De La Riva - $6,100
Nino Bertasio - $5,800

Stenson is the top guy on the board and, yes, likely will be highly owned, but he's a great scrambler and will force some real creativity in filling out the lineup. Mickelson will try to summon past glory, and likely will be energized by a return to Castle Heights. But there's also a reason he won there: He can go crazy off the tee and not be overly penalized. He's still a short-game wizard. Kjeldsen is a great scrambler and a cut machine. Now, it gets tricky. These next three guys don't even have photos on the DraftKings site (that's bad if you're a golfer, good if you're most-wanted). Carlsson is coming off top-25s the last two weeks, De La Riva missed the Scottish cut in 2013, but was a steady T-25 last week and is a decent scrambler. Bertasio? Well, he costs $5,800, which is exactly how much we have left. And until last week's MC, he had three straight top-25s.