This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
Bermuda Championship
Course: Port Royal Golf Course (6,842 yards, par 71)
Purse: $4,000,000
Winner: $720,000 and 500 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
The Bermuda Championship was the alternate field event for the WGC-HSBC Champions in China. With the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling the WGC event, that means the Bermuda Championship will be elevated to a full FedExCup points event with the winner getting 500 points, a two-year exemption, and an invite to the 2021 Masters. It will also be the first PGA Tour event since the COVID-19 break that has allowed fans, but spectators will be limited to 500 per day. Port Royal previously hosted the Grand Slam of Golf before it underwent a massive renovation to be able to hold a full PGA Tour event. Brendon Todd won the inaugural event last season, which sparked his resurrection as one of the top players on the PGA Tour after being ranked outside the top-2000 in the OWGR just a year prior. Todd will be joined in the field by two other winners this season in Stewart Cink and Hudson Swafford. Major champions Henrik Stenson and Danny Willett will round out most of the notables in this 132-man field. Weather in Bermuda will be rather hard to predict, but early forecasts show ideal conditions in round one followed by strong winds in round two. The weekend presents the highest chance of precipitation with winds that should average between 15-20 mph.
Recent Champions
2019 – Brendon Todd
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach
- SG: Putting
- GIR Percentage
- Scrambling
Champion's Profile
It's another very short course on tap for these players, though this one will only feature three par-5's, as opposed to the five par-5's they saw last week at Sherwood. The par-3's are very difficult here, as three can stretch over 210 yards. The winds are the primary defense for Port Royal and as a result the greens will only be running between 10-11 on the stimpmeter. This means that driving accuracy will not be quite as important, as the ball should stop coming from pretty much any lie. Even with slightly more difficult conditions expected this time around as opposed to last year in Bermuda, it should still turn into a shootout, putting the emphasis on hitting it close to the hole and converting on greens that you can be very aggressive on. Brendon Todd won last year's event at 24-under-par by four strokes over Harry Higgs, so expect your leaders on Sunday to finish up in the high teens under-par at minimum.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Will Zalatoris ($11,800)
Last season's No. 1 player on the Korn Ferry Tour has the look of a future star on the PGA Tour. He already has three top-eight finishes in just four starts this season. Zalatoris is a big-hitter with strong iron play, ranking top-15 in both SG: Off-the-tee and SG: Approach on the PGA Tour this season. Zalatoris has been running himself into the ground physically chasing special temporary membership on the PGA Tour, so he will be fresh and ready to attack after taking these last two weeks off.
Harold Varner III ($11,500)
It's only a two-start sample size, but Varner is No. 1 on the PGA Tour this season in birdie average. The East Carolina product finished T29 at the Safeway Open and T13 at the Shriners Open. His ball-striking remains very strong this season, but the putter is really starting to come around. Had it not been for some short game troubles, Varner probably would already have a pair of top-10's.
Kristoffer Ventura ($10,300)
Ventura is another young player that has flashed early in the season, posting a T7 at the Safeway Open and a T6 and the Sanderson Farms. Where Ventura makes his money is on the greens, as he ranks 14th this season after ranking fourth last season. He is also top-35 in SG: Off-the-Tee, SG: Around, and GIR percentage. The 25-year-old should be able to fill up the cup on these greens.
Peter Malnati ($10,200)
Malnati was rolling before his two-week break with a runner-up at the Sanderson Farms followed by a T5 at the Shriners Open. You're going to have to make a lot of putts if you're going to win a birdie fest, and Malnati is currently the PGA Tour leader in SG: Putting and fifth in SG: Total. $10,200 is great value in this weak of a field.
Longer Shots with Value
Justin Suh ($9,900)
You could see the talent when Suh was at USC. He was really supposed to be the fourth guy in that class that included Matthew Wolff, Collin Morikawa, and Viktor Hovland. The 23-year-old didn't have the instant success as a professional as the other three, but he is starting to put it together. Suh has two starts on the PGA Tour this season finishing T14 in Punta Cana and T8 at the Shriners Open. The ball striking that he has shown makes Suh a very intriguing option at Port Royal, as this season he currently ranks fourth in SG: Approach, ninth in GIR percentage, and eighth in proximity to the hole.
Tyler McCumber ($9,700)
The course and conditions that will line up most similar to this week will be the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship that took place a month ago. McCumber came so close to nabbing his first PGA Tour win, but ultimately settled for a runner-up. That week McCumber was top-five in both FIR's and GIR's, showing he has the ability to control his ball in the wind. He connected on a T6 the very next week in Jackson behind some brilliant iron play and short game work.
Doug Ghim ($9,300)
In just three starts this season, Ghim's two top-25's are as many as he had in 16 starts a season ago. The 24-year-old is another young player out of Texas that is starting to show potential. Ghim currently ranks 13th in SG: Around, 21st in SG: Tee-to-green, and 22nd in SG: Total this season. He also has experience on this course after getting a spot in the field last year.
Cameron Percy ($8,700)
Another man who played well in Punta Cana, Percy finished T8 and ranked T4 in GIR's. The Aussie has the kind of game you're looking for at Port Royal, as he is gaining 1.27 strokes per round combined approaching the green and with the putter. Percy has made the cut in all three of his starts and ranks 13th in GIR percentage on the season. In a very shallow field, the 46-year-old veteran is one of the better finds under $9,000 this week.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
The pickings are going to be slim this week. Once you start getting under $8,500 in salary this week, you're looking at dart throw. I'd recommend trying to build a roster by picking one of the top-four options in salary followed by sticking with the options between $9,000-$10,500 to fill out the remainder of your roster. I'd lean on players that played well in Punta Cana or who have been really strong statistically this season in either approaching the green or putting. Other options I considered were Stewart Cink, Charley Hoffman, Hudson Swafford, and Anirban Lahiri.
