Jennings: Can Dustin Johnson Break His Slump at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational?

For those of you who followed this segment last week and built lineups for The Open Championship, we saw first-hand the relevance of market sentiment on DFS ownership trends.

The four golfers tabbed by FanShare Sports as having collected the most buzz across DFS and betting markets were in fact the four highest owned golfers in the DraftKings Milly Maker. The chalkiest of them all, Adam Scott, shattered many hopes for a big pay day by missing the cut at 25% ownership.

In fact, of the Top 10 scorers on DraftKings last week, only two were more than 10% owned and only Brooks Koepka (sixth) was more than 15% owned at 15.01%. Chalk one up for the contrarians!

FanShare is back this week with another edition of the Market Report, so let’s dive right into the trends for the WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational at TPC Southwind.

Justin Thomas

DFS Pricing: DraftKings: $10,700 | FanDuel $11,100

Thomas flew under the radar leading into Royal Portrush, but made a weekend charge up the leaderboard before getting derailed by deteriorating conditions, and the market has taken notice. The World No. 9 has not played at TPC Southwind, but it is a track that should ideally suit his excellent ball striking. Expect Thomas to be one of if not the highest of the top tier golfers on the board this week.

Billy Horschel

DFS Pricing: DraftKings $7,500 | FanDuel $9,000

This one might seem as a bit of a surprise, but Horschel has recorded three Top 10’s in his last five appearances at TPC Southwind in what was then known as the FedEx St. Jude Classic. Besides his MC last week at The Open, Horschel’s recent form has also been solid resulting in the perception of clear value this week at only $7,500.

Hideki Matsuyama

DFS Pricing: DraftKings $8,900 FanDuel $10,500

Another lineup killer last week at The Open, Matsuyama missed his first cut in 28 events at 18.0% ownership. The solid long-term form has resulted in a trust level with the DFS industry however and they aren’t about to give up on Deki after a single missed cut in a notoriously unpredictable event. And at $8,900 he represents some salary relief off of the top tier of golfers in this strong field.

Dustin Johnson

DFS Pricing: DraftKings $11,400 | FanDuel $12,000

He may be top five in buzz this week, but it’s not all positive sentiment around Johnson at the moment. It’s not very often we say this, but DJ enters this week in the bottom 50% of the field in terms of average DraftKings Points Gained over his last three events.

This slump won’t last forever though and in the meantime the opportunity exists to get a golfer with one of if not the highest ceilings in the world at reduced ownership.

Bryson DeChambeau

DFS Pricing: DraftKings $8,800 | FanDuel $10,400

Much like Matsuyama, the market is giving the Scientist a mulligan for his missed cut at Royal Portrush and expectations are that he will regain the form that led him to back to back Top 10’s on American soil before heading overseas. The price is also right, as Bryson has actually seen a $400 dip in salary on DK which tends to be rare in the week following a major.