Daily Fantasy Golf 2015: PGA Championship Sleeper Picks
You know who you are going with at the top of your DraftKings fantasy golf lineup in the PGA Championship.
Perhaps you believe that Jordan Spieth will get back into championship form after finishing in fourth place in the British Open. Maybe you believe that Rory McIlroy will return to action from his ankle injury in top form. Bubba Watson may be your guy, or someone like Jason Day or Dustin Johnson.
But once you get past your top two favorites, you are faced with some serious decision-making. You have four other spots to fill in your DraftKings lineup, and if you have any hope of cashing, you need a strong performance from at least five members of your six-man team. That might not be enough. You could need all six to have productive tournaments.
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The key to a strong run is finding the best players who come at lower prices. Your sleepers have to perform. In this piece we look at the sleepers who have the best chance of coming up and possibly contending at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
For our purposes, we won't consider any golfer who comes at a price tag of $9,000 or more. That means we can't take Louis Oosthuizen ($9,100), but we could go with Tiger Woods ($8,900). That's just an example. We have no intention of going with Tiger in the 2015 PGA Championship.
Remember, we have $50,000 to spend on our six-man roster.
| Player | Average | FPPG | Salary |
| Jimmy Walker | 70 | 78.5 | $8,200 |
| Brooks Koepka | 69.9 | 79.4 | $7,800 |
| Shane Lowry | 71.2 | 56.7 | $7,500 |
| Kevin Kisner | 70 | 62.6 | $7,300 |
| Francesco Molinari | 70.4 | 59.1 | $6,800 |
| J.B. Holmes | 70.8 | 66.3 | $7,100 |
| Kevin Na | 70.2 | 67.0 | $7,100 |
Still not getting the credit: Jimmy Walker ($8,200)
Jimmy Walker rarely gets mentioned with the game's great players, but the numbers tell a different story. Not only has he won more than $4.3 million this year, he ranks third in FedEx Cup points. He has two victories and two second-place finishes to his credit, and he has been in the top 10 six times.
Walker has the kind of complete game that few of the players on the tour can match. He is averaging 302.5 yards with his driver, and that ranks 17th on the tour. Sometimes the big hitters are expected to struggle with the putter, but that's definitely not the case with Walker. He gains .882 strokes putting, and that ranks first among tour players.
Walker also does well when he is near the green. On approach shots from 50 to 125 yards, he gets his ball 16'3" from the cup, and that ranks 20th.
Walker's consistency makes him a solid play for this week's PGA Championship.
Consistently dependable: Brooks Koepka ($7,800)
Brooks Koepka has finished in the top 20 of each of the last five tournaments he has entered. Included in that run is a third-place finish in the FedEx St. Jude Classic and a sixth-place finish at last week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, in which he fired four sub-70 rounds.
Koepka has the kind of power that should serve him well at Whistling Straits. He is averaging 309.5 yards with his driver, and he ranks sixth on the tour in that category. Like Walker, he is also quite good with the putter, picking up an average of .638 strokes with the flat stick and that ranks fifth among tour members.
The former Florida State star is averaging 69.649 strokes per round, and that's the third-best mark on the tour. He clearly has the well-rounded game to make a run this week at Whistling Straits.
Red-hot: Shane Lowry ($7,500)
Many of the top American golfers like to go across the pond a week early to compete on British soil prior to the British Open. Irishman Shane Lowry applied that same philosophy in reverse as he played the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational the week before the PGA Championship to get prepared for playing on American terra firma.
The first part of the strategy worked out brilliantly for Lowry, as he won the Bridgestone with an 11-under score of 269, and he has to be respected as he prepares to tee off in Wisconsin. He clinched the Bridgestone with a well-struck birdie putt that fell into the side of the cup.
Lowry is an excellent shotmaker, as he gains .779 strokes tee to green, and that ranks 27th (even though he doesn't play a huge number of PGA tour events). Lowry rarely makes mistakes off the tee, as he ranks sixth in overall driving efficiency.
Climbing the ladder: Kevin Kisner ($7,300)
Those who follow the game closely know that Kisner has been getting the job done this season. He ranks 16th in FedEx Cup points and is the world's 35th-rated golfer.
Kisner has three second-place finishes this season, and he has finished in the top 10 six times. His most recent second-place showing came at the Greenbrier Classic in early July. He has earned more than $3.1 million this year.
Kisner is not a huge hitter, but he is accurate, and that's why he has played well this year. He is averaging 287.6 yards off the tee, but he makes up for that by finding the fairway 68.30 percent of the time. That ranks 23rd on the tour.
Kisner has played well this year, and he does not get intimidated playing against the top-ranked players in the world. While he didn't make the cut at the British Open, he tied for 12th at the U.S. Open.
Super sleeper: Francesco Molinari ($6,800)
This pick may take a lot of golf fans and fantasy players by surprise. When it comes to FedEx Cup points and world ranking, Molinari ranks 100th and 46th, respectively.
When it comes to money earned, he has picked up less than $1 million this year.
So why do we like Molinari as a legitimate sleeper to consider? The Italian golfer will keep the ball in the fairway better than nearly every other golfer. He finds the fairway with 77.03 percent of his drives, and that ranks first on the tour. Yes, that's right, better than Spieth, McIlroy or big Bubba.
Whistling Straits tends to favor the power game, but there is something to be said for someone who can keep the ball in the fairway whenever he wants. If Molinari can get near the lead, he won't necessarily feel as much pressure when driving as some of his competitors.
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