Shriners Children's Open 2022 DraftKings Preview
A Little More Gamble on the Greens with the Strip in the background
We have finally recovered from the Goalby's Cup and are ready to bring you some regularly scheduled programming. Before that, if you didn't or couldn't make it to the first Tour Junkies live event, you NEED to hit the next one. Awesome time. Then my fellow Canadian, Mac Hughes, goes and wins the cock trophy at the Sanderson! Canadians may take five titles this season. I digress. Let's go to Vegas, baby! The Shriners Children’s Open kicks off Thursday at TPC Summerlin. Let's get you set to see some green screens on DraftKings this week.
What's up golf addicts?! AC here, checking in week to week to provide a quick preview of the upcoming PGA Tour event. I’ll give you the lowdown on the course, the players, key stats, and some favorite DraftKings picks for the week.Â
All of the course data, player stats, and most of the information below can be found on Fantasy National Golf Club (FNGC). At FNGC you can view historic course conditions, course scoring breakdowns, tournament history, simulators, and official strokes gained data provided by the PGA Tour. Start building your models at Fantasy National now!
The Field and Tournament Details for The Shriners Children's Open
Though it is not a premiere event, the Shriners Children’s Open has become one of my favorite events of the year. Not because of the field, but because it takes place in my favorite city in the world. Las Vegas does draw in a decent crowd though. This year's field is headlined by the 2017 Shriners Children’s Open champ, Patrick Cantlay. Cantlay comes with a price of $11,100 on DraftKings, $500 more than Max Homa, and $700 more than defending champ, Sungjae Im.
The $9k options include Aaron Wise, Joohyung (Tom) Kim, Taylor Montgomery, Emiliano Grillo, Cameron Davis, Alex Noren, and Tom Hoge. Course horses like two-time champ Martin Laird, Chesson Hadley, Adam Schenk, Adam Hadwin, and Matthew NeSmith are back for more. They'll be looking to stay ahead of the likes of J.T. Poston, *Davis Riley (WD), Denny McCarthy, Keith Mitchell, Kurt Kitayama, Thomas Detry, Taylor Pendrith, and Mito Pereira who all rank inside the top 20 for Strokes Gained Total over the last 50 rounds.
The field is at 144 with the top 65 and ties making the cut. A total purse of $8,000,000 is up for grabs with $1,440,000 going to the eventual champ.
Shriners Children's Open Past Champs
Sungjae Im (2021); Martin Laird (2020); Kevin Na (2019,2010); Bryson DeChambeau (2018); Patrick Cantlay (2017); Rod Pampling (2016); Smylie Kaufman (2015); Ben Martin (2014); Webb Simpson (2013); Ryan Moore (2011)
*Davis Riley is a WD and replaced by Harrison Endycott
Shriners Children's Open Course Breakdown
- Course: TPC Summerlin
- Location: Las Vegas, NV USA
- Yardage: 7,255
- Par: 71
- Architect: Bobby Weed \ Fuzzy Zoeller (1991)
- Greens: Bentgrass
To the desert, we go as the PGA Tour visits fabulous Las Vegas and TPC Summerlin. You don't have to be a bomber in Vegas. It's hot, it's the desert, and it's played at elevation. In fact, it is the highest elevated course played on tour. The course plays firm. Players who have done well including 2020 champ, Martin Laird, stress how much being in the right position hitting into the greens is an advantage.
The 7,255-yard Par 71 does play a bit shorter with the conditions. Putting surfaces are Bentgrass with Bermudagrass everywhere else. According to the GCSAA, the course underwent a huge renovation this year. It was closed for five months while they completely resurfaced all 18 greens and fairways. The greens now feature Dominator bentgrass with Bandera bermudagrass fairways. Previous grass types were A1/A4 bentgrass greens and 419 bermudagrass fairways.
The greens are large and flat but can get firm and fast. They tend to be the main defense of the course with an assist from the wind. However, the wind looks to be tame this week. Other hazards the players will have to navigate are the 102 bunkers and water on four holes.
TPC Summerlin plays as one of the top 10 easiest courses on tour. The average winning score is around -20. Likely, we see something higher than that this week. Lots of birdies to be had. TPC Summerlin has three Par 5s that are gettable by most. On the flip side, the Par 3s can play super tough as only one of them plays under par. Two of them are the 2nd and 3rd hardest holes on the course. There's a mixed bag of Par 4s with one being drivable by some and a total of nine under 450 yards.
Check out DB's Things to Know Before Betting the Shriners Open video for more.
Key Stats for TPC Summerlin
- Off the Tee/Driving Accuracy
- Approach/Opps Gained
- Bentgrass Putting
- Birdie or Better %/DK Scoring
- Par 5 Scoring
- Course History
This week I'm going to focus a lot on hitting fairways and throwing darts. This is a wedgefest. However, it starts on the tee box. Ball striking 101. I always like my bombers but some of them will club down and still smash it. All the while, finding the short grass. TPC Summerlin has one of the highest average driving distances on tour. Everybody benefits.
Approach is obviously key but historically these greens have been super easy to hit. They're huge! I'll weight opps gained a bit more to pinpoint the guys putting it tight. Because the greens are so big I like adding putting a bit as well. Specifically, putting on Bentgrass. The rest of my models will focus on scoring stats. The player who scores the best on the Par 5s this week should be near the top on Sunday. Birdie or better % and DK scoring are good ones too.
Lastly, course history has proven to be a huge benefit at TPC Summerlin. Laird and Na both won this event twice and then you have guys like Cantlay and Im. Cantlay hasn't had worse than a T8 in four years and Sungjae has three straight T15s. Both having a win as well. It's not something mandatory as there are lots of players making their debut. Las Vegas is a hell of a city though and the bright lights of the strip can have an effect on the course.
Here's a tidbit from our Nut Hut in-house caddie: "Vegas Baby! Everything breaks toward the Stratosphere. This course is short by Tour standards and the ball travels at altitude and varies between the cooler mornings and warmer afternoons. I’ve also found that most pros keep the night life to a minimum - business trip - they can always come back."
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Shriners Children's Open INS & OUTS
*The field is 144