2020 Workday Charity Open Picks and Preview

For the next two weeks the PGA will play at the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. This week it’s the Workday Charity Open. The Workday Open is a one-time-only event created to replace the cancelled John Deere Classic. The following week the Memorial Tournament will be played at Muirfield, an event that has been played at MVGC since 1976. 

What to Expect at Muirfield 

This is Jack Nicklaus’ tournament. It is played on a golf course that Nicklaus designed. Nicklaus was born, raised, educated and has remained in the greater Columbus, Ohio area. Each year a golfer from the past is honored, hence the name “memorial,” and a plaque commemorating the chosen golfer is installed near the club house at Muirfield.

This is a par-72 course with four par-3’s and four par-4’s. The course rewards accurate driver hits. For golfers who miss the fairways, scrambling will be a challenge. The greens play fast. Expect birdies on holes five, six and seven. The cut-line on this course tends to be par. Patrick Cantlay ($47 on Yahoo DFS) won the Memorial in 2019 with a minus-19 score. A certain golfer, the one who ‘roid raged at a cameraman last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, won the Memorial in 2018. Jason Dufner ($20 on Yahoo DFS) won in 2017. Hideki Mastuyama ($45 on Yahoo DFS) won the Memorial in 2014. Matt Kuchar ($42 on Yahoo DFS) won the Memorial in 2013. 

An interesting side-note is that it will be possible for a golfer to do something called the “Muirfield Double,” winning the Workday this week and winning the Memorial next week. 

Below are my picks. 

The Muirfield Double

Yeah, I like Cantlay. I always like Cantlay. He’s one of my top-five favorites in the PGA. I am betting on Cantlay this week. I will bet on Cantlay next week at the Memorial. If I had to pick a golfer who could win here in two consecutive weeks, it would be Cantlay. Patrick “Muirfield Double” Cantlay. 

Here’s some other names I like on Yahoo DFS: 

Top Tier 

Justin Rose ($42 on Yahoo DFS) sucked two weeks ago at the Travelers Championship and missed the cut, but he was T-14 at the RBC Heritage three weeks ago and T-3 at the Charles Schwab a month ago. Rose also has great course history numbers at Muirfield, having played 46 rounds there with a cumulative strokes gained of +2.75. I am banking on course history this week, and Rose has great statistics here.

Xander Shauffele ($44 on Yahoo DFS) was T-20 at the Travelers, T-64 at the RBC Heritage, and T-3 at the Schwab. You have to consider how deep the field was at those events to put those numbers in perspective. The field at the Workday is weak in comparison. 

Hideki Matsuyama ($45 on Yahoo DFS) is my contrarian play. Other than a T-21 at the Rocket Mortgage last week, he hasn’t had his best game recently. I am looking for Matsuyama to turn it around at the Workday for a top-10 finish. Basically, in the Workday field Matsuyama is a top-class talent. His statistics at Muirfield are strong, having played 22 competition rounds here with a shots-gained score of +2.13.

Middle Tier 

Joaquin Niemann ($38 on Yahoo DFS) has played well in recent weeks. He was T-5 at the RBC Heritage and T-32 at the Charles Schwab. He has the game needed to compete at the Workday. 

Phil Mickelson ($34 on Yahoo DFS) has decent course history here, having played 39 competitive rounds at Muirfield with a strokes-gamed statistic of +1.54. The reason I like Mickelson at the Workday is because he is a world-class scrambler and that skill will come in handy at Muirfield. I might end up yelling at my television and watching Mickelson do his “old dirty grandpa” schtick as he misses yet another cut. But I like Phil here against this field. 

Jim Furyk ($32 on Yahoo DFS) has good course history here with 54 competition rounds and a strokes-gained number of +1.66. They call it gambling for a reason, and I admit that Furyk is a gamble, but I am going to put some Furyk in my DFS lineups and see what happens. 

Strategy

A respectable strategy in any golf DFS lineup is to match three top-priced golfers with three minimum-priced golfers. In order to make that work you must find value golfers with a chance to make the cut and compete. If you want to play lines with Cantlay and two other high-priced studs like Justin Thomas ($48 on Yahoo DFS) or Vik Hovland ($41 on Yahoo DFS) you have to match them with cheap players.

Lower Tier

Stewart Cink ($20 on Yahoo DFS) is a pick based upon two factors – he has good numbers at Muirfield and he has made the cut five out of his last six tries. 

Jason Dufner ($20 on Yahoo DFS) is another pick based upon two factors – he has good numbers at Muirfield and he won the Memorial there in 2017. 

Scott Stallings ($20 on Yahoo DFS) was T-6 at the Travelers. He has made the cut nine out of his last eleven tries. Stallings is the soft-priced player of the week. He’s a lot of golfer for a little price. 

© 2020 Mike McKenzie 

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The Bryson Dechambeau Challenge - Notes on the 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic Day 2

Rocket Mortgage Classic – Thoughts on Day 2

 The 3-1-3 Challenge is Nearly Impossible

In the spirit of the Rocket Mortgage 3-1-3 challenge I made a similar, albeit less lucrative, offer to my son – if he can jump twelve feet in the air, fart three times on the way up, whistle the Star Spangled Banner at the apex, and burp the alphabet on the way down, I will give him $10,000.  More realistically, I will pay him $500 if he can complete any single element of the challenge.

Then I will wash him down with the garden hose before I give him the money.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States

Okay, the 3-1-3 is a good thing in principal.  The money will go to a good cause, bridging Detroit’s digital divide.  But it’s dang near impossible.  To ring the 3-1-3 bell this feat must be completed on the 14^th, 15^th and 16^th holes at the Detroit Golf Club.

According to statistics released from the PGA Tour, in 318,000 tour rounds played since 2003 a consecutive eagle, ace, birdie combination has been completed only three times in competition.  It’s never been done at the Rocket.  Statistically, there’s about a .000001 chance that that a player will complete the challenge.  What comes to mind here is the probability that monkeys will fly out of one of my body orifices.

But the Rocket Mortgage tournament directors did sweeten the donation pool by promising $5,000, $25,000 and $5,000, respectively, for any player who completes a single stage of the challenge.  If you’d like to ensure that the good people of Detroit are brought up to par on internet access and computer literacy, there’s an easier way to ensure progress towards that goal.  Text the message AREA313 to the number 243725 and make a donation.

The Bryson DeChambeau Challenge

This off season I want you to add thirty pounds of muscle so you can hit for power.  That is basically the advice every baseball coach gives to every skinny 17-year-old baseball player.  But aside from spending five hours in the weight room every day, how are you supposed to accomplish it?

Earlier this week monumental golf stud Bryson DeChambeau revealed the diet he used to stack on 30 pounds of mostly muscle.  It was basically bacon and eggs, snacks, a PB and J sandwich, steak and potatoes and seven protein shakes per day.  I had to question this diet for one reason.  With all that protein, accompanied by an apparent lack of fiber, greens and fruit, the challenge that I see for DeChambeau is how in the world does he manage to take a crap.

Maybe all those protein shakes rip through him like the human equivalent of the Playdooh Fun Factory.  But I would suggest apples, pears, and salads of spinach and kale.

An Actual Golf Update

The big news at 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time is that Matthew Wolf shot an 8-under 64 to join a four-way tie for first.  DeChambeau spanked a minus-5 for a share of the lead.  Seamus Power and Mark Hubbard each shot minus-6 to round out the current top of the leaderboad.

One of the best stories I read this morning concerned Chris Kirk, who stepped away from golf in April of 2019 to seek treatment for depression and alcoholism.  He’s back folks and looking good.  As I am writing this, Kirk shot a birdie and currently holds a piece of what has now become a five-way tie for first. His honesty about his personal challenges gives hope to others who might face similar barriers to work and life.  Talk about it, take steps to improve.  It’s possible.

Withdrawals:  Wyndham Clark withdrew from the Rocket Mortgage Classic yesterday after completing 13 holes due to a back injury.  This morning Talor Gooch withdrew before the start of the second round, also due to a back injury.  Neither player was setting the course on fire.

Open Your Mouth, Say Something Stupid:  The twisted sound bite of the week goes to Webb Simpson, who said, “The safest place that anyone can be in the United States right now is on the PGA Tour.”

The team here at McKenzie Golf Analysis take exception to this statement.  “The safest place in the United States right now is here on the couch in my living room, wearing my mask, slathering myself in hand sanitizer, and arranging to have my groceries and beer delivered to my front door,” stated sub-genius

Mike McKenzie. “I admire all the dudes on the tour, but if you really want to be safe, stay home.”

In the spirit of full disclosure, I took a lot of Simpson in my DFS lines this week.

 

Mike McKenzie

Portland, Oregon