The PLAYERS HP 2023

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If golf research were sexual...you'd be rounding 2nd base after this.

Here are a few key things to know that may not have been covered on the podcast enough. Keep these in mind when narrowing down your bets and/or player pool.The LARGEST purse in PGA Tour history will be up for grabs this week as 25 MILLION is on the line for the 2023 PLAYERS Championship. The Pete Dye masterpiece known as TPC Sawgrass will once again be the familiar host. Interestingly, the top 3 finishers from the 2022 PLAYERS will not be in the field this week as they bailed for LIV and were not granted a spot in this coveted field.We have seen a series of changes to TPC Sawgrass over the year but most notable was the schedule change back in 2019 from May to March. This came shortly after many of the greens were overhauled and now feature a different grass blend in both the fairways and the rough. More on that later. By nature, this tournament has proven difficult to predict over the years. There will be more balls lost in the water at TPC Sawgrass than any other stop on tour. This leads to chaos, in 2020, 16 of the top 32 in the field in terms of Draftkings pricing missed the cut!The wind in Northern Florida doesn't appear like it is going to wreak havoc to the same degree which we saw at API last week. That said, it's borders are much more coastal and things can pick up very quickly and unexpectedly like we have seen in the past. For the most part, we know what we can expect this week. You MUST score on the Par 5's, avoid carnage, and fortune often favors the bold down the stretch! Here's some other important notes to consider when starting your research this week for TPC Sawgrass:

• Since the tournament moved to March, it has not played as firm and fast as before. The rough being up and softer conditions do allow players to pull Driver more than in the past.

• Typically, over the last 6 years, only about 50% of 1st timers have made the cut, and very few finish inside the top 10.

• Pete Dye often tricks you off the tee, making the shot look intimidating, but ultimately you have a lot more room than it may appear. Thus, course experience is key to having the best understanding of how many of these holes play.

• THE ROUGH IS UP. Listed at 3.5 inch rough vs. 2.5 inch last year!

• Water is in play on 17 holes.

• Since the move to March, we are seeing higher than normal approach shots hit from the 125-150 and 150-175 yard range.

• It's crucial to arrive here in good form and with a consistency to your swing. This is NOT the course to be searching for something, particularly Off the Tee.

• Comp Courses in Sedgefield, HarborTown, PGA West Stadium Course, Bay Hill, and I also like Kapalua as a sneaky one in terms of leaderboard crossovers.

• Despite the par 3's being the shortest in cumulative yardage that we see all year, they still played as the 10th hardest par 3's on Tour.

• DataGolf has TPC Sawgrass ranked as the 7th most difficult Putting Course on Tour.

• Longshots are LIVE! The average outright winning bet over the last 11 years is 87/1!

• This course will test you mentally. Grinders course that requires patience and proper expectations for a full 72 holes.

Here is the Data Golf radar plot on course fit for TPC Sawgrass:

Approach Shot distribution chart **2021: (DataGolf)

DataGolf Stats:

Top 8 in SG VS Expectation (min 16 rounds) at Sawgrass: SI WOO, Hoge, Noren, Vegas, Thomas, Scott, Matsuyama, Kisner

Bottom 8 in SG VS Expectation (min 16 rounds) at Sawgrass: Finau, Kizzire, Spieth, Baddeley, English, Rodgers, Stallings, Piercy

Draftkings Optimal Lineup this week per DataGolf:

Scheffler, Hatton, Tom Kim, Day, Si Woo Kim, Mitchell

2 DFS Sleepers for The PLAYERS 2023

Coming off 2 Sleepers that finished T8 & T34 last week at sub 4% ownership, DB's taken an early look at ownership projections around the DFS space, and he's attempting to sell you on 2 names with upside and high ownership leverage in GPP tournaments on DraftKings and FanDuel.2 Names in 10 Minutes. Click below & see if DB sells ya!

1. Strokes Gained T2G Leaders over the last 36 rounds: 1. McIlroy  2. Scheffler  3. Zalatoris  4. Schauffele  5. Rahm  6. Finau  7. Thomas  8. Morikawa  9. Day  10. Cantlay2. Strokes gained total on Pete Dye Courses last 36 rounds: 1. Cantlay  2. Harman  3. Bradley  4. Rahm  5. Lowry  6. Fleetwood  7. Im  8. Scott  9. Conners  10. McIlroy3. Strokes gained Putting at TPC Sawgrass last 36 rounds:  1. Hadley  2. Horschel  3. McCarthy  4. Kisner  5. Hadwin  6. Hughes  7. Hatton  8. Poston  9. Power  10. Vegas4. Bogey Avoidance Leaders on difficult courses over the last 36 rounds: 1. Im  2. Fitzpatrick  3. McIlroy  4. Lowry  5. Morikawa  6. Scheffler  7. Cantlay  8. Hoge  9. Rahm  10. Wise5. Opportunities Gained Leaders on difficult courses over last 3 months : 1. McIlroy  2. Schauffele  3. Kitayama  4. Cantlay  5. Hoge  6. Si Woo  7. Davis  8. Finau  9. Conners  10. Thomas6. Strokes Gained Approach Leaders weighted with field strength since Jan 1, 2023: 1. Rahm  2. Homa  3. Scheffler  4. Finau  5. Clark  6. Fowler  7. McIlroy  8. Schauffele  9. Simpson  10. Hoge7. Par 4 Scoring Leaders over the last 50 rounds played: 1. Finau  2. Cantlay  3. Scheffler  4. Montgomery  5. Schauffele  6. Rahm  7. Hovland  8. Detry  9. McIlroy  10. Day8. Top 10 Players in projected DFS Value according to DataGolf : 1. Day  2. Mitchell  3. Scheffler  4. Si Woo  5. Cantlay  6. Hatton  7. Bradley  8. Conners  9. Tom Kim  10. Wu9.  Top 10 in Approach Proximity from 125-150 x 150-175 yards:  1. Tom Kim  2. Morikawa  3. Matsuyama  4. Hubbard  5. Scheffler  6. Rose  7. Knox  8. Thomas  9. Si Woo  10. McIlroy10. Top 10 in scrambling over the last 3 months: 1. Scheffler  2. Cole  3. Day  4. McIlroy  5. Finau  6. Si Woo  7. Baddeley  8. Willett  9. Echavarria  10. Spaun