This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
Shriners Children's Open
Course: TPC Summerlin (7,255 yards, par 71)
Purse: $8,400,000
Winner: $1,512,000 and 500 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
The PGA Tour travels out west to the desert this week as the FedExCup Fall schedule brings us to the Shriners Children's Open in Las Vegas, where a contingent of 132 hopefuls gamble on their 2024 statuses and Signature Event privileges in addition to playing for the $8.4M purse that's up for grabs.
The field is understandably weak, as those who finished top-50 in the 2022-23 FedExCup Standings have little reason to play. Still, Tom Kim has returned to defend his title, Ludvig Aberg looks to keep the train moving and Si Woo Kim makes his first appearance since helping South Korea win gold at the Asian Games.
Let's jump right into our analysis for the action at TPC Summerlin, where plenty of red numbers on the leaderboard accompany high scores in the DFS streets.
Recent Champions
2022 - Tom Kim
2021 - Sungjae Im
2020 - Martin Laird
2019 - Kevin Na
2018 - Bryson DeChambeau
2017 - Patrick Cantlay
2016 - Rod Pampling
2015 - Smylie Kaufman
2014 - Ben Martin
2013 - Webb Simpson
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach
- Birdie or Better percentage
- SG: Putting (bentgrass)
- Proximity
Champion's Profile
Each of the past four Shriners Children's Open champions have reached at least the 23-under-par mark, so TPC Summerlin is certainly one of the easiest tracks on Tour as a par-71 layout that plays much shorter than its 7,255 yardage due to elevation. A trio of reachable par-5s invites eagle chances, while massive bentgrass greens place an emphasis on proximity to the hole, especially from 100-175 yards out. Converting par-breaker opportunities with the flat stick then becomes the name of the game. En route to his victory here last year, Kim remained bogey-free for 72 holes while gaining 6.1 strokes putting. Twelve players managed to finish with triple-digit FanDuel points, and runner-up Patrick Cantlay was two tweeters shy of 30 total birdies.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Ludvig Aberg ($12,000)
Those who faded Aberg due to a Ryder Cup fatigue narrative got burned last week as the 23-year-old Swede paced the field in SG: Tee-to-Green at the Sanderson Farms Championship, where he also posted the best final-round score (68) among the five players that ultimately advanced to a playoff at 18-under-par. The possibility that he finally runs out of steam remains, but Aberg's DFS scoring upside is evident as he ranks first in Opportunities Gained, second in SG: Off-the-Tee, third in Birdies or Better Gained and fourth in eagle rate over his past 36 measured rounds.
Cam Davis ($11,900)
Davis opened the FedExCup Fall with a third-place effort at the Fortinet Championship, but it was his short game that shined as he gained a collective 10.8 strokes on and around the greens in Napa. The Aussie has notched top-10 results in four of five starts dating back to the 3M Open, and he hasn't lost strokes with his irons since the Genesis Scottish Open in mid-July. Davis is a perfect 4-for-4 in cuts made at TPC Summerlin, finishing no worse than 10-under-par in any of these four Shriners appearances.
Eric Cole ($11,300)
A T35 felt underwhelming for Cole last week at the Country Club of Jackson, but he nonetheless extended his streak to 12 consecutive starts without a missed cut while gaining 3.2 strokes on approach. Cole's floor figures to keep him somewhat popular in both cash and GPP contests, but I'd expect him to be less rostered than he was at the Sanderson Farms with a bit more firepower located atop this Shriners board.
Adam Schenk ($10,600)
Schenk is a combined 64-under-par throughout the past four editions of the Shriners Children's Open, most notably tying for third here in 2021 when he led the event in SG: Putting by more than an entire stroke. Peering into an overview of his last 36 measured rounds, Schenk ranks second in SG: Approach, second in Prox: 150-175, eighth in P4: 400-450 Efficiency and ninth in SG: Putting.
Longer Shots with Value
Doug Ghim ($9,700)
Ghim is a prime bounceback candidate after missing the cut in Mississippi last week, given he lost 3.5 strokes putting across just 36 holes while gaining 3.2 from tee to green at the C.C. of Jackson. Assessing a 36-round sample for potential course fit this week, Ghim is No. 1 in P4: 400-450 Efficiency, third in Opportunities Gained, third in Prox: 100-125 and ninth in SG: Approach.
Sam Ryder ($8,900)
Ryder has placed top-30 in half of his six Shriners Children's Open outings, including a third-place finish at TPC Summerlin in 2018 when he gained at least 2.4 strokes in each SG subcategory. Much more recently, he's made the cut in five straight starts from the 3M Open to the Sanderson Farms Championship, gaining an average of 4.8 strokes per event on his approach shots during this span. Therefore, it's no surprise that he's first in SG: APP, fourth in Prox: 150-175 and seventh in Opportunities Gained over his last 24 rounds.
Troy Merritt ($8,500)
Merritt began his FedExCup Fall with back-to-back top-10s, gaining a collective 11 strokes from tee to green across these eight rounds in Napa and Jackson. This past week at the Sanderson Farms Championship, he racked up 17 total birdies and two eagles while picking up 6.6 strokes on the field with his putter. Within the limited eight-round sample filtered over the past month, Merritt is first in Birdies or Better Gained, third in par-5 scoring, fifth in SG: OTT and seventh in SG: Putting.
Erik van Rooyen ($8,400)
Strictly a GPP consideration, van Rooyen gained 5.2 strokes with his irons at both the Fortinet Championship and the Sanderson Farms Championship, but he failed to finish inside the top-15 at either tournament due to short-game woes. He converted just 10 of 19 scrambling opportunities at the C.C. of Jackson last week, but van Rooyen also tallied 19 total tweeters and an eagle. If the ball striking remains stout, he should be capable of an inflated GIR percentage at TPC Summerlin.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
There are only 132 entrants in attendance this week, meaning a larger percentage of the field will advance past the 36-hole cut and therefore allow for a bit more risk tolerance when it comes to lineup building. Adding to this notion is the fact that we're working with an extremely weak field at a complete birdie fest, possibly allowing for a few unlikely names per the outright odds market to eventually flirt with contention. Although this might lead to expanding your player pool in order to find unique combinations in large-field GPPs, it's unnecessary to go as far as deploying a $7,000 Lexi Thompson.
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