DraftKings DFS Fantasy Golf Cheat Sheet: 2024 PGA TOUR RBC Canadian Open Picks

The Cheat Sheet provides DraftKings fantasy golf players with course info, player history and the most noteworthy trends of the week to help them with their roster selections.

Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: $700K Summer Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]

The Field

This will be the fourth season that the RBC Canadian Open has been played since 2019. It was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but took place a week or two before the US Open in 2019, 2022, and 2023.

With such a big event on the horizon, many of the top players in the world have again chosen to skip this week’s event so that they can focus on the upcoming major. However, there is still a solid group of top players in attendance, with seven of the top 30 golfers in the OWGR in attendance. Two-time Canadian Open champion Rory McIlroy leads that charge and is joined by the likes of Sahith Theegala and Tommy Fleetwood, who have shined in the majors this season. Cameron Young and Sam Burns are two other top 30 players making the trip North this week and both are part of Team RBC (the headline sponsor for this event).

Since it’s the Canadian Open, plenty of Canadian-born players have gained exemptions into the event, so names (who are not current PGA TOUR card holders) like Ben Silverman, Wil Bateman, and Myles Creighton are on the start list, and set-up as intriguing contrarian targets for DFS.

The field this week will max out around 156 players and feature the regular cutline after Friday, meaning only the top 65 and ties will get to play the weekend.

The Course

Hamilton Golf and Country Club — Ancaster, Ontario (Canada)

Par 70, 7,084 yards, Greens: Bentgrass

Hamilton Golf and Country Club will host the Canadian Open for the seventh time in its history this week. The venue was last seen in 2019 when Rory McIlroy got to -22 and lapped the field for a seven-stroke win. It was also used in 2012 and produced a much tighter event with the winner (Scott Piercy) getting to -17.

The venue has been extensively renovated since 2019 and the hope is that the changes will help produce an event something closer to 2012 than 2019. The course remains one of the shortest the players will see all season as the sub-7,100 yardage puts it more in line with some of the early-season venues we saw on the PGA like Waialae CC and Pebble Beach. Whereas both of those venues were seaside and at least offered the potential for coastal winds to protect the course, Hamilton G&CC is a short parkland course that doesn’t play as tight as some of the other older venues we see on Tour, such as Colonial.

Setup-wise, it likely bears the closest resemblance to the Old White Course at the Greenbrier, which used to host the Greenbrier Classic on the PGA TOUR up until 2021. Both venues are mostly straightforward par 70s that allow players room off the tee but also require accurate approaches to the smaller greens which have plenty of bunkers and tight lies to contend with for off-target shots.

Driver should still be a popular selection off the tee as there is plenty of space on many holes between the fairways and trees, which are older but also quite sparse. Additional fairway bunkers have been put into play in strategic areas to help toughen up the course but it’s unlikely to deter most of the big hitters from a bomb and gouge strategy on several of the mid to short-length par 4s. Rory McIlroy took that same approach in 2019 and gained an impressive 6.9 strokes OTT that week and certainly, there will be some who attempt to replicate McIlroy’s success from that event, at least from an off-the-tee perspective.

Overall, there are six par 4s on the course that come in at 420 yards or less on the scorecard so how players handle these holes will go a long way to determine how they fare at Hamilton.

Of course, shorter hitters will be able to compete this week and 2019 saw numerous names like Webb Simpson, Graeme McDowell, and Brandt Snedeker (wedge and putting specialists) able to climb into the top 10 without much effort. Most of these names did so by simply ensuring they found the fairway with enough repetitiveness that it allowed them to gain strokes on their peers through strong approach games (that placed them high in GIR% and SG: APP stats) and putting. Hence, if you’re not looking at a player with a massive amount of talent off the tee, the best plan is to ensure that player will be able to produce enough upside with his irons and putter to make up the gap, should he need to go to toe to toe with Rory or one of the other bigger hitters.

2024 weather outlook: The weather this week looks mostly like a non-issue. There is next to no chance of rain and the winds aren’t expected to get into double-digits or bring heavy gusts at any point this week. Thursday is cooler than normal, with A.M. highs being in the mid-50s, which could be slightly troublesome for early starters. However, it doesn’t warm up that much throughout the day so it’s hard to see a huge advantage to either wave. The course should play firm and fast just given the conditions which could be an advantage for bigger hitters with higher ball flights. With the venue being so short it may not matter much but at least Hamilton won’t have to contend with overly soft greens which should give the course an added layer of protection and stop the event from developing into a pure birdie fest.

Last 5 winners

****Nick Taylor (-17 over Tommy Fleetwood, playoff)

***2022—Rory McIlroy (-19 over Ton Finau -17)

**2019 — Rory McIlroy (-22 over Webb Simpson -15)

*2018 — Dustin Johnson (-23 over Byeong Hun-An -20)

*2017 — Jhonattan Vegas (-21 over Charley Hoffman – playoff)

*Played at Glen Abbey

**Played at Hamilton Country Club

***Played at St. Georges

****Played at Oakdale

Winners Stats and Course Overview

2023 Winner: Nick Taylor (17-under par)*

2023 lead-in form (18-T8-T5-T2-MC)

2019 Winner stats (played at Hamilton G&CC): Rory McIlroy (-22)

SG: OTT—+6.9

SG: APP—+4.9

SG: TTG—+15.3

SG: ATG—+3.5

SG: PUTT—+5.8

*played at Oakdale

• McIlroy simply took this course apart off the tee in 2019 and then gained plenty enough on approach and with his putter to cruise to an easy win; he gained 1.2 strokes more OTT than the second-best player in that category for the week.
• Six players from the top 20 of the 2019 event (played at Hamilton) also gained over 4.0 strokes on approach.
• This is also another week to highlight putting. The short par 4s and easier par 5s means that players will be able to find a high amount of greens in regulation this week, hence this will boil more down to a putting contest.
• Eight players from the top 10 at Hamilton on the 2019 leaderboard, were also top 10 in strokes gained putting stats for the week.

Odds to win are one factor to think about when picking players (but not the only thing, so be careful putting too much weight on them). This section is going to detail a few of the players who have the best fantasy value compared to their DraftKings Sportsbook odds of winning this week.

Comparables:

Comparables:

All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.

RECENT FORM

1. Rory McIlroy ($12,100; T12-win): McIlroy let another major slip through his grasp a couple of weeks ago but he’s still in tip-top form. Two wins in his last three starts is impressive enough and he’s gained over 8.0 strokes ball-striking in each of his last two starts as well.

2. Sahith Theegala ($10,500; T12-T52): Theegala took last week off but is coming off a T12 at the PGA Championship, a result which had him one back of the leader going into the final round of play. He has two runner-up finishes on the season already and six Top 12 results.

3. Kevin Tway ($6,700; T24-T43-T9): Tway landed a T24 last week, the result represented his sixth made cut in seven PGA starts and his third top 25 in his last four PGA starts. He’s over-relying on his short game and putter right now but certainly has the length off the tee to make birdie holes out of several of the par 4s this week.

4. Tommy Fleetwood ($10,300; T26-T13): Fleetwood’s T26 at the PGA Championship was pretty inconspicuous but he’s gained strokes around the green and on putting in two straight events and has been solid off the tee from April onward. He’ll be looking for revenge after blowing a great chance for a win late on Sunday at this event last season.

5. Corey Conners ($9,500; T26-T13): Conners gets a shoutout not just because he’s Canadian, but because he’s been striking the ball as well as anyone on Tour of late. He’s now gained over 9.0 strokes of ball striking in each of his last two starts and is due for a monster week once the putter starts to cooperate.

Cash Games: Tom Kim is a solid value

Rory McIlroy ($12,100) is pretty much a must-start at less than $13,000 in this kind of field right now and fitting him in won’t be tough if you lean on the value in the 8k range. Tom Kim ($8,500) is starting to find some better consistency off the tee of late and that’s translated into better results with him posting a T24 last week at Colonial — which could have been better if not for a poor final round. Kim on a shorter course like Hamilton always brings decent upside but he’s striking it more consistently which gives him a nice floor this week. Canadian Corey Conners ($9,500) seems very likely to have a solid week but countryman Adam Svensson ($7,300) is also striking it beautifully and comes far cheaper. He’s gained over 1.0 strokes on approach and off the tee in three straight starts and sets up nicely for this more technical, shorter test.

Tournaments: Burns has the upside for GPPs

Despite missing the cut at the PGA Championship, Sam Burns ($9,500) comes into this week looking like a solid GPP target for DFS. His lack of high finishes should help keep ownership lower and his ball-striking over his last two starts hasn’t been atrocious (he gained 2.7 strokes on approach at Valhalla). Ultimately he’s got the kind of upside we need with the putter for an event like this and if that club flips for him, he should challenge for a top 10 or better this week. If you’re in need of a couple of punt plays in the 5k range, I like the potential for progression from both David Lipsky ($5,400) and Hayden Buckley ($5,500). Both men have handled these kinds of shorter layouts well, and both landed top 10 results last week off of big weeks on approach.

MY PICK: Alex Noren ($9,900)

Noren’s amid his best-ever season on the PGA TOUR and it’s starting to feel like an upcoming win might be inevitable. His last missed cut came at the Scottish Open in July of 2023 and he’s now finished T23 or better in each of his last eight PGA starts, after a T12 at the PGA Championship. Noren’s finish at the year’s second major certainly stands out from the crowd of his other results as well. Valhalla is over 7,600 yards, which makes it less than ideal for a 41-year-old who has never been the longest player off the tee. Noren made lemonade with the Lemons he was handed at that event and did most of his damage with his irons, gaining 5.9 strokes on approach and adding another 2.9 strokes around the greens.

He’s ranked first in around-the-green stats over the last 24 rounds, and while I don’t expect Hamilton G&CC to play overtly hard, certainly the new renovations have beefed up the bunkering and rough to the point where firmer greens (which should be in play over the weekend) may give Noren the advantage when things get tighter down the stretch. Either way, the shorter setup is certainly more beneficial for him over the long run and he comes in ranked 9th in strokes gained total stats on courses under 7,200 yards over the last 24 rounds, which really shouldn’t be all that surprising.

With the pricing again giving us players between $5,000 to $6,000 to choose from, Noren can be used in more balanced GPP lineups or with McIlroy ($12,200) making him an ideal core play to be overweight on. For betting, he’s certainly someone I’d consider at anything +2000 or bigger this week just given the parity of the upper end of this field after McIlroy.

MY SLEEPER: Eric Cole ($6,800)

A few months ago this price on Cole would have seemed ridiculous. He started his season with top-20 finishes in four of his first seven PGA events but has since gone through a slump that has seen him miss the cut in five of his last 10 starts. Despite missing the cut at the PGA and Charles Schwab last week, his game hasn’t been all that terrible. He’s now gained strokes off the tee in two straight starts, which is a good indicator he might be turning a corner soon. Cole typically struggles in that department but has often been neutral or slightly positive in the SG: OTT category during most of his best results.

Additionally, last week was the first time in five starts that he’s gained strokes on approach, so the ball striking has at least been better of late. I wouldn’t be shocked if we saw more positive regression from Cole soon either. It’s a very short course that isn’t challenging off the tee, and Cole has typically eaten up these kinds of cookie-cutter, short Par 70s, ranking second in strokes gained total stats at courses under 7,200 over the last 24 rounds.

His putting has been an issue of late, but that club has often been Cole’s best and likely will be again at some point in the future as well. Given the positive ball-striking of late, I also wouldn’t be shocked to see some more confidence flow through to his on-the-green work in Canada. Either way, he’s cheap enough now to use as a GPP target for big fields on this setup and also rates as out as a nice top 20 target at +330 on the DraftKings Sportsbook.

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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is wavegoodbye) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.