MLB Best Bets – Free (Wednesday 7/24)
Josh Gross
PrizePicks offers a different way to play fantasy sports than simply building a lineup of different golfers on a salary. There are different categories of props and matchups, which are not often offered anywhere else.
PrizePicks has birdie matchups, fairways hit, greens in regulation, score and occasionally scoring on set holes on the course. These props are set up for single-round action allowing you to adjust as you go and get more information as the tournament progresses. Occasionally, such as for majors, PrizePicks will offer “holes played,” which basically picks golfers to make or miss the cut, in which case the props will take place over the first two rounds.
If you have never played on Prize Picks or want more background, I highly suggest reading this article by FTN’s Tyler Loechner on how it works. It’s a great breakdown of how the site works.
Now, let’s get into the picks for this week.
Sanderson Farms Round 1 Picks
Sam Burns over Davis Riley (BoB Matchup)
In terms of this week’s field, Sam Burns is the cream of the crop. I would likely take Burns in this kind of matchup against any other golfer in the field, it just so happens to be Davis Riley who PrizePicks paired against Burns. Riley is a formidable opponent — he ranks fourth in BoB% over the last year — but Burns is the top dog in that category by quite a decent margin. He is also the only golfer inside the top 40 of the OWGR in this field and is the clear Vegas favorite. Not to mention he is the defending champ after winning last year with a score of -22.
Emiliano Grillo over Scott Stallings (BoB Matchup)
Grillo is one of my breakout picks for this season. He ended last year on a high note as he finished inside the top 20 in three of his last five 2022 events, including two runner-up finishes in the month of July. He opened up this season on the right foot as well with a top-25 finish at the Fortinet Championship two weeks ago. Grillo has always been a strong ball-striker that has been held back by an awful putting game, but that has turned around as of late. Over his last 20 rounds he is inside the top 14 in SG: Putting in this field, and he has now gained strokes on the greens in each of his last six PGA starts.
Thomas Detry over Christiaan Bezuidenhout (BoB Matchup)
Bezuidenhout’s game is not necessarily built for these shootout type courses where birdies will be flying. He is elite at avoiding bogeys (third in this field), but he really loses a step in terms of making birdies or better, as he ranks just 109th in this field in that category. Detry is a good putter with some distance and should be a strong fit here.
