PGA PrizePicks for the Shriners Children’s Open

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.

Shriner’s Children’s Open Round 1 Picks

Patrick Cantlay over Mav McNealy (BoB Matchup)

Much like when I took Sam Burns last week, I would take Cantlay over any single player in this field in this format. Cantlay is the eBay play and also No. 1 in BoB%. McNealy is no slouch, but we are not going to get a free pass in these matchups, but Cantlay is by far the better player and loves this course. 

Seamus Power over Adam Svensson (BoB Matchup)

Power is among the best in the field at making birdies, making them at the fifth-highest rate in this field. Svensson is a solid golfer in his own right, but my model gives Seamus Power the edge here.

Aaron Wise over Mark Hubbard (BoB Matchup)

Aaron Wise is one of my favorite breakout candidates this year, and he would be my pick to win this tournament if Patrick Cantlay weren’t here, and even still I like Wise’s chances to scare the leaderboard. He is one of the best T2G players in the field no matter what sort of sample you look at, and over his last 6 months he has improved his putting significantly, which should continue to catapult him up leaderboards this year.