Fantasy Golf Insider: 9 players to target at The Barclays

The FedExCup Playoffs begin this week with the Barclays, which returns to Bethpage (Black) for the first time since 2012. The field is made up of the top-125 golfers in the FedExCup standings, of which 122 are present. Sergio Garcia (20), Danny Willett (75) and Shane Lowry (87) chose to not play.

FedExCup points have their value increased dramatically this week, with the winner taking home 2,000 points, along with a $1.53-million first-place check. The top 100 players in the standings after this week will move on to next week's Deutsche Bank Championship.

Here's a look at the past three leaderboards from events held at Bethpage. They consist of The Barclays in 2012 and the 2009 and 2002 U.S. Opens:

Per FantasyInsiders, the key stats for Bethpage State Park (Black) in Farmingdale, NY are Driving Distance (DD), Strokes Gained: Approaches (SGA), and Birdie or Better Percentage (BoB). These stats have been strengths of past winners and need to be used in combination with recent form and course history when assembling lineups.

Top Tier, Top Dollar, Top Results

Rory McIlroy

Like many of the players at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking, McIlroy has been out of tournament play since the PGA Championship at the end of July. He comes out of his extended break ranked No. 5 in the world, after being surpassed by Henrik Stenson.

McIlroy appears to be getting a jump start on his imminent move away from Nike equipment by switching back to his once dominant Scotty Cameron putter. While leading the tour this season in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and ranking second in SG: Tee-to-Green, McIlroy ranks just 96th in SG: Putting. The potential switch should rebuild some confidence.

Additionally, McIlroy leads the tour in Birdie Average, ranks second in BoB and 10th in DD. He has played Bethpage twice before, finishing 24th in 2012 and 10th in 2009. His ownership is likely to be significantly lower than the three higher-priced golfers.

Adam Scott

Scott has made all 15 of his cuts this season but at this salary he'll need to do significantly more. He hasn't won since March, but he has had just three finishes outside of the top 20, with two of those coming in majors. This week's field is comparable to a major, but Scott's two wins this season also came in marquee events.

He has played here twice, finishing 62nd in 2012 and 36th in the '09 U.S. Open. His better finish came when the course setup was significantly more difficult. Still, he's among the statistical favorites of the week, ranking first in SGA, 11th in BoB and 14th in DD. His 80.8 fantasy points per week rank fourth in the field.

Rickie Fowler

Fowler rebounded from a disappointing performance in the Olympic golf tournament to shoot four rounds in the 60s at last week's Wyndham Championship. He carded 15 birdies and five bogeys in the tournament, with nothing worse than a bogey.

He'll have a chance to book a second opportunity to make his country proud, as this is the final week to clinch one of the eight guaranteed spots on the U.S. Ryder Cup team. A win this week could move him as high as fifth. While he's likely to be a captain's pick in a worst-case scenario, he has a chance to take the decision out of the hands of Davis Love III.

He has top-50 ranks in all three key stats.

Best Value With a Chance

Paul Casey

After a missed cut at The Open, Casey tied for 10th at the PGA Championship and finished T17 at the Travelers Championship. Seven of his past eight rounds have been in the 60s.

He ranks just 68th in DD and 86th in BoB, but he does rank 23rd in SGA. Of the past three events held at Bethpage, Casey appeared only in the '09 U.S. Open, missing the cut. The greens are small at Bethpage, so DFS players can put some extra stock in Casey's rank of 13th in Greens in Regulation.

Kevin Na

Na enters the week in excellent form, having finished inside the top 10 in each of his past two events. Six of his past eight rounds have been scored in the 60s, with no score worse than a 70 during the stretch. Na hasn't carded anything worse than a 71 since The Open.

Not a long driver of the ball, Na can rely on his ranks of third in SGA and 20th in BoB. He did have a double bogey in six of his past seven tournaments, but he hasn't recorded more than seven bogeys in any of his past three events, while shooting 20 birdies in each of his past two.

He'll tee off at 8:15 a.m. Thursday, combining well with his 12th-ranked Early Scoring Average.

Alex Cejka

Cejka faltered after a strong start to the 2016 calendar year, but he has strung together back-to-back cuts, and he finished T21 at the Olympics. Seven of his past eight rounds on tour have been in the 60s.

He ranks just 167th in DD, but he also ranks 13th in SGA and 24th in BoB. He has never played Bethpage before, but he'll get an early start Thursday as part of the third group. He scores better with an early time, and he ranks fifth on tour in Round 1 putting.

If Everything Goes Right

Adam Hadwin

Hadwin followed a missed cut at the Travelers with a T8 at the John Deere Classic, and he finished T33 last week with four rounds in the 60s. Each of his past seven rounds has been scored in the 60s, and he hasn't scored higher than 71 since the RBC Canadian Open.

He is part of Thursday's first group, which will see the best conditions of the week. He has never played this course before, but could post a much higher finish than he's priced for and can return value with a weekend appearance.

Francesco Molinari

Molinari enters The Barclays with five consecutive made cuts. He has made 16 of 19 cuts this season, with his most recent MC having been in early June. His last appearance at Bethpage was in 2009, when he placed 27th.

His top rank in a key stat is a 27th in SGA. He is not a long driver nor an excellent scorer, but he is priced as someone who will struggle to make the cut, which doesn't match his pedigree at all.

Roberto Castro

Castro is priced extremely close to the minimum, despite having made 19 of 23 cuts this season. He has three top 10s on the year, has made each of his past 10 cuts, and he's coming off a 20th at the Wyndham. He's not an excellent statistical fit, but he does rank 28th in SGA. He placed 24th at The Barclays in 2012.

Save cap space, and enjoy a free made cut from Castro.

Top Fades

Phil Mickelson

Following a T13 at the Scottish Open and a runner-up finish at The Open, Mickelson tied for 33rd at the PGA Championship. He has made just 13 of 18 cuts this season, and his 70.1 fantasy points per week rank just 13th in the field, despite a top-nine salary.

While he finished second in each of the last two U.S. Opens to be held here, he finished just 38th at The Barclays in 2012, with a much easier setup. The course setup will again be much more golfer-friendly, taking away Mickelson's advantage on a difficult course.

Si Woo Kim

Kim has vaulted from the bottom pricing tier to the top, after his first-career victory at last week's Wyndham Championship. He is just three events removed from a missed cut, and he has missed 10 of his 29 cuts on the season. He isn't yet worthy of such a dramatic price adjustment. Beware of recency bias.

Emiliano Grillo

Daniel Berger was the only rookie to advance to the TOUR Championship in 2014-15, after no rookies accomplished the feat in 2013-14. Nine rookies have the chance this season, including Grillo, who ranks 32nd in FedExCup points. Still, the odds are clearly stacked against him, and he doesn't have a top-50 rank in any of the week's key stats.