Fantasy Lookahead: Jhonattan Vegas looks for first weekend appearance in a month
Jhonattan Vegas has been off form of late, coming off consecutive missed cuts at the Memorial Tournament and the Dean & DeLuca Invitational. He sat out the past two weeks and returns to tournament play with plenty of rest.
Vegas made 12 of 18 cuts this season, posting three top-10 finishes but failing to record a podium finish. His best finish of the season was a fourth-place result at the Sanderson Farms Championship in late October. His best finish of 2016 was a fifth at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in early May.
Vegas hasn't missed three consecutive cuts since the 2012 PGA season, when he participated in just three events.
Course History
Vegas missed the cut at this event in 2015, when it was held at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. He also missed it in 2014 at Congressional Country Club, but he came fourth in 2012, when the event was known as the AT&T National and was held at Congressional.
Putting was the key in 2012, as Vegas gained 2.573 strokes per round on the field with the flat stick. He averaged over 307 yards off the tee, and he scored a cumulative minus-6 on Par 5s.
Statistical Breakdown
Per FantasyInsiders, the following stats have been strengths of previous winners at Congressional Country Club:
Driving Distance (DD)
Par 4 Scoring Average (P4S)
Proximity to Hole from 200-plus Yards (PROX)
Here's how Vegas has fared in the selected statistics so far this year:
| DD | P4S | PROX |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | 95 | 54 |
While Vegas has the length off the tee, he's been horribly inaccurate this year, hitting just 57.68 percent of fairways. He still ranks 25th on tour in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, picking up .493 strokes per round.
Daily Fantasy
Vegas is priced in the bottom tier of the field this week, with his recent poor performances making a big impact on his salary. Still, he ranks near the middle of the field in fantasy points per tournament, making him an excellent value play in both cash games and tournaments. He's a good fit to the course, despite his recent form.
He's more experienced than many in this tier, but he should still be a contrarian selection and has the potential for a top-10 of top-five finish. His fourth-place result in 2012 came in the middle of four missed cuts in five events.
Season-Long Fantasy
It's a crowded C-List this week and owners will find Vegas near the bottom when sorting by average weekly performance. There are plenty of bigger names available in the tier, even with most of the top names being absent.
Owners should plenty of Vegas starts remaining, and they don't need to worry about conserving what they do have remaining. He has the upside for a high finish, but there are more likely options to win the tournament from within this tier.