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Squad Up has launched PGA contests just in time for the 2017 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. The weather is expected to torment golfers early in the tournament but should clear for the weekend. Cool morning temperatures and gusty afternoon winds are the major causes for concern.
The Squad Up PGA game will feature a couple of different tournament types. The main weekly contests will focus on the entire tournament, with golfers receiving both positive and negative points for scoring; any golfer finishing inside the top 10 at the end of the tournament will also get a placing bonus. The other contest will occur daily for each round. These will focus solely on in-round scoring without rewards for the standings.
Lineups consist of five golfers. Unlike other daily fantasy PGA sites, Squad Up divides each individual roster spot into its own player pool ranging from 16-21 golfers. The player pools are based on the Official World Golf Rankings, with the overall caliber of each pool being relatively similar.
Sample Tournament Lineup
| POSITION | GOLFER | FPPG | SALARY |
|---|---|---|---|
| G1 | Sean O'Hair | 27.2 | 39K |
| G2 | Adam Hadwin | 34.1 | 59K |
| G3 | Marc Leishman | 35.0 | 72K |
| G4 | Jason Day | 31.1 | 93K |
| G5 | Ernie Els | 22.2 | 25K |
As their salaries reflect, Day and Leishman are expected to carry this lineup and secure top-10 finishes. Hadwin has four top-10 finishes and 10 made cuts in 11 events this season, including his breakout victory at the Valspar Championship in mid-March. He ranks seventh on the tour in Strokes Gained: Putting and putts per round. His spot in a pool with Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Sergio Garcia will help temper ownership despite his play.
O'Hair has made the cut four out of six tries at August National and in seven of his past nine tour events. He'll need to make it to the weekend and make some birdies. Els is a two-time runner-up who finished 22nd in 2015. He's part of a strong pool but this was where I felt least strongly about the top- and mid-tier options.
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Group 1
- Top Play - Tyrell Hatton (82K): Hatton has played in just two official PGA Tour events this season, finishing fourth at both the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Honda Classic. He also picked up a 10th at the WGC-Mexico Championship and a 23rd at the WGC-HSBC Champions while placing third in the European Tour's Omega Dubai Desert Classic. He leads the PGA Tour in SG: Putting heading into his Masters debut.
- Value Target - O'Hair: The bottom of pool one thins out very quickly, leaving O'Hair as the most likely cut maker from the bargain bin. He last finished 32nd in 2012.
- Fade - Byeong-Hun An (54K): An missed the cut in his Masters debut last year. He had a sixth-place finish at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, but he hasn't finished higher than 48th in four events since. He ranks 178th in SG: Putting.
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
Group 2
- Top Play - Dustin Johnson (95K): The odds on favorite to win, the No. 1 golfer in the world is the most expensive player in the field, albeit by a thin margin. He has finished inside the top 10 in each of his past two visits to August, and he has won each of his past three appearances on tour this year. He has six top 10s and one missed cut in seven tournaments.
- Value Target - Fred Couples (25K): Couples ranks second on the Champions Tour money list this season and has four top-10 finishes in four events. He leads the tour of elder statesmen in putting average at 1.629 per hole.
- Fade - Rafael Cabrera-Bello (73K): RCB finished 17th in his Masters debut in 2016. He was impressive early in the 2017 season, picking up three consecutive top-20 finishes including a sixth. He added a fifth-placed finish at the Valspar Championship, but he missed the cut at last week's Houston Open. Owners willing to spend this much should go all the way for Johnson.
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Group 3
- Top Play - Leishman: Leishman has missed the cut in three of four Masters appearances with a fourth-place finish in 2013 sandwiched in between. He ranks third in SG: Putting this year. He's likely to be less owned than former champs Danny Willett and Adam Scott, as well as world No. 2, Rory McIlroy, who top the group.
- Value Target - Russell Henley (28K): Henley gained his third-career Masters berth with a win at least week's Houston Open. He finished 21st and 31st in 2015 and 2016, respectively. He vaulted from 19th in SG: Putting to sixth with last week's performance.
- Fade - Adam Scott (90K): Scott has been in disarray since a an 11th-place finish at the Genesis Open and a 14th at the Honda Classic. He missed the cut at last week's Houston Open. He ranks just 79th in SG: Putting and is just 4K cheaper than McIlroy in this pool.
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Group 4
- Top Play - Louis Oosthuizen (72K): Oosthuizen has committed to playing more on the PGA Tour this season and has already appeared in seven events - including two WGCs - while making the cut each time. He also picked up top 10s at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the Hero World Challenge. He has finished 25th or higher in each of last three August appearances.
- Value Target - Bernhard Langer (25K): Langer is one of the oldest players in the field at age 59, but he showed no sign of his age last year with a 24th-place finish despite dropping down the ranks Sunday afternoon. He also finished eighth in 2014. He leads the Champions Tour in winnings, after dominating the tour in 2016.
- Fade - Bubba Watson (80K): Watson joins Langer as the only other former champ in this pool but has struggled with his recent form, both in Augusta and this season. He struggled to a 37th-place finish last year, two years removed from his second major championship. He finished ninth in the match play event, his lone visit inside the top 25 this year.
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Group 5
- Top Play - Thomas Pieters (67K): Pieters will make his Augusta National debut in what has been an up-and-down year thus far. He has two top-10s and three missed cuts in seven events. He does rank 23rd in putting, ninth in SG: Approach and 16th in Par 5 Scoring. He's prone to the "worse than a double bogey" penalty, but he ranks 14th in scoring average.
- Value Target - Soren Kjeldsen (52K): There's not much value below Kjeldsen, outside of the aforementioned Els. It's a steep price to pay for a value target, but Kjledsen is the cheapest option with any potential to finish inside the top 10. He finished seventh in 2016, on the back of a phenomenal Sunday short-game display. He survived the group fronted by McIlroy to lose to Jon Rahm in the quarterfinals of the match play.
- Fade - Jon Rahm (83K): Rahm has took the tour by storm ever since turning pro partway through the 2016 season. He has finished inside the top 10 in each of his past four appearances and picked up his first career victory at the Farmers Insurance Open 10 weeks ago. Ownership will be staggeringly high for someone making his first appearance at golf's most famous course.
