Large-Field GPP Breakdown: Zurich Classic

Hello, my sicko subscribers! We are officially at Zurich Classic week, which oftentimes is a week off for much of the DFS world. This week truly feels like an off week given we are coming off a two-week stretch where we got The Masters and then a signature event in the RBC Heritage. Many of the best in the world are probably mentally recuperating after a pretty tough two-week stretch and gearing up for the second major in mid May. Last week, we saw a few screenshots in Discord, but not as many as we normally do, so hopefully that means we crush this week in what should be a variable event. This article will likely be a little bit on the shorter side given the format of the Zurich, but I think there are some really good insights that we’ve talked about in the past that I will be sure to direct you to.

RBC Heritage – Recap

The RBC Heritage finished with a pretty awesome ending, with Justin Thomas notching his first win in over 1,000 days on the PGA Tour, which was ironically his last major victory as well. Thomas came in at 11% ownership in the large-field lottery, making him an elite contrarian play up top, as much of the field flocked to Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa given projections. For me, it was not the best week in classic, despite my overweight position on JT. I simply did not hit on many of the cheap plays, where I either had zero or was underweight on Andrew Novak, Mackenzie Hughes, and Maverick McNealy. I was also underweight Russell Henley up top, so all around it was not my best week in classic. Let’s take a look at the winning lineup:

• The lineup featured a fairly normal build, starting with JT up top and going 10/9/8/7/7/6 to take home the $200K. The unique part about this is that the lineup obviously did not use Morikawa or Scheffler, who took on more than 50% ownership combined, and instead went with a JT/Henley start. While I often talk about contrarian roster constructions driving my strategy, this lineup illustrates that simply getting different up top with your combinations can allow you to create leveraged lineups as well. The only caveat to that? Well, you have to sweat out fading Scheffler and Morikawa all weekend in a no-cut event. But, for the strong-willed, it’s a potential six-figure prize. 
• It came in with 67% cumulative ownership, just under my 70-90% range that I was targeting. The lineup did feature a mixture of contrarian and chalk plays, however, choosing to go with a Henley/JT/Berger start, which contained most of the ownership for this lineup.

Zurich Classic – Preview