The Players Championship Recap: Surprising Victory for Kim

Where to begin? What a bloodbath in daily fantasy golf this week. Of course, someone has to win every contest, though that's usually done by picking the best golfers in the tournament. We can't speak for all contests, but let's take a look at our cash game: Of the top-20 finishers – that's 120 total golfers – only three had anyone so much as in the top-5*. And no one had winner Si-Woo Kim.

Kim won The Players Championship on Sunday by three strokes and it really was easier than that. He was so steady and had a multiple-shot lead on the entire back nine. Kim came into the week No. 75 in the world but doesn't do justice to how out of the blue his victory was.

His outright odds to win were 400-1. Golfodds.com lumped into the field bet at 7-1.

The South Korean hadn't had so much as a top-10 in seven months, since the CIMB Classic in Malaysia in October. In the 16 tournaments after that, he had zero top-20s with six missed cuts and a whopping four withdrawals, including one just last month in Houston.

Ah, the WDs.

Kim has had an ongoing back ailment, and we saw him doing stretching and twisting during The Players. Who could've predicted this would be the week he would get healthy? Hardly anyone, apparently. To put him in a lineup of six golfers would've been clairvoyant or the ultimate dart throw. On a TPC Sawgrass course that demands ball-striking expertise, he entered the week 204th in strokes gained tee-to-green (SGT2G) and 205th in strokes gained off the tee (SGOTT) – and that's out of 208 guys. He led the field in SGOTT. He was 198th in scrambling on the season. He led the field in scrambling.

All that said, where do we slot Kim, now 28th in the OWGR, going forward? He's only 21 and 2015-16 was his first full season on Tour. He won the Wyndham Championship among his five top-10s and 16 top-25s in 34 starts. He was 15th in the FedEx Cup standings. By any account for such a young golfer, a great season. As a comparison, just to use the aforementioned stats, he was 40th in SGT2G, 41st in SGOTT and 20th in scrambling.

We can thus safely say that at least the majority of Kim's struggles this year have been injury related, though there is often some regression after a breakthrough season, especially for such a young golfer.

So what you need to ask yourself going forward is: Is Kim fully healthy? Because if he is, he all of a sudden has become an interesting and perhaps integral component of fantasy golf.

On the other hand, back injuries can come back as fast as they go away.

*Oh, and if you were wondering about the selections in our cash game, Louis Oosthuizen (T2) was picked twice and Kyle Stanley (T4) was tabbed once. Kudos to the gamers who had them, especially Stanley.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Ian Poulter

Poulter had a great week to tie for second with Oosthuizen, virtually assuring his Tour card through next season. He zoomed to from No. 197 to 80 in the new OWGR rankings. The 41-year-old Englishman hadn't had a top-10 in a main Tour event in more than two years, since the 2015 Masters (he had one last year in Puerto Rico). This is more than likely an aberration rather than the start of something big for Poulter. Then again, he did have four top-10s in 2014-15, his last injury-free season.

Dustin Johnson

Johnson never had a sniff of the first page of the leaderboard, though he did soar 32 spots on Sunday to tie for 12th, by far his best Players finish. It showed Johnson's continuing maturation as a golfer, one who in the past struggled on a course that defuses the longest hitters. Johnson's forte still and always will be the long ball, but we now know he can succeed on courses demanding more precision.

Kyle Stanley, Brendan Steele, Lucas Glover, Webb Simpson

We've followed all four of these guys closely all season and often have tabbed them in the RotoWire Value Picks. All four excel tee-to-green and struggle once on the green. That's a formula that can lead to a good week at Sawgrass, and all did quite well. Stanley had one of his best career events, tying for fourth with Rafa Cabrera Bello. Steele and Glover tied for sixth, and Simpson was T16. These guys and these types of guys – who hit the ball straight and get onto the green in regulation – are valuable chips in fantasy golf. They usually will make the cut and can secure a high finish, though their putting woes usually prevent victory. Of course, Steele does have a win in 2016-17, in the season-opening Safeway. Not only is he the best putter among the four golfers here, he really raised his level by finishing sixth in the field in SGP at the Safeway. Another guy who fits these characteristics, though with a lesser success rate, is Chad Campbell.

Alex Noren

Even if DraftKings shows no love for the No. 13 golfer in the world, you should. No golfer so high in the OWGR lands such a cheap price in DK play. Noren was solo 10th at The Players. And even last week, when a Sunday fade dropped him to T31 at the Wells Fargo, Noren justified his sub-$7,000 price.

Hideki Matsuyama

He's No. 3 in the world and No. 2 in the FedEx standings, but he sure isn't playing like it. Matsuyama tied for 22nd at the Players, meaning he hasn't had a top-10 since winning at Phoenix in early February. Really, none of the very top guys in the OWGR are justifying their rankings other than No. 1 Dustin Johnson, but Matsuyama has been especially off. (Matsuyama moved to No. 3 in the latest rankings only because now-No. 4 Jason Day continues to lose world-rankings points.)

Matthew Fitzpatrick

Fitzpatrick is primarily based in Europe, but the top guys there still play fairly often in the States. Fitzpatrick has eight PGA Tour starts this season with zero top-10s. He does have four top-25s, but that's not befitting a guy who began the year ranked 30th in the world. Maybe that's why he's now 40th, and dropping, after a bad trunk-slam at The Players. On the other hand, Fitzpatrick did finish better than …

Scott Piercy

… Piercy, who was dead last among the guys who completed two rounds, at 20-over after an 80-84. Piercy had three top-10s in the fall season, which is why he's still 66th in the point standings, but in 11 starts in 2017, he's got no top-30s with five missed cuts, including three in a row. Something is very wrong, and there's absolutely no reason to come within a 7-iron of Piercy until he shows some signs of life. Piercy fell to No. 60 in the latest OWGR, and the top 60 as of May 22 are exempt into the U.S. Open. Piercy holds his own fate, as he's in the field for the Byron Nelson Classic.

RotoWire Value Picks

Last week: One top-5, four top-25s, eight missed cuts

This week: One top-10, three top-25s, three MDFs, three missed cuts

We had only three golfers in Tier 1. Johnson tied for 12th, Rory McIlroy couldn't even muster a backdoor top-10, instead tying for 35th. But that was still better than Jordan Spieth, who stunningly missed a third straight Players cut. In Tier 2, three more golfers. Brooks Koepka was the lone bright spot, tying for 16th. Jon Rahm imploded on Saturday for an MDF, and Rickie Fowler shot a 79 on Sunday to plummet to T60. We had six golfers in Tier 3. Francesco Molinari was the best of the bunch with a tie for sixth. Tyrrell Hatton, Kevin Kisner and Martin Kaymer didn't finish inside the top-40, while Matt Kuchar (MDF) and Tony Finau (MC) couldn't make it to Sunday. Among the long shots, Adam Hadwin paid off at T30, Branden Grace made the cut, Gary Woodland was an MDF, and Zac Blair missed the cut.

In our DraftKings cash game, we placed 53rd out of 57, going with Rahm, Fowler, Koepka, Kisner, Kaymer and Finau for a total of 296.5 points.