FanDuel has put forth one of the more interesting sports simulations we’ve seen in the past month.
The Masters was supposed to take place this week. However, it has been moved to November due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thankfully, FanDuel is offering an alternative daily fantasy game. It will simulate The Masters, featuring top active golfers, legends and popular golf movie characters. So yes, you’ll have to decide whether or not to fade Happy Gilmore if you want to play this contest.
It is free entry with a $10,000 prize pool (in FanDuel site credit) and the contest locks at noon EST on Thursday. The format is the same as a typical FanDuel PGA contest: Users will have a $60,000 salary cap on their lineups and will try to pick the highest-scoring group possible.
Every hole for every golfer will go through the custom number fire simulator, which factors in contexts such as distance, par and player skill. One round will be simulated each day with stats and a leaderboard updated at the end of each night.
Golf legends and fictional characters
The best part about the contest is the ability to mix the present, past and fictional. So, the players who would have participated in The Masters this week. Guys like Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson are available. Still, you can pair them with anyone from Arnold Palmer to Shooter McGavin.
Here’s a list of some notable players and their prices:
Rory McIlroy: $12,000
Jack Nicklaus: $11,900
Jon Rahm: 11,800
Justin Thomas: $11,700
Tiger Woods: $11,500
Brooks Koepka: $11,400
Ben Hogan: $11,400
Dustin Johnson: $11,300
Webb Simpson: $11,300
Adam Scott: $11,200
Patrick Cantlay: $11,200
Bobby Jones: $11,100
Bryson DeChambeau: $11,000
Xander Schauffele: $11,000
Arnold Palmer: $10,900
Justin Rose: $10,800
Patrick Reed: $10,700
Louis Oosthuizen: $10,500
Matt Kuchar: $10,300
Sam Snead: $10,200
Tony Finau: $10,100
Marc Leishman: $10,000
Tom Watson: $9,700
Gary Player: $9,400
Lee Trevino: $8,900
Nick Faldo: $8,700
Seve Ballesteros: $8,500
Walter Hagen: $8,000
Johnny Miller: $8,000
Bernhard Langer: $7,800
Greg Norman: $7,700
John Daly: $7,300
Happy Gilmore: $7,200
Shooter McGavin: $7,200
Tony Romo: $7,000
Roy McAvoy: $7,000
Steph Curry: $7,000
Judge Smalls: $7,000
Second-tier current golfers are the way to go
Some not-so-serious analysis of this contest: if you’re just looking to have some fun in a free game, choose whoever the heck you want – of course, it would be a blast to own Gilmore or McGavin and root for them throughout the weekend (and look at those cheap price tags!). But that’s probably going to be the conventional thinking, so if you really want to win, you may want to fade potential high ownership candidates.
The same could be said about old-timers like Hogan, Palmer, Player, etc. Again, the inclusion of movie characters, legends and athletes from other sports (Romo, Curry) is what makes the contest unique. Still, if you want to differentiate your lineup, it might be best just to stick with active players who don’t carry the biggest name identification. Guys like Justin Thomas, Justin Rose and Tony Finau look like value plays.
And, here are the site credit payouts for the contest:
1st: $500
2nd: $300
3rd: $200
4th: $150
5th: $100
6th-7th: $75
8th-9th: $50
10th-12th: $40
13th-17th: $30
18th-25th: $25
26th-35th: $20
36th-50th: $15
51st-70th: $10
71st-100th: $7
101st-150th: $5
151st-250th: $4
251st-500th: $3
501st-1000th: $2
1001st-1500th: $1
FanDuel has expanded its free contest offerings in light of the pandemic that has wiped away sports for the time being. Some topics include (or have included): the Democratic presidential debate, MTV’s The Challenge, Survivor on CBS, Top Chef on Bravo, and live fantasy horse racing at Gulfstream Park.
The PGA announced a reconfigured 2020 schedule earlier this week, featuring new dates for the PGA Championship (Aug. 6-9), the US Open (Sept. 17-20) and The Masters (Nov. 12-15). Fans will be clamoring for those events, but this is a fun diversion in the meantime.
