Golf Channel’s game has a new look in 2019.
This year in addition to picking a tournament winner we’re also shifting the focus to head-to-head matchups, with both the Golf Pick ‘Em game and an additional Sunday-only contest that focuses on the final round. Both contests can be found online or in the NBC Sports Predictor app, which fantasy players can download to make their selections each week.
Players can compete for weekly cash prizes, with the best scores during the season qualifying for the season-ending FJ $100,000 Championship, where cash and prizes will be awarded to top finishers.
The contest continues this week with the RBC Heritage, where several players will make the short trek from Augusta in search of a tartan jacket. Here’s a look at some of the top players you should consider when making picks, as Satoshi Kodaira returns to South Carolina to defend his title:
1. Francesco Molinari: Already a winner this year, and very nearly a green jacket recipient on Sunday. Molinari was rock solid until the waning moments at the Masters, but his consistent ball-striking should continue to pay off on a course where he’s made the cut each of the last three years.
2. Dustin Johnson: Johnson came up one shot short Sunday behind Tiger Woods, but it was still good enough to get him back into the top spot in the world rankings. While he’s still staring up at Molinari in these rankings, DJ finished T-16 last year in his first Hilton Head appearance in nearly a decade and showed last month at Tampa that he doesn’t need to lean on the driver or feast on wide-open fairways to find success.
3. Bryson DeChambeau: It was three years ago that DeChambeau showed up as low amateur from the Masters and led the Heritage field in ball-striking en route to a T-4 finish in his pro debut. Much has changed since then, including a T-3 result at this event a year ago, and with five wins in the last 10 months it’s clear DeChambeau knows what it takes to get the job done and very clearly has an affinity for Harbour Town.
4. Matt Kuchar: Mr. Consistent just keeps rolling right along. Fresh off his runner-up result in Austin and top-10 at Valero, Kuchar put together a solid if not spectacular week in Augusta, finishing T-12. The veteran already has two wins this season and now returns to a course where he holed out a bunker shot on the final hole to win in 2014, with three top-15 finishes in the years since.
5. Patrick Cantlay: Cantlay came out of nowhere to very nearly win the Masters last week, battling from near the cut line all the way into sole possession of the lead as he walked to the 16th tee. While he settled for a tie for ninth, he’s one of several players who have found recent success at Harbour Town, tying for third in 2017 and seventh a year ago. Already with five top-10s this season, it seems a second win could be just around the corner.
6. Xander Schauffele: It’s probably time to start paying attention to the soft-spoken San Diegan, who very nearly took down Woods last week en route to the green jacket. Like Kuchar, Schauffele already has two wins to his credit this season and now can add a T-2 finish at Augusta National. His Heritage experience includes only a T-32 finish last year, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that he has the game to tackle any venue.
7. Kevin Kisner: This ain’t no hobby. The South Carolina product cruised to victory last month in Austin, and he hasn’t finished outside the top 30 in his last eight starts. Now he heads to a course he knows well on a grass type where he has thrived before, losing a playoff in 2015 in addition to last year’s T-7 finish and a T-11 result in 2017.
8. Tommy Fleetwood: Molinari has gotten the brunt of the attention in recent weeks, but Fleetwood hasn’t exactly slacked since the pair rolled through the Ryder Cup last fall. The Englishman cracked the top 5 at both Bay Hill and TPC Sawgrass, and given he’s one of the best players around with a mid-iron in hand it stands to reason that skill set will likely push him to the top of the standings amid the cozy confines of Harbour Town.
9. Jordan Spieth: Spieth finished T-12 or better in three straight Heritage appearances from 2013-15, including 2015 when he played one week after winning the green jacket. But he’s in a different place right now, trying to cobble together confidence from scraps as he looks for his first top-10 finish since July. The glimmers of hope have been a little more frequent in recent weeks, but the game still has a few holes to patch.
10. Matthew Fitzpatrick: Perhaps a bit of a sentimental play, but Fitzpatrick is likely the only player in the field boasting a Harbour Town head cover. He uses it the other 51 weeks as well, a testament to how much he enjoys this event that he describes without hesitation as his favorite on Tour. He finally made it to the weekend here last year, finishing T-14, and he enters off a strong battle to make the cut at the Masters and a runner-up finish at Bay Hill last month.