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Expert picks for the U.S. Open

Branden Grace has played well in links-style courses in two previous majors. Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

This week we head to beautiful Shinnecock Hills Golf Course for the second major of the golf season -- the U.S. Open.

Our FantasyGolfInsider experts have laid out the players they believe have the skills to succeed and provide big fantasy point totals.


DraftKings value picks

Matt Kuchar

Kuch is a solid play week in and week out, especially in Major championships. The U.S. Open has been a Major that he has done very well at year after year, sporting one Top 10 and five Top 16s since he showed up as an amateur in 1998 (there were several years he didn't make the field). He's a consistent cut-maker with upside and he bounced back nicely at The Memorial after some shoddy play the past few weeks. -- Taras Pitra

Patrick Cantlay

A superior ball-striker who ranks third in strokes gained tee-to-green, 10th in strokes gained off-the-tee, and eighth in strokes gained around the green over his last 16 rounds, according to our rolling stats tool. Cantlay also ranks 15th in our model despite the fact that he is priced at only $7,700. He is coming in with solid form including two Top 10s in his last four events played. His ownership will be in the teens, but I think you have to have him as part of your rosters this week. -- Jeff Bergerson

Gary Woodland

Pros: One of the longest hitters on Tour (T10 on All Drives with an average of 300.5), Woodland is coming off a T23 at Memorial and has hit the fifth-most greens in regulation this year (75.56 percent). He's an excellent play for both par-4 and par-5 scoring, and his poor putter could be mitigated by the poa greens. Fits the bomber style with the wider fairways, and has actually been better than most if he does end up in the rough (-2 over 120 attempts).

Cons: His form has been fairly bad since taking a win at WMPO (six missed cuts in 10 events). Inaccurate off the tee (63.57 percent fairways hit) and a horrible putter, Woody should be able to put himself in good positions on the longer holes but is very high-risk/high-reward. Very bad if he misses the green. Finished T50 at Erin Hills last year, which should have set up better for him. -- Adam Daly

FanDuel value picks

Branden Grace

Given the changes over the years to Shinnecock and the lack of any recent events there, we are going to need to do a little digging to try to figure out which courses are worthy of comparison. Fortunately, there have been a number of American links-style courses in play over the last few years and the one thing they all seem to have in common is that Grace has been solid at each. Although he finished 50th at Erin Hills last year, he did finish fourth at Chambers Bay in 2015 and third at Whistling Straits the same year. More recently he finished third at the Byron Nelson at Trinity Forest just last month. He's also won events on links-style courses on the European Tour, so something about this layout seems to work well with his game. He has yet to miss a cut this season so I like him in all formats this week. -- Zach Turcotte

Emiliano Grillo

Grillo was a late addition to the U.S. Open field after qualifying via his top-60 OWGR status after the FedEx St. Jude Classic last week. He is fresh off of a T23 finish in the Memorial Tournament his last time out, which followed up a solo third-place finish in the Fort Worth Invitational the week prior. Grillo is in top form right now and his solid all-around game sets up nicely for the redesigned Shinnecock Hills. With the U.S. Open's 36-hole cut remaining at low 60 and ties, Grillo's cut-making ability this season is another reason he is a worthy DFS target. His $8,800 FanDuel salary also allows for a top-tier golfer or two to fit in your lineup. -- Erik Dantoft