DFS Dish: Horizon Irish Open

The DP World Tour remains in the spotlight this week as they hop from Switzerland to Ireland for the Horizon Irish Open.

This event has a boosted prize pool of $6,000,000 up for grabs which ties it, with the Nedbank Golf Challenge, as the largest payout on the DP World Tour schedule outside of the majors and Rolex Series events.

As is often the case, you can follow the money and you’ll end up finding a strong field assembled. Notables in the field this week include Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, and Tyrrell Hatton. It also helps that the host course is a former Ryder Cup layout and played a few weeks before the upcoming Ryder Cup, allowing some of the European stars to keep their games sharp.

DFS gamers are also looking to keep their game sharp during the short hiatus from PGA Tour action.

Regional Comfort

The DP World Tour plays all over the world. It’s hard to pin down specific regions for split stat research but one of the exceptions is GB&I performance.

When it comes to playing near the home of golf, we see a lot of crossover characteristics in terms of grass types and climate.

Here are the top performers in adjusted strokes gained per round when playing in the Great Britain & Ireland region, over the last two years:

Rory Mcilroy
Shane Lowry
Tyrrell Hatton
Adam Scott
Billy Horschel
Thomas Detry
Fabrizio Zanotti
Ryan Fox
Adrian Meronk
Callum Shinkwin
Matthias Schmid
Yannik Paul
Alexander Bjork
Richard Mansell
Calum Hill

We can also look at performance versus baseline to see who shows the largest increase in performance compared to their typical scores:

Calum Hill
Matthias Schmid
Joakim Lagergren
Rory Mcilroy
Jamie Donaldson
Callum Shinkwin
Andy Sullivan
David Law
Fabrizio Zanotti
Justin Walters
Soren Kjeldsen
Oliver Wilson
Daniel Hillier
Richard Mansell
Kiradech Aphibarnrat

Overlap List: names that show up on both lists include Rory McIlroy, Fabrizio Zanotti, Callum Shinkwin, Matthias Schmid, Richard Mansell, and Calum Hill.

Pay up for Rory

McIlroy is a heavy betting favorite this week and for good reason. He ranks first in the field in two-year baseline performance, by more than a stroke per round. Only 11 golfers in the field are even within two shots per round of him, over that time frame. Oh, and he happens to be the defending champ at the course, winning the 2016 edition by three shots.

Calum Hill hints at a return to form

The Scot made this section last week as he had converging trends at Crans-sur-Sierre. Hill didn’t crush expectations last week but was serviceable for his price tag, sliding through the cutline to land a 51st-place finish at the Omega European Masters. He’s won four times as a pro and two have come in the GB&I region (once in London and once in Northern Ireland). His past performance in the region provides some upside without breaking the bank on the salary sheet.