PGA DFS Picks
Make use of the information from this article to elevate your fantasy golf picks for the Wells Fargo Championship, and check out our PGA Optimizer to make more informed player selections for your DFS lineups. Best of luck this week!
The Wells Fargo Championship
Recap from last week: Big congrats to Sam Burns for winning his first career PGA Tour tournament last week at the Valspar Championship, and in impressive fashion too – 3 strokes clear of Keegan Bradley. I didn’t have a good DFS week from a monetary perspective but still enjoyed seeing the players tangle with the challenging track, and I always love seeing a new winner on the PGA Tour!
Preview for the Wells Fargo Championship: This event has been live on the PGA Tour since 2003 with the exception of last year in 2020 as it was canceled due to the pandemic, and in 2017 the tournament was played at the Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, North Carolina, as the usual track, the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, was used that year for the PGA Championship, instead. Quail Hollow hosts next year’s 2022 President’s Cup, so this event next year will be played at TPC Potomack. Rory McIlroy holds the tournament record here with a -21 in 2015, and he’s the only two-time winner at this venue. Max Homa will look to defend his title from 2019 when he beat Joel Dahmen by three strokes with a score of -15. The past five winners of this event include the aforementioned Max Homa in 2019, Jason Day in 2018, Brian Harman in 2017, James Hahn in 2016, and Rory McIlroy in 2015.
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Tournament purse: The prize money for this year’s event is set at $8.1M, the winner receives $1.458M and also earns himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: The Quail Hallow Club measures out to 7,521 yards, is a par 71, and the greens are Bermuda. The winning score over the past ten editions of this tournament ranges from -8 to -21, so the course can play challenging depending on how it’s set up and the weather conditions can play a factor, as well. Some of the key stats that you should factor into your player selections this week are strokes gained: off-the-tee, strokes gained: tee-to-green, strokes gained: approach, driving distance, and strokes gained: around the green.
The field: We will see a full-field, 156 players in action this week, and the top 65 golfers plus ties at the conclusion of round 2 will move onto the weekend rounds. We typically see strong fields at this event, and this year will sport another impressive collection of players including Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy, defending champ, Max Homa, and lots of other PGA Tour stars. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be a B+.
Lineup construction strategy this week: This tournament has lots of talent throughout the field, and a cut line to manage too, so you can build any type of lineup you want – stars and scrubs, balanced, or hybrid are all in play. Aim to get 6 players through to the weekend in all of your lineups, as per usual, but also make sure that you have 3 or 4 players who have high upside and can potentially win. It’s fine if you want to mostly stick to $7K-9K players this week, especially for head-to-head and other cash contests, but also be sure to have a super-star in a few lineups as we will likely see a big dog win on Sunday. Interesting to note though that 2019’s winner, Max Homa, had his first PGA Tour win here as did Rickie Fowler in 2012, and so did others, so dark horses can pop here, as well. I’ll be sticking to my usual build type of hybrid for my core lineups, but will be throwing in stars and scrub configurations as well for GPPs.
All the best in your quest to win some contests this week – here are my 15 DFS golf picks which feature my top 3 players from each tier on DraftKings (DK) in no particular order, plus I include player salaries for DK, as well. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performance at this event over the last 5 years, and add in some helpful pieces of information and stats, as well.
The $10K+ Range
Justin Thomas (Salary: DraftKings – $11.3K) – Thomas is pretty much always money in the bank on any given week as he’s often in the top 10 or the top 20ish. To prove my point, he has five top 10’s this season in 13 starts, and another six top 21’s. He won THE PLAYERS Championship three-stroke-play starts ago, and I expect him to win at least once more this season. He won on this track in 2017 for the PGA Championship, his only major to date, so this venue surely brings back fond memories. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: 2018 – T21 and 2016 – Cut.
Jon Rahm (Salary: DraftKings – $10.8K) – Rahm checks all of the boxes with his ongoing strong play, we are just waiting for his first win on the season, and there’s no reason why it won’t come this week as he has nine top 10’s including the two match-play events. He has only played this tournament once (in 2017) and it wasn’t on this track – that’s the only knock against him this week but I’m still in heavily on him, regardless. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: 2017 – T4.
Xander Schauffele (Salary: DraftKings – $10.5K) – Schauffele has had an impressive season, outside of winning, but he does have six top 5’s including three runner-ups or co-runner-ups, and he was T3 at The Masters in his last stroke-play event where he gained almost 11 strokes: total and could have won the green jacket if his putter was a tad better. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: 2018 – T72 and 2017 – T24.
The $9K Range
Max Homa (Salary: DraftKings – $9.0K) – Homa really geared up his game last week to be ready to defend his title from two years ago – he started one stroke back on Sunday and finished T6. He won The Genesis International six starts ago, 25% of his starts have gone for top 10’s, and he has other finishes in the teens and 20’s. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: 2019 – Won and 2017 – Cut.
Viktor Hovland (Salary: DraftKings – $9.8K) – Hovland was outside of the top 20 for three straight tournaments, but after last week it looks like he’s back as he finished T3 at the Valspar Championship and gained in all stat categories, including almost 9 strokes tee-to-green. He won in Mexico back in December, he has six top 10’s on the season, and he just oozes potential and upside. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: None.
Corey Conners (Salary: DraftKings – $9.2K) – Conners plays the game of golf right and just keeps gaining strokes tournament after tournament. Once he gets his around the green play and putter more consistent, he really could be a top 10 player in the world as everything else is super-elite – he’s currently sitting at 37th. He has seven top 10’s in 18 starts this season, and has been knocking on the door to win. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: 2018 – T42.
The $8K Range
Brian Harman (Salary: DraftKings – $8.7K) – I was really pulling for Harman to win THE PLAYERS Championship in March and he almost did, a T3 isn’t too shabby in the strongest field that golf has to offer. Since then he was T12 at The Masters and T13 at the RBC Heritage. I also like that he has only missed one cut all season long out of 16 starts, and that came way back in November. He won this event in 2017 when it was played at the Eagle Point Golf Club, and could do the same this week at Quail Hallow. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: 2019 – T24, 2018 – T74, 2017 – Won, and 2016 – T35.
Cameron Tringale (Salary: DraftKings – $8.4K) – Tringale has four top 10’s this season in 16 starts, has lots of other finishes in the teens, 20’s, and 30’s, and his game is very sound in every regard. He was T9 two starts ago and is coming off a T3 at the Valspar Championship last week with consistent play in all four rounds, and he only made four bogeys all week long. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: 2019 – Cut, 2018 – T27, 2017 – Cut, and 2016 – T41.
Keegan Bradley (Salary: DraftKings – $8.5K) – Bradley is coming in hot this week with a runner-up last week in Louisiana, he and his partner were T4 at the Zurich Classic, and outside of a T60, he has seven straight top 30’s. He has even gained strokes putting in four out of his last five events as well – that’s huge for him as he’s typically awful with the flat stick. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: 2019 – Cut and 2018 – T76.
The $7K Range
Stewart Cink (Salary: DraftKings – $7.9K) – Unbelievably, Cink has won twice this season including in his most recent start at the RBC Heritage thanks to 63’s in his first two rounds. Players will often win then follow that up with a missed cut, but not Cink who finished T12 after winning in mid-September. If he does that again this week then he will be a great mid-tier value play. I also like that he was T12 two starts ago at The Masters and T19 three starts ago at the Honda Classic which is one of the tougher tracks the PGA Tour features. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: 2018 – T72 and 2017 – Cut.
Rickie Fowler (Salary: DraftKings – $7.8K) – I didn’t expect to be interested in Fowler this season, but I do like what I saw out of him in his most recent start with a T17 at the Texas Open where he gained strokes across the board, and he has a spectacular track record at this event over the years. He’s risky this week but I’m hoping that he’s been working hard on his game over the last month since he’s been off, and that he has another top 20 in him come Sunday. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: 2019 – T4, 2018 – T21, and 2016 – T4.
Matthew NeSmith (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – I really like NeSmith’s approach game, his ball-striking, and his tee-to-green play. His last four starts have ranged from T21 to T48 in terms of finishes, and he does have six top 20’s in 18 starts this season. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: None.
The $6K Range
Tom Lewis (Salary: DraftKings – $6.7K) – Lewis isn’t setting the PGA Tour on fire by any means, but he and his partner scored a T8 at the Zurich Classic, and he has five other cuts made in a row including a T25 at the RBC Heritage. If you’re looking for a cut-maker in the $6K range, then take a close look at Lewis as he should secure another one this week. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: None.
Adam Schenk (Salary: DraftKings – $6.8K) – Schenk profiles much the same as Lewis above, he had a T11 with his partner at the Zurich Classic, and he has only missed one cut in his last five stroke-play events including a T18 last week – his best so far this season thanks to gaining almost 7 strokes tee-to-green. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: 2019 – T13 and 2018 – Cut.
Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Salary: DraftKings – $6.9K) – Lee has only missed a single cut in his last five stroke-play starts, he was T23 with his partner at the Zurich Classic, and finished runner-up at the Phoenix Open in February. Wells Fargo Championship finishes over the last five years: 2019 – T60.
Results of the 15 players I picked for last week’s Valspar Championship
The 10K+ Range
- Justin Thomas – T13
- Dustin Johnson – T48
- Paul Casey – T21
The $9K Range
- Corey Conners – T21
- Scottie Scheffler – T29
- Russell Henley – Cut
The $8K Range
- Chris Kirk – Cut
- Charlie Hoffman – T18
- Emiliano Grillo – Cut
The $7K Range
- Keegan Bradley – 2nd
- Peter Uihlein – T57
- Doug Ghim – Cut
The $6K Range
- Chase Seiffert – Cut
- James Hahn – Cut
- Tom Lewis – T48
