2022 PLAYERS Championship – DFS Golf Picks
Make the most of the data, predictions, and insights from this article to help with your fantasy golf picks for THE PLAYERS Championship, and check out our PGA Lineup Optimizer to make more educated player selections for your DFS lineups. Best of luck to you for this week and every week!
THE PLAYERS Championship
Preview for THE PLAYERS Championship: We aren’t quite to major season just yet on the PGA Tour, but this week’s event is the fifth-largest right after the four majors, has arguably the most talented and deepest field of any tournament, and has the largest prize pool of any golf event in the world. THE PLAYERS has been played since 1974 when it was known as the Tournament Players Championship and Jack Nicklaus won the first edition with a score of -16 – two better than J.C.Snead. This event has been held at TPC at Sawgrass – Stadium Course since 1982, and the best score we have seen over the last forty years was from Greg Norman in 1994 when he shot a -24. Winners of THE PLAYERS Championship over the last five editions include Justin Thomas in 2021, 2020 was canceled after round 1 due to the pandemic, Rory McIlroy in 2019, Webb Simpson in 2018, Si Woo Kim in 2017, and Jason Day in 2016.
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Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is a record-setting $20M, the winner collects an insane $3.6M and also earns himself 600 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: TPC at Sawgrass – Stadium Course is 7,189 yards in length, is a par 72, and the greens are again Bermudagrass and average 5,500 square feet. The winning score here over the last 10 editions ranges from -12 to -18, so it’s not a super tough track, but keeps golfer’s on their toes at times. Some core key stats to focus on this week are, in order, strokes gained: off the tee, strokes gained: approach, strokes gained: tee to green, driving accuracy, and strokes gained: around the green.
The field: This is the most stacked field of the season with 144 golfers in action, and the top 65 players plus ties after round 2 on Friday will have the honor of competing on the weekend in rounds 3 and 4. Most of the world’s top players are teeing it up this week including Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, and on and on. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be an A+.
Three questions I have about THE PLAYERS Championship:
1. Is course history here important? A lot of golfers here have spotty records at THE PLAYERS – look no further than McIlroy who missed the cut in 2018, won the event in 2019, and missed the cut last year. Certainly, look at previous results, but more heavily weigh recent results, and get both aligned well where possible.
2. Is it possible to have three superstars in one lineup on DraftKings? You can go in big with a trio such as Cantlay, Hovland, and Thomas and it leaves approximately $6.5K left, on average, for the other three players and there are decent options to fill out lineups.
3. With strokes gained: off the tee being the top key stat this week, which ten players have been the strongest lately in this category? Over the past 20 rounds, the most elite players off the tee are Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry, Cameron Young, Keith Mitchell, Collin Morikawa, Sungjae Im, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Luke List, and Patrick Cantlay.
DraftKings lineup construction strategy this week: Get aggressive this week if you’re trying to win a $1M prize in a large GPP! Pay close attention to project ownership this week, move to pivot plays for leverage, and as always, and leave a few hundred or even $1K+ on the table per lineup to build original configurations.
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in 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 performances at the event over the last 5 years, and add in some tasty pieces of information, also.
The $10K+ Range
Justin Thomas (Salary: DraftKings – $10.4K) – Thomas hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since last year’s PLAYERS Championship, but he’s well-positioned to defend his title as he has seven top 8’s over his last ten starts and it’s because his approach game is stellar and he’s gained with his short game or been under a stroke lost over his last eight measured tournaments played. He has three top 11’s here over his last five starts at the venue including last year’s win and a T3 six years ago, and the stats behind those finishes are excellent, as well. I won’t blame you if you start the majority of your core lineups with JT as he’s a solid first man in. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Won, 2019 – T35, 2018 – T11, and 2017 – T75.
Rory McIlroy (Salary: DraftKings – $10.8K) – He has gone missed cut, win, missed cut over the last three editions of this event, so if the pattern continues this year, McIlroy will win again. Half of his finishes here over the last eight editions have gone for top 8’s due to strong ball-striking and solid around the green play. He won THE CJ CUP last October and has finished no worse than T18 over his last nine starts because his game is well-rounded and he’s getting it done in every stat category. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Cut, 2019 – Won, 2018 – Cut, and 2017 – T35.
Viktor Hovland (Salary: DraftKings – $10.1K) – Hovland has been so dominant with three wins over his last eight starts and has an incredible six top 4’s in his last eight starts including last week’s T2 at the API, and it’s not even surprising given the remarkable ball-striking talent that he has. Some DFS users will be scared off of his missed cut here last year, but that was his first look at TPC at Sawgrass, and I expect a total 180 this year given his elevated game play and his confidence has to be soaring with all of the wins since last November. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Cut.
The $9K Range
Patrick Cantlay (Salary: DraftKings – $9.9K) – He took the FedEx Cup in style last season with the win at the BMW Championship and at The Tour Championship, and despite not winning yet in 2022, he has a runner-up, a 4th, a T4, and a 9th over his last five starts thanks to having a very sound game throughout. There might be some hesitation to pay up for him since he has missed the cut here over the last two editions and his best finish in four starts is a T22, but big ball-strikers can come out of nowhere and win here, so don’t sleep on him. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Cut, 2019 – Cut, 2018 – T23, and 2017 – T22.
Hideki Matsuyama (Salary: DraftKings – $9.6K) – With two wins in his last seven starts, Matsuyama is really on a roll, and don’t forget about winning The Masters last April. We are typically concerned about his weak putting, but he has gained strokes in the category three times over his last four starts including 7.27 at the Sony Open when he won just two months ago. He has five top 23’s here in seven starts since 2014 including two top 8’s, so he has the game that can succeed here, and I expect another great showing from Japan’s top player this week. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Cut, 2019 – T8, 2018 – Cut, and 2017 – T22.
Scottie Scheffler (Salary: DraftKings – $9.2K) – Much like Hovland above, Scheffler got his feet wet here last year and missed the cut. Not to worry though as he just won last week at the API, won for the first time on the PGA Tour in last month’s Phoenix Open, and has six top 7’s over his last nine starts including two wins in his last three starts, and is gaining strokes in almost every category on a regular basis. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t play all four rounds this week and have a top 20 finish come Sunday, and he’s an outstanding price since the pricing on DK came out before the API wrapped up, so his win isn’t even baked into his salary number. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – Cut.
The $8K Range
Billy Horschel (Salary: DraftKings – $8.1K) – The talented Florida product is cooking with four straight top 16’s including a T2 at the API last week. Horschel won on the European Tour last September, and has eleven straight top 36’s. He’s a really good mid-tier value this week, and should be deployed in hybrid and balanced lineups. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T58, 2019 – T26, 2018 – T37, and 2017 – Cut.
Daniel Berger (Salary: DraftKings – $8.8K) – Berger put injury concerns to rest in his most recent start at The Honda Classic with a solo 4th and gained strokes across the board, and his worst gain was 2.07 off the tee. He has five top 20’s in his last six starts and just keeps killing it on approach. He has two T9’s here over the last five editions and hasn’t missed a cut – he’s quite attractive from a DFS perspective, especially given that he’s under $9K, but keep an eye on his health in case he tweaks something. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T6, 2019 – T67, 2018 – T57, 2017 – T65.
Will Zalatoris (Salary: DraftKings – $8.9K) – Zalatoris recently had a runner-up at the Farmers Insurance Open when he lost in a playoff and a T6 at The American Express four starts ago. His ball-striking is very tight and he has a decent around the green game too. I believe that he’s going to secure his first PGA Tour win at some point in 2022, and while I don’t think it will be this week, I do expect him to improve on his T21 from a year ago where everything looked great except his short game where he lost just 0.32 of a stroke. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T21.
The $7K Range
Matt Fitzpatrick (Salary: DraftKings – $7.7K) – With five straight top 12’s including a T9 last week at the API and a finish of T9 here a year ago, there’s lots of appeal for the Englishman this week, especially given he’s under $8K on DK. I believe that Fitzpatrick is quite undervalued this week – the only issue is that he will likely be fairly high owned, but don’t let that bother you since he’s worth every penny – find leverage plays elsewhere. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T9, 2019 – T41, 2018 – T46, and 2017 – Cut.
Si Woo Kim (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – Kim won here five years ago thanks to gaining 9.52 ball-striking and 6.12 with his short game, and his outlandish approach game last year netted him 8.12 strokes gained for the category and yielded a T9. He’s perfect in five trips at this tournament, and I expect that will continue this year too as he has also made nine straight cut lines. He will treat any of your lineups well and is priced to sell at just $7.3K. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T9, 2019 – T56, 2018 – T63, 2017 – Won.
Lanto Griffin (Salary: DraftKings – $7.0K) – He’s on a heater and it has been that way since last October with four top 16’s in his last nine starts including a T3 at The American Express in late January where he gained strokes in each of the major stat categories. He’s solid in every facet of his game and he finished T35 here last year in his first look at the tournament – all aboard the Lanto train. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T35.
The $6K Range
Keegan Bradley (Salary: DraftKings – $6.9K) – If only he could figure out how to navigate the greens of the PGA Tour, he would be in contention a fair amount since he’s a really strong ball-striker and pretty much gains strokes every time he plays. Good news for him is that he gained a crazy 3.65 strokes on the greens last week at the API – his first gain with the flat stick since last October. He’s 9/10 since last October, and has made the cut at THE PLAYERS five consecutive times including earning a T7 in 2018. He’s my favorite play in the $6K range this week especially considering he finished T9 last week at the API – adding Bradley to some of your lineups allows you to stack up elite players who have tons of win equity. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T29, 2019 – T16, 2018 – T7, and 2017 – T60.
Jhonattan Vegas (Salary: DraftKings – $6.8K) – Vegas is consistent as he has only missed one cut in his last seven starts and finished T8 at the Saudi International early last month on the European Tour. He has actually only missed one cut line at THE PLAYERS over his last seven starts here since 2012, and finished T3 in 2019. Throw Vegas into some of your stars and scrub and hybrid lineups this week – you may even want to pair him up with Bradley above if you’re after three or four players in the $9K to $10K+ range. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T61, 2019 – T3, 2018 – T41, and 2017 – Cut.
Denny McCarthy (Salary: DraftKings – $6.4K) – With only a single missed cut over his last ten starts, McCarthy is playing arguably the best golf of his career. During this stretch, he has five top 15’s including a T6 at The American Express, and the sublime putter has value again this week as he’s 2 for 2 at this venue. If you triple down on these three $6K players, you are left with almost $10K, on average, for the other three players to fill out a lineup – not too shabby at all. THE PLAYERS Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T55 and 2019 – T41.
