The PGA Championship
Preview for the PGA Championship: This year marks the 105th edition of the historic PGA Championship, and what exciting week of golf lies just ahead in the state of New York! Jason Day holds the tournament record which came in 2015 at Whistling Straits (Straits Course) when he shot -20 to beat Jordan Spieth by three strokes. Winners of the PGA Championship over the past five editions include Justin Thomas in 2022, Phil Mickelson in 2021, Collin Morikawa in 2020, Brooks Koepka in 2019, and Brooks Koepka in 2018.
Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is $15M, the winner collects $2.7M and also earns himself 600 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: Oak Hill Country Club is 7,349 yards in length, is a par 70, and the average-ish-sized greens are bentgrass. The winning score at the PGA Championship over the past decade ranges from -5 to -20, so the score is largely dictated by where the event is played and how it’s set up. Scores of -5 and -6 have won this tournament over the last two years, and you can expect this type of number again this year given this course has been completely rebuilt and is a tough test of golf. Some core key stats to focus on this week, in order, are strokes gained: approach, driving distance, driving accuracy percentage, strokes gained: tee to green, and strokes gained: putting.
The 2023 PGA Championship field: We have 156 players in action this week, and the top 70 players plus ties after round 2 on Friday will advance to play rounds 3 and 4 on the weekend. This superb field includes the likes of Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and tons of other star players. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be an A.
DFS PGA Tour Golf Picks
Make the most of this article’s data, predictions, and insights to help with your fantasy golf picks for the PGA Championship. And check out our PGA Projections and Optimizer tools to make more informed player selections for your DFS DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
Three questions that are relevant to the PGA Championship this week:
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total over their last 24 rounds? Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Sungjae Im, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, and Taylor Moore.
- Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Wyndham Clark, Gary Woodland, Tyrrell Hatton, Jordan Spieth, and Rickie Fowler.
- Which 10 players gained the most strokes total (minimum 8 rounds) at this event since 2018? Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose, Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Abraham Ancer, Jon Rahm, Sam Burns, and Xander Schauffele.
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are (in no particular order) 15 DFS golf picks on DraftKings (DK), plus I also include player salaries for DK. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performances at the event over the last five years, and add in some valuable data.
15 Players Who Are Either High-Potential or Solid-Value Plays This Week – Get Them Into Your DFS Lineups
Scottie Scheffler (Salary: DraftKings – $11.2K) – Once he fixes his putting he’s going to go on another tear because his ball-striking and tee-to-green game is ridiculously strong! He has two wins in his last eight starts, has ten top 10’s in his last thirteen starts, and has finished no worse than T12 during this stretch which is simply unreal. His game is built for any golf course and he should be right in contention this week. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut, 2021 – T8, and 2020 – T4.
Jon Rahm (Salary: DraftKings – $11.4K) – Rahm is coming off a 2nd-place finish at the Mexico Open, won three starts ago at The Masters, and has three top 15’s in a row. I think that Scheffler and Rahm are the players to beat this week – McIlroy interests me because of his ties to the area, but I wasn’t able to fit him into my top 15 list this week given his spotty play as of late. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T48, 2021 – T8, 2020 – T13, 2019 – cut, and 2018 – T4.
Xander Schauffele (Salary: DraftKings – $9.9K) – What a heater that Schauffele is on right now with five straight top 10’s if you include the Zurich Classic, and every part of his game is in fine form. I also like that he has three top 16’s at this event over the last four years, so he has a pretty good history at PGA Championships. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T13, 2021 – cut, 2020 – T10, 2019 – T16, and 2018 – T35.
Tony Finau (Salary: DraftKings – $9.5K) – Finau has performed quite well over the last three years at this particular major including earning a T4 three years ago, and he won just two starts ago at the Mexico Open. His worst finish since last November is a T31, so he’s consistent, has a high floor and a high ceiling. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T30, 2021 – T8, 2020 – T4, 2019 – T64, and 2018 – T42.
Sungjae Im (Salary: DraftKings – $9.0K) – Im tends to fly under the radar a little bit but he’s cooking up a storm now with three straight top 8’s if you include the Zurich Classic, and he has seven consecutive top 21’s. He’s not super strong in any one part of his game, but is well-rounded and can pop in every stat category. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T17, 2020 – cut, 2019 – cut, and 2018 – T42.
Rickie Fowler (Salary: DraftKings – $7.6K) – I’m proud of what Fowler has done since last September with several top 10’s, top 20’s, and top 30’s. His stats actually look fairly similar to Sungjae’s above, so his floor is high and ceiling is high enough given his salary number. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T23, 2021 – T8, 2020 – cut, 2019 – T36, 2018 – T12.
Wyndham Clark (Salary: DraftKings – $7.5K) – I didn’t expect Clark to be a star on the PGA Tour, but he’s heading in that direction and is coming off the win at the Wells Fargo Championship where he gained 11.34 strokes ball-striking and another 7.46 putting. He has four top 6’s in his last six starts if you include the Zurich Classic, and his worst finish since early October 2022 is a T50. Don’t pay attention to his PGA Championship results from the past as he’s just breaking out now. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T75 and 2020 – cut.
Matt Fitzpatrick (Salary: DraftKings – $8.4K) – Fitzpatrick won three starts ago at the RBC Heritage, and that was despite losing 4.02 strokes around the green. He had a T10 at The Masters four starts ago and has five straight top 35’s. He was solid in last year’s event gaining strokes across the board and finishing top 5. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T5, 2021 – T23, 2020 – cut, 2019 – T41, and 2018 – cut.
Hayden Buckley (Salary: DraftKings – $6.6K) – Over his last four tournaments played, Buckley has two top 10’s including a T5 at the RBC Heritage which was a fairly strong field, and has been really gaining in the ball-striking department since THE PLAYERS Championship. He’s a rookie here this week, but should make the cut and could have a great result if he gains 3 or 4 strokes with his flat stick. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: none.
Jason Day (Salary: DraftKings – $8.9K) – I was really happy to see Day win the Byron Nelson last week with almost a 10 stroke gain ball-striking and 13.64 strokes total. He also has six top 10’s over his last nine starts, and has the lowest score of any PGA Championship victor with a -20 that occurred 8 years ago. He’s a decent option for your balanced and hybrid lineups this week. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T55, 2021 – T44, 2020 – T4, 2019 – T23, and 2018 – T19.
Brooks Koepka (Salary: DraftKings – $10.1K) – He’s expensive this week but it’s because he has won the PGA Championship twice and finished co-runner-up two years ago. He had a T2 at The Masters last month, won on LIV four starts ago, and has five straight top 11’s between both tours. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T55, 2021 – T2, 2020 – T29, 2019 – Won, and 2018 – Won.
Gary Woodland (Salary: DraftKings – $7.1K) – It’s really a shame that he wastes his amazing ball-striking abilities with terrible putting and around-the-green play. He still has decent finishes despite his shortcomings with two T14’s in his last four starts including at The Masters, and four straight top 39’s. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T34, 2021 – T38, 2020 – T58, 2019 – T8, and 2018 – T6.
Seamus Power (Salary: DraftKings – $7.0K) – I could have featured a bunch of players over Power, but he does have back-to-back top 19’s, and pretty much gained strokes across the board in both events. He also had a 9th last year on a tough track gaining in all major stat categories, so it’s possible he repeats that again this week. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T9.
Patrick Cantlay (Salary: DraftKings – $9.7K) – Cantlay is a great ball striker and can pop with his putter – making him a dangerous player to keep an eye on. He has eight consecutive top 21’s if you count the Zurich Classic, and five of those were top 9’s. He doesn’t have amazing results at this tournament just yet, but did finish T3 four years ago thanks to gaining 10.85 strokes ball striking. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut, 2021 – T23, 2020 – T43, 2019 – T3, and 2018 – T27.
Cameron Young (Salary: DraftKings – $9.2K) – Even though he only has 50-something finishes over his last two starts, I still wanted to include him here since he tends to elevate his game in majors and did finish T7 at The Masters three starts ago. He’s a consistently strong ball striker and can get hot with his putter and wedges, so he’s a young, talented golfer that shouldn’t be ignored. PGA Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T3.
