DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: THE PLAYERS Championship Cash and GPP Strategy

This article is part of our DraftKings PGA DFS Picks series.

THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

Purse: $25M
Winner's Share: $4.5M
FedEx Cup Points: 750 to the Winner
Location: Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Course: TPC Sawgrass, Stadium Course
Yardage: 7,352
Par: 72
2024 champion: Scottie Scheffler

Tournament Preview

The beauty of THE PLAYERS Championship, the beauty of TPC Sawgrass, is that they favor no one. There is no one skill set significantly more important than any other. You don't have the be the longest driver. You don't have to be the best putter. But if you want to be on the first page of the leaderboard come Sunday, you better be doing everything pretty well. As they like to say in golf, you're gonna need all 14 clubs in the bag.

With that as the backdrop, it's easier to understand how no one had ever won two PLAYERS in a row until world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler did it last year in the 50th edition of the so-called fifth major. For every golfer who has done well here, there have been even more bad years. No one plays well at Sawgrass every year.

Even the great Scheffler, before winning two in a row, missed the cut and tied for 55th in his first two attempts.

Look at the three best golfers of this generation:

• Tiger Woods -- who is not in the field -- is one of only six golfers to win twice at Sawgrass. But he has only five top-10s in 19 tries.
• Phil Mickelson, the 2007 winner, missed the cut in six of his last seven visits and owns only three top-10s in 26 starts.
• Rory McIlroy won in 2019 but has only four top-10s in 14 tries -- none of them since winning.

This is wild stuff. This doesn't happen often, maybe nowhere else on Tour, but it's really hard to label anyone a true horse for the course. This is all probably due at least in part to the consistent strength of the fields. The majors all let in secondary- or even tertiary-level players, be they aging ex-champs, amateurs, players from lesser Tours or even club pros. Not THE PLAYERS. Since the tournament has been held at Sawgrass beginning in 1982, there have only been six two-time winners, and no three-timers.

Which makes what Scheffler is trying to do -- three-peat --all the more remarkable. But he arrives at Ponte Vedra Beach looking like a mere more mortal, at least for him, nothing like the golfer who won seven times last year. Scheffler clearly has not been the same this season, since a Christmas dinner cooking accident led to hand surgery and a delayed start to 2025. He has played four tournaments and, while he has three top-11 results, he has not truly contended in any of them.

Still, Scheffler is the overwhelming favorite, even in the deepest field in golf. A total of 48 of the top 50 golfers in the world rankings are entered in this 144-man field.

There are eight former PLAYERS champs on hand. Besides Scheffler and McIlroy, there are Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott, Jason Day, Si Woo Kim and Matt Kuchar.

We should also note that a former LIV golfer will be playing in a PGA Tour event for the first time. Englishman Laurie Canter left the breakaway circuit, resumed his career on the DP World and has won twice since June to qualify as a top-50 player OWGR (No. 42 at the field deadline).

This will be the sixth time THE PLAYERS has been contested in March since being repositioned in 2019. Remember, the 2020 PLAYERS was canceled after just one round at the onset of the global COVID pandemic. It had been played in May from 2007-18, after taking place in March for its first 33 years, beginning with Jack Nicklaus capturing the inaugural edition in 1974. Just four players in this year's field have won THE PLAYERS in March -- Scheffler, McIlroy, Scott in 2004 and Thomas in 2021.

Okay, on to the course, which inched up about 75 yards to 7,352 since last year. Sawgrass has played longer and harder in the cooler March weather, and we're technically still in winter. There were 212 double bogeys, triples or worse last year, which was actually down from the 254 in 2023.

The Pete Dye-designed track, despite having its quirks here and there, tends to be a pretty standard tee-to-green golf course. Distance is not paramount; accuracy will be. There traditionally has not been much rough. You can get away with mediocre putting on the smallish bermuda/poa overseed greens averaging 5,500 square feet. There's water everywhere, but it truly comes into play on 14 of the 18 holes. No hole is more famous – perhaps anywhere in the world – than the 17th with its island green. It's a mere 137 yards, but it's all crystal blue water between the tee and green.

Those 75 extra yards came mostly from adding 15 yards to Nos. 2, 6 and 11, three holes that were among only seven that played under par last year.

Nos. 16-18 have seen far more water balls the past two decades than any other three-hole closing stretch on Tour. There are usually more water balls on those three holes than the other 15 combined.

If a playoff is needed, it will be a three-hole aggregate on 16, 17 and 18. If golfers are still tied, they'd play 17, 18 and 16 in a loop till there's a winner. The Tour gets it right -- 17 is in the playoff.

As for the weather, temperatures will be in the 70s all week, but the wind is forecast to start blowing pretty hard on the weekend and there's a decent chance right now for rain on Sunday.

Fun PLAYERS factoids: The list of former champions reads like a wing in the Hall of Fame. Nicklaus, Woods, Mickelson, McIlroy, Norman, Trevino, Floyd, Couples, Price, Scott, Day, Thomas, Love, Duval and Lyle. The six two-time champions since the tournament moved to Sawgrass in 1982 are Scheffler, Woods, Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Hal Sutton and Steve Elkington. Before Scheffler, only Elkington – the 1991 and 1997 champion – won again within 10 years. Sutton's wins, 1983 and 2000, came 17 years apart. 

Key Stats to Winning at TPC Sawgrass

The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.

• Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee/Driving Accuracy
• Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green
• Strokes Gained: Approach/Greens in Regulation
• Strokes Gained: Around the Green/Scrambling
• Strokes Gained: Putting (less emphasis than the other stats)
• Bogey Avoidance

Past Champions

2024 - Scottie Scheffler
2023 - Scottie Scheffler
2022 - Cameron Smith
2021 - Justin Thomas
2020 - Tournament not completed
2019 - Rory McIlroy
2018 - Webb Simpson
2017 - Si Woo Kim
2016 - Jason Day
2015 - Rickie Fowler

Champion's Profile

Scheffler had only five bogeys each of the past two years -- with zero doubles. That's how you get to 20-under, as he did last year. That's how you get to 17-under and win by five, as he did in 2023.

Scheffler led the field in driving distance in 2023, but at only 305 yards. Sawgrass is not a bomber's paradise. Last year, he toned it down to average 299 -- but he also led the field in fairways hit. In 2023, Scheffler ranked first in greens in regulation, fourth in SG: Approach and Around-the-Green, first in SG: Tee-to-Green and ... 48th in SG: Putting. In 2024, he ranked T3 in GIR, seventh in Approach, T6 in Around-the-Green, first in T2G and ... 37th in Putting.

That matches how Thomas won four years ago, ranking 42nd in Putting but leading the field in Tee-to-Green.

Of course, putting can be a difference maker anywhere, including at Sawgrass. In 2022, Smith won by putting lights out.

That's what makes this week so confounding -- there is no one Champion's Profile. But more times than not, it's tee-to-green play. Last year, the top four on the leaderboard all finished in the top eight in T2G.

More than making putts, avoiding the big number and the water balls, is the key. Don't misunderstand – there are birdies to be had and this week usually doesn't find a single-digit winner -- but it's far from a birdie-fest. There were only 14 tougher courses on Tour last year.

FWIW, the last five PLAYERS were all won by golfers ranked top-10 in the world.

The over/under on the winning score per golfodds.com is 274.5 -- 13.5 under par -- which is down two from last year. Seems as if they're factoring in the potential weather.

DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS

Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap

$10,000 and up

Scottie Scheffler - $12,800 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +400)
For all the perceived mediocrity in Scheffler's game right now, he's 13th in the FedExCup Standings -- in only four starts. He's ranked seventh in SG: Approach, second in Tee-to-Green, a surprising 30th in Putting and ninth in bogey avoidance. Scheffler had been in the +300s every week but now has dipped down to +400. We know it's hard to keep playing him at these prices/odds without a win, but maybe hang on for one more week?

Xander Schauffele - $11,100 (+2200) 
We saw enough from Schauffele last week to feel comfortable inserting him in lineups this week. In his first tournament after missing two months with a rib injury, he opened with a 77 and closed with a 69. Schauffele has been runner-up twice at Sawgrass, including last year. And for those of you on the betting side, your eyes should've popped seeing Schauffele at 22-1. You may not get that number for him again all year.

$9,000-$9,900

Hideki Matsuyama - $9,900 (+3000) 
We mentioned earlier that finding a horse for this course is hard (non-Scheffler division). Matsuyama might be the closest thing. He has the most top-10s here since 2016 -- four -- including the past two years. He has not been great since winning the season-opening Sentry, but his best result since then was last week's T13 at Bay Hill. Matsuyama is ranked top-20 on Tour in both SG: Approach and Tee-to-Green and an impressive-for-him 34th in SG: Putting.

Tommy Fleetwood - $9,800 (+2800) 
Fleetwood has played only three times on Tour in 2025, all Signature Events, and has rung up T22-T5-T11. He's ranked fourth on Tour in both SG: Approach and Tee-to-Green. Fleetwood has made six of seven cuts in his Sawgrass history, with two top-10s. We think the lower over/under prediction mentioned earlier bodes better for Fleetwood than if this were more of a possible birdie-fest.

Daniel Berger - $9,600 (+6000)
This is a big number to pay. But Berger is playing superbly this season, with two runners-up, a top-15 and two other top-25s. He hasn't played this tournament since 2022, but he tied for 13th then and had two prior top-10s. Berger is ranked 13th on the season in SG: Tee-to-Green.

Shane Lowry - $9,100 (+4000) 
Lowry is coming off another great week, T7, amid a terrific start to 2025. And that came at a course where driving distance is weighted far more so than this week. Lowry -- ranked 164th in driving distance -- is ranked top-15 on Tour in both SG: Approach and Tee-to-Green. Lowry has made four straight cuts at THE PLAYERS, with a top-10 and two other top-20s.

$8,000-$8,900

Sepp Straka - $8,600 (+5000) 
Finding the FedExCup points leader in the mid-$8,000s is not such a bad thing. Straka has played well all season and played well here, with a T9 and T16 the past three years. He is ranked top-11 on Tour in SG: Approach, Tee-to-Green and bogey avoidance.

Si Woo Kim - $8,200 (+6000) 
Kim is a former winner here, an often-great player from tee to green somewhat challenged on the greens. After a slow start in January, Kim racked up three top-25s in February, two of them in Signature Events. Since winning here in 2017, Kim has two top-10s, including last year. His putting is not that bad this season, ranked 114th on Tour.

$7,000-$7,900

Keegan Bradley - $7,700 (+5000)
Bradley has missed the cut the past two years but that doesn't dissuade us in the least. In the preceding four years, he finished fifth, T7 and T16. Such is the up and down of Sawgrass. Bradley has been outstanding in 2025, coming off a T5 at Bay Hill and likely front-loading his good finishes before his Ryder Cup responsibilities must take preference. He's ranked top-25 on Tour in both Approach and Tee-to-Green.

Brian Harman - $7,600 (+9000)
With four top-8s since 2015, including a shared runner-up last year, Harman might slip under the radar. He has not been great in 2025 -- not bad, either -- with four top-25s but no top-10s while making six of seven cuts. It tracks that on a course that doesn't demand long tee shots, Harman has thrived.

Aaron Rai - $7,100 (+7000)
Rai should be a popular bargain play, as one of the most accurate drivers on Tour (ranked sixth). He's ranked 34th in SG: Approach, but his Tee-to-Green numbers suffer because of woeful play around the green. Rai is coming off an impressive T11 at Bay Hill following a T4 in Mexico.

$6,000-$6,900

Justin Rose - $6,300 (+12000) 
Someone ranked 34th in the world priced at $6,300 seems ... nice. In his past three starts, all Signature Events, Rose has finished T3 at Pebble Beach and T8 last week at Bay Hill. If you're a fan of every-other-year results, Rose might be your man. Since 2019 at THE PLAYERS, he's gone T8, MC, T6, MC. So, numerologists, we're looking at T4 this year, right?

$5,000-$5,900

Michael Kim - $5,900 (+6500) 
Yeah, everyone will be on Kim at this price. He's been on an absolute heater with the best stretch of golf in his career. Kim is ranked 20th on Tour in SG: Approach and an elite fifth in Tee-to-Green. He's missed the cut the past three times he's played Sawgrass, including last year, but this is not the same golfer.

Chan Kim - $5,000 (+20000) 
Kim has made five of seven cuts this season. Of course, he has not been in the best fields, but the Sony, Farmers and Cognizant (all made cuts) were not terrible. The 34-year-old Arizona State alum is ranked top-50 in both SG: Approach and Putting, and just outside the top 50 in driving accuracy. Really, he hasn't been that bad. But he's surely stepping up in class this week. Kim made the cut in his lone PLAYERS last year.

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