The Cheat Sheet provides DraftKings fantasy golf players with course info, player history and the most noteworthy trends of the week to help them with their roster selections.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $300K Sand Trap [$100K to 1st]
The Field
This week marks the 15th version of the Presidents Cup, a match-play event that pits the best American players against a squad of International players. The event runs over four days. It features team formats on the first three days (foursomes and fourballs) and singles play on the last day of the event, with every player having to play in a match.
When it comes to the format for the first three days:
- Foursomes see each pair of players play one ball (share one ball essentially).
- Fourballs are played with four balls in play and all four players recording a score on each hole, with the best score of the group being taken.
The squads are 12 men deep. The teams are not forced into using every single player during team play. The first two days will feature five team-play matches, while Saturday will be longer, with two waves of four matches, or eight matches total. Sunday will feature 12 singles matches.
Presidents Cup DFS Scoring
Since this is match play and not traditional stroke play, your golfer gains your fantasy points by winning holes and matchups. Here is a full list of how your player can gain (and lose) DFS points this week.
| Per Hole Scoring | |
| Holes Won | +3 Pts |
| Holes Tied | +0.75 Pts |
| Holes Lost | -0.75 Pts |
| Holes Not Played | +1.6 Pts |
| Matches Won | +5 Pts |
| Matches Tied | +2 Pts |
Additionally, there are bonuses players can get for winning in dominant fashion (a shutout) or winning three consecutive holes in a row.
| Streak of 3 Consecutive Holes Won in Match {Max 1 Per Round} | +5 Pts |
| No Holes Lost in Match Bonus | +7.5 Pts |
With the scoring rewarding only those players who actually compete in matches, half the battle for DFS lineups this week is simply to field a roster of players who will be playing in the maximum number of matches available (four team starts and one singles start). Taking a player who sees the course twice this week isn’t likely to produce great returns, so before you get too bullish on a player down the ranks, make sure there is a good chance he’ll be out there for 60% or more of the matches.
The Course
Royal Montreal – Montreal, QC (Canada)
Par 70, 7,279
Royal Montreal hosted this event back in 2007, a year when the Americans beat the International squad 19 1/2 to 14 1/2. It is worth noting that both captains of this year’s teams played in the 2007 Presidents Cup, and both Mike Weir (3.5 points) and Jim Furyk (3.0 points) had success at this course.
Royal Montreal isn’t overly long, although it has been lengthened considerably since 2007. The course is a more classic design with heavily tree-lined fairways that can cut off access to the smaller bentgrass/poa greens if your tee ball is too crooked. Players will often club down in some spots on the course, but there is also room for golfers to take drivers on some holes.
Overall, the venue should support strong iron players, but its smaller greens mean that eventually, everyone will need to rely on their short games. With it being lengthened to 7,200-plus yards, Royal Montreal is akin to some of the other, older, more classic venues on the PGA TOUR, like Colonial in Fort Worth Texas, or Harbour Town in Hilton Head.
With such a short, tricky setup in play, this course likely favors the Internationals, who don’t want to take on the Americans on a course where power is more of a factor. However, there are plenty of great iron players on the U.S. squad. If they figure out the speed of the greens in Montreal early on, the Americans will be hard to stop once the event starts.
Captain’s Targets
Scottie Scheffler ($17,400 CP; $11,600): Scheffler is the most expensive option. Unless he has a disastrous first couple of days, he’ll be playing in all five matches. While it’s fun to question how much experience plays in events like this, Scheffler already has a massive international win under his belt this year at the Olympics. So, it’s not as if he doesn’t have any experience to draw on. Coming in off a dominant Tour Championship win, I’d rather pay the few extra dollars to get up to him this week than settle for another slightly worse name.
Hideki Matsuyama ($14,100 CP; $9,400): I’ll go double chalk this week and also recommend Matsuyama, who is the highest priced International player — much like Scheffler is for the Americans. The Internationals are huge underdogs, but with Matsuyama only the fourth-most expensive player on the board this week he’s also much easier to fit in. He played some very solid golf down the stretch in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, winning the first leg at another course with smaller greens and tighter fairways in TPC Southwind. The setup this week favors him, as well. Should his putter get locked in early, he could pull off a couple of surprise match wins and set himself as the proper pivot off of DFS favorite Scheffler.
Mid-Tier Targets
Corey Conners ($8,400 CP; $5,600): There is a pretty solid case for using Conners as a captain this week. The Canadian is not only going to be playing in front of family, friends and country, but he’s also coming in playing some very solid golf. He did stall out a little in the playoff last month, but Conners found his game quickly in his last start in Napa Valley, gaining 7.6 strokes ball-striking, while posting a T7 finish with rounds of 64 and 66.
A precision iron player who relies on accuracy and consistency off the tee, Conners is the type of player you’d expect to have a field day on Royal Montreal if the putter shows up. Given his home country status, if he plays well he’ll have a greater shot at playing in five matches, making him a potentially great alternative pick for the Captain spot and good upper-tier value to build around.
Sam Burns ($12,600 CP; $8,400): While a player like Patrick Cantlay ($13,800 CP; 9,200) has Burns beat in the experience department when it comes to playing in these team events, Burns certainly has the more expensive player beat in terms of recent form. Burns had himself a big playoffs, finishing T5 and T2 on the first two legs, then also posting a respectable T12 at the year-end Tour Championship. Burns can be a bit of a wild driver, but he’s held his own at courses like Royal Montreal before, posting a T5 at TPC Southwind last month and a win at Colonial back in 2022. Given that he’s friends with Scheffler, it’s also possible he’ll see some team action with the No. 1 player in the world, which would make his value as a DFS option skyrocket.
Tom Kim ($12,000 CP; $8,000): Kim is another player I expect the thinner International squad to lean on heavily. There are only few players on the International side who can boost the talent the USA’s best players have, but Kim is one of them. He won his first PGA TOUR event just a couple of starts into his pro career and already has three PGA TOUR wins to his name. Kim has been very up and down this season but finished runner-up to Scheffler at the Travelers this year and also finished a tidy T4 up in Canada at Hamilton Golf Course. At just $8k, he’s a nice upside target if you need someone lower down at these levels.
Sahith Theegala ($10,800 CP; $7,200): Theegala looks ready to put in a big week. He finished T5 at the Tour Championship a month or so ago (netting $7.5M) and also finished T7 alongside Conners at the Procore Championship just two weeks ago. This will be his first international competition, so he’s not likely to play in all five matches (and may only play three). But given his great putting and scrambling ability, Theegala figures to have some low scores around this more technical track, making him a potential bonus hustler. If you’re stacking the Americans, using him at well under $7.5k seems like a near no-brainer.
Boom or Bust Options
Jason Day ($8,100 CP; $5,400): The International players have a lot of experience down their roster that they can rely on. Day is a player they need to rise to the occasion if they are to have even a small shot at pulling off the upset. The Aussie played some nice golf over the summer, finishing T13 at The Open and top 12 at the Olympics. Day’s iron play can be erratic, but he’s also someone who can make up for that deficiency on the greens. At just $5,400, he’s got a shot to play in four-plus matches if his group starts well in the team events, making him a nice wildcard option under $6k.
Russell Henley ($7,500 CP; $5,000): Henley is making his international appearance for the Americans and the spot looks well earned. He finished T5 at The Open in July, getting himself near the lead going into the final round. He also posted a strong T4 at East Lake in the Tour Championship last month. One of the best mid-to-short iron layers on the PGA TOUR, Henley should benefit from the course setup this week as much as anyone. While he’s yet to win any big event on a long open course, we’ve seen how he can hang with the best of the best on these trickier par 70 setups where accuracy off the tee and on approach is more vital.
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