The PGA TOUR continues the California portion of the schedule with a trip to the famous Pebble Beach Golf Links this week. The event format is unique with a course rotation and celebrity amateurs around for the first two rounds. For fantasy, we’re concerned with the 80 profiessionals who will all play four rounds in this no-cut event, barring injury or withdrawal. With only 80 players in the field, ownership can tend to get very concentrated on the most popular options. To help you make your lineup stand out, I like Justin Thomas ($9,800), Jason Day ($8,900) and Thomas Detry ($7,400) as my top-three pivot plays of the week.
A “pivot play” is a golfer with a similar upside to a popular option available near the same salary. Sometimes, the golfer with lower expected ownership brings additional risk factors, but in order to make your lineup stand out in tournament formats, it’s worth the extra risk for the extra upside. Players with lower ownership increase the chance of your entry finishing higher on the leaderboard. These pivot plays tend to be “boom-or-bust,” bringing high risk and high reward. Even though they’re NOT the safest plays in the price range, they have enough potential upside to be worth the risk.
These picks are ideal for GPP tournament contests where having a lineup that’s different is critical to finishing in the top spot. This week, having a unique and different lineup will be more challelnging than usual due to the limited field. These plays could also be worth a look in cash contests as well, but just be sure to consider the extra risk they bring. Also, be sure to monitor how ownership projections shift leading up to tee time to see if these players remain under the radar compared to the players priced around them.
Here’s why I like each of my top-three pivot plays this week:
Justin Thomas ($9,800)
This week’s salaries are top-heavy with so many stars in play, and the very top names have very heavy ownership projections aside from Thomas and Rory McIlroy ($10,700). Names like Scottie Scheffler ($11,900), Patrick Cantlay ($9,400) and Ludvig Aberg ($9,9000) are always going to get lots of attention, and all have very high expected ownership this week. Thomas is actually a bit of a sneaky play even though he comes in with some great converging trends.
Firstly, JT is red hot. He hasn’t won since the 2022 PGA Championship but has been a fixture near the top of leaderboards over the last year. Thomas had six top-tens in 2024, including one here at Pebble Beach (more on that in a moment). He showcased strong form at the end of the year with a runner-up finish at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP and a third-place at the unofficial Hero World Challenge. He started 2025 with a T26 at The Sentry and looked even sharper at The American Express, where he finished runner-up to Sepp Straka after firing four rounds of 68 or better.
Over the last 16 rounds, Thomas leads this elite field in Total Strokes Gained, ranks second in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and ranks third in Strokes Gained: Approach. His game is in top form, as he returns to where he finished T6 last year. Thomas doesn’t have a ton of course history compared to others in the field, but he’s only played this event twice—last year and once early in his career.
He’s a well-known name, but he isn’t getting as much hype and attention as the other top options, so he is lined up to be a great source of leverage for GPPs.
Jason Day ($8,900)
Day is a horse for this course, but like Thomas, he’s getting lost in the host of good names at this price point. Last year’s winner, Wyndham Clark ($8,600) is cheaper than Day while Viktor Hovland ($8,800) and Sungjae Im ($9,000) are getting plenty of attention just above his price point. It does seem like this is a little spendy for Day, but this seems to be a goos spot to pay up for the leverage.
Day’s course history here is amazingly good. He has played the Pebble Beach Pro-Am 14 times and also teed it up at the U.S. Open on this coures. In those 15 events, he notched 13 top-25s. With so many high finishes, it’s a little surprising that he hasn’t won here, but his best finish was runner-up back in 2018. It’s not all ancient history either, since Day was in that T6 last year along with Thomas and several other players.
Given how good he is at Pebble, Day would deserve a look even in awful form, but he finished T3 at La Quinta two weeks ago and also made the cut last week at Torrey Pines, finishing T32.
Day’s a great option throughout the early season California events, and this week is another great place to go with the veteran and get a little leverage as an added bonus.
Thomas Detry ($7,400)
Detry’s ownership looks like it will be very low with several strong options just above and below him in the salary structure. Tom Hoge ($7,300), Harry Hall ($7,300) and Max Greyserman ($7,800) are getting plenty of hype, but I like the Belgian to put together a strong week at Pebble Beach, offering a ton of upside at low ownership.
Detry finished inside the top 50 in the FedExCup standings last season, so he’ll get to play all the Signature Events this season. He has yet to get a PGA TOUR win but posted four top-tens and seven top-25s in his 21 events last year. Detry didn’t play any FedExCup Fall tournaments but did participate in four DP World Tour events to stay sharp.
That work paid off since he started 2025 in great form, posting a top-five at The Sentry and a top-15 at Torrey Pines last week. Detry also has a great course history at Pebble Beach, where he held at least a share of the lead after the first two rounds last year and was passed up on Saturday to finish T4 in the weather-shortened tournament. He finished T37 in his debut at this course in 2023.
If Detry’s putter stays hot and he can duplicate last year’s success from tee to green, he could be a sleeper contender this week and bring great leverage from under $7,500.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $600K Pitch + Putt [$100K to 1st] (PGA TOUR).
