The PGA TOUR closed out the California portion of its schedule with a great week at Torrey Pines for The Genesis Invitational last week. Before they start up the big Florida tournaments next week, the PGA TOUR makes a quick stop in Mexico for the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld. The field is radically different from last week as many big names take some time off, but there are still some exciting storylines to watch for fantasy golf. If you’re playing in GPP or tournament style DFS contests, finding players with low ownership is one of the keys to success. This week, my top pivot plays are Aaron Rai ($9,400), C.T. Pan ($8,300) and Carson Young ($7,700). Each of those players should have lower ownership but also the ability to outperform expectations at their price point.
To make sure we’re all aiming for the same fairway, a “pivot play” is a golfer with a similar upside to a popular option available near the same DFS 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.
Let’s break down why I like each of my top-three pivot plays this week.
Aaron Rai ($9,400)
The most expensive players in the field are expected to have the highest ownership this week with Akshay Bhatia ($10,700) and Kurt Kitayama ($10,200) getting plenty of deserved attention. Taylor Moore ($9,000) and Harry Hall ($9,300) are getting plenty of attention just below Rai’s salary, as well, but Rai is getting a little overlooked since his game isn’t an ideal fit for Vidanta Vallarta, the course hosting this event for a fourth straight year.
The prototypical way to attack the course is with players who hit the ball a mile and make putts on Paspalum greens. Rai’s game is much more built around acccuracy and shotmaking on approach, but even though he goes about it a different way, he has been able to find success on this track.
Rai has played this event in each of the last three years, making the cut twice with a T24 in 2022 and a T19 in 2024. While he hasn’t played a lot in 2025, he did make the cut last week at The Genesis Invitational, finishing T37.
He hasn’t gotten his game in top form yet this season, which is why he’s less popular, but he showed last year that he has a very high ceiling. He broke through for his first PGA TOUR win at the Wyndham Championship last season and posted six top-10 and 13 top-25 finishes in his 25 events. The public seems to be chasing recent form in those around him, but Rai’s overall talent gives him a high enough ceiling to make him a strong pivot play.
C.T. Pan ($8,300)
Between $8,000 and $9,000, defending champion Jake Knapp ($8,600) and international players Thorbjorn Olesen ($8,200) and Niklas Norgaard Moller ($8,500) are getting most of the attention. While he has been “boom-or-bust” throughout his time on the PGA TOUR, veteran C.T. Pan presents as a very strong pivot option with a high ceiling for tournament play.
Pan has torn up Vidanta Vallarta with a T29 at this course in 2022 and T3 last year. Pan closed out last year’s event with a six-under final round that vaulted him to one of his three top-10 finishes in 2024. He has averaged 1.8 Total Strokes Gained per round at this course, the third-highest mark of players who have played here multiple times.
Last fall, Pan endured a rough patch, including a pair of withdrawals at the Wydham Championship and the Procore Championship with neck issues. He got his health and his game back on track, though, with top-25 finishes at the Shriners Children’s Open and the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. He started 2025 with another top-25 at the Sony Open in Hawaii, and then made the cut with a T57 at the WM Phoenix Open.
Over the last 12 rounds, Pan ranks fifth in the field in Total Strokes Gained and 10th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. His solid form and success on this course make him a good play if you can deal with the extra risk from the health issues which have plagued him over the last few seasons.
Carson Young ($7,700)
Young is another play I’m using more than many other people this week, based on his strong course history. Matt Wallace ($7,900), Patrick Fishburn ($7,800) and Kevin Roy ($7,400) seem to be getting most of the attention in this price range, while Young is sneaking in a little bit off the radar due to inconsistent recent form.
He showed his high ceiling with a runner-up finish last fall in the PGA TOUR’s other Mexico event, the World Wide Technology Championship. He came up on shot short of Austin Eckroat, but finished at 23-under, showing he can go very low in favorable scoring conditions like the ones expected this week.
Young’s recent form from a statistical perspective is a little sneaky since there is no ShotLink data for that week, meaning none of his work impacts his Strokes Gained metrics.
His course history at Vidanta Vallarta is also enough to deserve attention, since he’s finished in the top-15 each of the last two seasons at the Mexico Open. He finished T8 last year, which was one of three top-10 finishes last season. His late-season surge pushed him to No. 88 in the 2024 FedExCup Fall standings, and easily secured the 30-year-old a full-time PGA TOUR card this season.
He’ll look to post his first high finish of 2025 this week, and based on how well he’s played here, I love his ceiling at this salary and lower expected ownership.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $500K Pitch + Putt [$100K to 1st] (PGA TOUR)
