The PGA TOUR continues its Florida swing this week as we head to Ponte Vedra Beach for THE PLAYERS Championship. Better known as “the fifth major,” iconic TPC Sawgrass will host one of the best events in professional golf and measures as a 7,352-yard par 72 with Bermuda grass greens.
The field this week is as stacked as we will see all season, as 48 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking will be teeing it up, led at the top, of course, by two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler.
Despite this being a Signature Event, THE PLAYERS will feature a 144-man field and 36-hole cut, which will see the top 65 and ties make the weekend.
Below, I have outlined three of my favorite DraftKings plays for the week.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $2.25M Fantasy Golf Millionaire [$1M to 1st]
Ludvig Aberg ($10,200)
Scottie Scheffler is $12,800 on DraftKings this week, and while of course you can make an easy argument to roster him, I will instead opt for the $2,600 savings and go with the Swedish phenom. Aberg made his PLAYERS debut last year and finished T8, which is something not many debutants can claim.
Little did we know at that time he would go on to buck that first-timer trend at nearly every event he played, considering he went on to finish runner-up at the Masters, arguably the hardest event in the world for debutants. Despite his success last year, Aberg had yet to post that first signature win that would vault him into superstardom, until of course he took down the Genesis Invitational three weeks ago at Torrey Pines.
Aberg is arguably already the best driver of the golf ball in the world at age 25, and he’s now paired that with elite approach play and above average putting, putting him on track to challenge Scottie Scheffler sooner-than-later for the best golfer in the world moniker.
Aberg’s numbers this season are incredibly misleading, as he got sick in the middle of the Farmers Insurance Open, before then withdrawing after one round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am a week later due to the same illness.
If you throw those two starts away, he’s posted a win, a T5 and a T22 across his other three starts, where he’s gained strokes both ball-striking, and with the putter in all three. Scheffler has won this event two years in a row thanks to his elite ability to hit the ball long and straight off the tee, and for my money there is no one better at that on earth right now than the Swede.
His $10,200 price tag is still not expensive enough to warrant a fade, and he’s playing the best golf among anyone priced above five figures this week.
Brian Harman ($7,600)
Harman has been a fixture at TPC Sawgrass his whole career, playing this event each of the past 10 years, while boasting some of the most consistent course history in the field. The 2023 Open Champion has four top-eight finishes here since 2015, including three in the past five years alone. Last year he finished in a three-way tie for second behind Scheffler.
Harman is coming into play this week with some good form as well, posting three top-25s over his first eight starts. He’s getting by right now on the back of some elite iron play, as he’s now gained 1.2 or more strokes on approach in four of his past five starts, which includes a massive +4.8 performance at the Cognizant Classic just two weeks ago.
Ironically, Harman’s putter has been what’s been holding him back of late, but a trip back to THE PLAYERS might be just what the doctor ordered, as he’s gained an average of .4 strokes per round on the Bermuda greens here at Sawgrass.
Factoring in Harman’s history at this event, combined with his recent iron-play, he’s a massive bargain at just $7,600 this week.
Aaron Rai ($7,100)
Rai is never flashy with the way he goes about his business, but he is quite effective. The Englishman is one of the best ball-strikers on the planet, especially off-the-tee, where he ranks. No. 1 in this field in driving accuracy over the past 48 rounds. With water looming on 17 of the 18 holes at Sawgrass, keeping the ball in the short grass off the tee is one of the most important skillsets you can have, and is also part of the reason Scheffler has won this event two years running.
Rai has quietly had his own success at THE PLAYERS in his career, posting finishes of T35 and T19 across his only two starts. However, he enters play this week a much more refined golfer, as he finally captured that first elusive PGA TOUR victory this past summer at the Wyndham Championship.
Rai has really picked up his game of late after a bit of a slow start to the season, finishing T4 and T11 across his past two starts in Mexico and at Bay Hill. During that eight-round stretch, he ranks No. 1 in this field in SG: Approach, No. 2 in both SG: Tee-to-Green and SG: Ball-Striking, and third in Total Strokes Gained.
He’s on a heater right now and is simply too cheap this week at $7,100.
