The PGA TOUR heads from the Sunshine State to the Lone Star State for this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open. This week’s event is part of the final ramp-up to the Masters in just a couple of weeks, and some of the top golfers in the world are headed to Houston, where they’ll take on Memorial Golf Club for a fifth straight Houston Open. Since everything’s bigger in Texas, it’s a good week to swing for the fences and jump into a GPP. As you build your tournament lineups, my top three fantasy golf pivot plays this week: Davis Thompson ($9,400), Thomas Detry ($8,600) and Mac Meissner ($6,900). Each of those players should have lower ownership but also the ability to outperform expectations at their price point.
To make sure we define what we’re going for in this post, a “pivot play” is a golfer with lower ownership but similar upside to more popular options available near the same DFS salary. Sometimes, the golfer with lower ownership brings extra risk factors, but to make your lineup stand out in tournament formats, it’s worth the extra risk for the lower ownership and higher ceiling. 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. Be sure to check out my picks for cash lineups if you’re looking for safer options that raise the floor of your lineup.
Let’s break down why I like each of my top-three pivot plays this week.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $700K Pitch + Putt [$200K to 1st]
Davis Thompson ($9,400)
Never mind Scottie Scheffler ($12,700) and Rory McIlroy ($11,700), who both have high upside and high ownership projections, but Thompson is also getting much less attention than Min Woo Lee ($9,600) and Tony Finau ($9,200), who bracket him in the salary structure. As one of the least hyped options over ($9,000), Thompson could bring outstanding leverage to Memorial Golf Club since the course seems a great fit for his game.
Thompson has thrived on driver-heavy courses, and Memorial definitely falls into that category. He made the cut in both of his previous career appearances with a T43 in the fall of 2022 and a T21 last spring. Until last year, the event was typically in the fall, so fall 2022 and spring 2024 were the two most recent times it was held.
Thompson got his first PGA TOUR win last summer at the John Deere Classic, and the 25-year-old posted 13 top-25 finishes and five top-10 finishes last season to end up No. 34 in the FedExCup standings. He has had a fairly quiet but solid start to 2025, making the cut in six of nine events. He had his best finish of the season two weeks ago at TPC Sawgrass, where he finished T10.
Over his last 30 rounds, he ranks in the top 10 in the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and in the top 20 in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. His game is a great fit for the Houston Open, and he has a real shot to contend this week.
Thomas Detry ($8,600)
Detry broke through for his first PGA TOUR win earlier this season by running away with the WM Phoenix Open. He finished way back in the back at The Genesis Invitational the following week and missed the cut in his first two Florida events, the Arnold Palmer and THE PLAYERS. Since he had those down weeks, he’s coming in under the radar, especially compared to Michael Kim ($8,700) and Jacob Bridgeman ($8,400).
Last week at the Valspar, Detry showed signs of coming around. He started with back-to-back rounds of par and finished with a round of 67 to climb into the top 25.
Like Thompson, Detry has a driver-focused game that should play well at Memorial Park. It did last year when he went 70-64-67-68 and finished just one shot behind Stephan Jaeger ($8,800).
Even if he doesn’t get the win last week, he seems to have gotten past any hangover from winning in Phoenix and should be able to thrive on this track this week.
Mac Meissner ($6,900)
While there are plenty of great pivot options under $7,500, let’s dive all the way under $7,000 and roll with the return of the Mac this week. Jake Knapp ($7,700), Davis Riley ($7,600) and Andrew Novak ($7,300) are some of the value plays getting buzz, but Meissner also has some signs that I like coming into the week.
Meissner has an impressive 2024, finishing in the top 25 in 10 different events and ultimately landing at No. 106 in the FedExCup Fall standings. This season, the 26-year-old made the cut in his first three events but then missed the cut in three events before righting the ship at THE PLAYERS (T42) and the Valspar (T28). He ended the week at Copperhead on a high note with a closing 68.
Last year, Meissner also opened with a 68 in the first round at this event, but he narrowly missed the cut after a rough second round. He bounced back the next week with a top-10 finish at the Valero Texas Open the next week and also added a top-five in Texas at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
The SMU product should feel right at home in the Lone Star and his short game has been especially sharp lately. He ranks seventh in the field in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green over his last 16 rounds and ranks in the top 20 in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green over his last eight rounds.
Given his recent form and comfort on the course, I think he has a great shot to make the cut this week and end up as a strong play with low ownerhsip.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $700K Pitch + Putt [$200K to 1st]!
