With a fantastic Masters in the rearview mirror, the PGA TOUR heads to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, for the RBC Heritage, which has established itself as a big tournament in this post-Masters spot. It’s a Signature Event on the iconic Harbour Town Golf Links, giving us an elite field in a no-cut event. It’s another great week to build your lineup for GPP tournaments on DraftKings, and if you’re looking to find some low-ownership options to help your team stand out, check out Justin Thomas ($10,200), Robert MacIntyre ($8,500) and Karl Vilips ($6,100), who are my top three fantasy golf pivot plays this week. 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 at the same flag, a “fantasy golf pivot play” is a golfer with lower ownership but similar upside to more popular options available near the same DFS salary. Last week, my three pivot plays were Justin Rose, Min Woo Lee and Joaquin Niemann, who each delivered great returns at their low ownership.
Often, the golfer with lower ownership brings extra risk factors, but to make your lineup stand out in tournament formats, it’s worth the added 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 sweat. 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 $1M Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
Justin Thomas ($10,200)
Thomas is priced up over $10K, which may be why the public seems out on him this week. He’s developed a reputation for not being able to finish victories lately, but he’s stilly usually a good DFS option even when he does come up just short. He is getting much less attention than Xander Schauffele ($10,400) and Patrick Cantlay ($10,000), and makes a great pivot if you are looking for lower ownership.
He still hasn’t won on the PGA TOUR since the 2022 PGA Championship, but he has posted four top 10 finishes and a pair of runner-up finishes in his nine tournaments this season. He finished runner-up at the Valspar Championship before taking a couple of weeks off pre-Augusta.
While his final finishing position wasn’t great at the Masters, he did make the cut, which he had struggled to do lately, and still finished in the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Around the Green, which is a critical metric at Harbour Town.
Over his last 36 rounds, JT ranks fourth in this elite field in Total Strokes Gained and ninth in both Strokes Gained: Approach and Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green.
On top of his recent form, Thomas also has a solid course history at Harbour Town, making the cut in all six career appearances with three finishes in the top 11, including last season’s T5. Getting his high ceiling at low ownership makes him one of my best fantasy golf pivot plays for the RBC Heritage this week.
Robert MacIntyre ($8,500)
Bobby Mac let me down last week, and his high ownership percentage in his missed cut at Augusta may be scaring the public off him this week. However, this is a track he should excel on, so I’m backing a Bobby Mac bounce-back week, and loving that he brings such low ownership.
The mid-range ownership is mostly focusing on Sepp Straka ($8,800), Daniel Berger ($8,300) and Min Woo Lee ($8,200). However, MacIntyre has plenty of upside that I like as much as those other options.
Before last week’s missed cut, MacIntyre has registered four top 11 finishes in five starts worldwide. He finished T9 at THE PLAYERS Championship and T9 at the Singapore Classic on the DP World Tour. Earlier in the year, he also had a T6 at the WM Phoenix Open.
MacIntyre proved he can win big tournaments last year, claiming the RBC Canadian Open and the Scottish Open. Since this week’s layout and track has correlation to those two courses, and mimics Scottish tracking and layout, he should be able to navigate it well.
He has only one career appearance at Harbour Town, and he made the cut to finish T59 back in 2021 when it was a typical full-field event. With a more limited field this week, MacIntyre should be able to post his best finish on this track.
Karl Vilips ($6,100)
Vilips broke through for his first PGA TOUR career win at the Puerto Rico Open just over a month ago. The 23-year-old from Stanford earned his way into this event as part of the Aon Swing 5 and, as a result, he’ll get a chance to tee it up for four rounds at Harbour Town for the first time in his career.
Since his win, Vilips missed the cut at THE PLAYERS, the Valspar and the Texas Children’s Houston Open. He was just one stroke away from making the weekend in Houston in his last start, though, after starting the week with a strong 68 at Memorial Park.
Vilips’ Strokes Gained metrics aren’t helped by the fact that his Puerto Rico Open win was on a course without shot tracker, so he just got general Strokes Gained instead of each category separated out. However, he did gain in one round or the other in almost every category in his two rounds in Houston, so his game appears to be in a decent spot.
The big advantage to using Vilips as one of your fantasy golf pivot plays is that he opens up so much space with his salary just over the minimum. Since he’s only $6,100, any golfer he finishes ahead of is a win, and even if he finishes in the middle of the pack, he’ll be an outstanding value that unlocks access to more stars in the rest of your lineup.
