After another big win for Scottie Scheffler last week, the PGA TOUR heads to Canada to give someone else a chance to win while Scottie takes the week off before next week’s U.S. Open. The RBC Canadian Open has a new home this week, and DraftKings has a lot of great fantasy golf tournaments lined up to help you tune your game up for next week’s major. If you’re looking to find some fantasy golf pivot plays with lower ownership, check out these three options: Robert MacIntyre ($9,800), Rasmus Hojgaard ($8,000) and Emiliano Grillo ($7,100). Each of those three players should have relatively lower ownership as pivot plays, but they also have the potential to outperform expectations at their price point.
To make sure we’re all aiming at the same green, a “fantasy golf pivot play” is a golfer with lower ownership but similar upside to more popular options available around the same DFS salary. Often, golfers with lower ownership bring extra risk factors, but they can be worth that added risk since their lower ownership improves your chance of finishing near the top of tournaments. Even though they’re NOT the safest plays in their 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 $700K Summer Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
Robert MacIntyre ($9,800)
In this price range, there are so many good options that public sentiment has turned against the defending champ and made him a very viable pivot play. With Rory McIlroy ($11,900), Corey Conners ($10,100), Shane Lowry ($9,900) and Taylor Pendrith ($9,600) all getting lots of deserved attention, Bobby Mac is coming in as the defending champ but also somehow under the radar.
His win last year was on a totally different course, which makes it less parallel but still relevant to this year’s event to some degree. MacIntyre has been solid this season after getting his two big wins last year at the RBC Canadian Open and the Genesis Scottish Open. This year, he has made the cut in 12 of his 14 events on the PGA TOUR while also adding a top-10 in Singapore on the DP World Tour.
He’s had three top-10 finishes on the PGA TOUR and six top-20 finishes. He finished T6 at the Charles Schwab Challenge and T20 at the Memorial in his last two events.
He ranks eighth in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach over the last 12 rounds and 14th in Total Strokes Gained. He also has good longer-term form, ranking 13th in the field in Total Strokes Gained and 17th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green over the last 36 rounds.
MacIntyre has played well on a wide variety of courses over the last few years, and the lefty has a high ceiling this week as one of the top fantasy golf pivot plays from the top salary tier.
Rasmus Hojgaard ($8,000)
Hojgaard has the driver game to contend at TPC Toronto if the course turns out to be susceptible to overpowering off the tee. Hojgaard is boom-or-bust but he has a good ceiling and is expected to be less popular than Alex Noren ($8,500), Eric Cole ($8,100), Davis Riley ($7,900) and Jake Knapp ($7,800).
Hojgaard has already won five times on the DP World Tour, claiming his first title at just 18 years old. He most recently won last September at the Irish Open and played his way into a full-time PGA TOUR membership. He has been solid with four top-25 finishes and nine made cuts in his 12 events this season.
His best finish was a runner-up at the Zurich Classic while playing alongside his twin brother Nicolai, and he also finished T12 at TPC Scottsdale at the WM Phoenix Open. More recently, he finished T23 at the Truist Championship in a Signature Event and made the cut at the PGA Championship as well.
He withdrew from the Charles Schwab Challenge prior to the start of the tournament but will return to action this week. He starts this week fourth on the European Ryder Cup points list and could be the only rookie on the European team.
While his good work at the Zurich doesn’t count towards his Strokes Gained metrics because of the format, he still ranks in the top 10 in the field over the last 16 rounds in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee.
He’s still looking for his breakthrough win on the PGA TOUR, but he has the tools it takes to win, which makes him a nice pivot play at this price for fantasy golf this week.
Emiliano Grillo ($7,100)
I went back and forth between Grillo and Karl Vilips ($7,100) at this price because both are expected to have very low ownerships but bring a very high ceiling. Ultimately, I’m going with Grillo but will have a lot of both pivot plays in my lineups since they will likely have much lower ownership than Nicolai Hojgaard ($7,400), Ricky Castillo ($7,200), Steven Fisk ($7,000) and Lee Hodges ($7,000)
Grillo has earned a reputation as a streaky putter, especially on Bentgrass greens, and he ahs made the cut in seven of his last eight events dating back to THE PLAYERS. Over that run, he added four top-25 finishes, including a T20 at Myrtle Beach and T16 at Colonial in his two most recent events.
While it was on other courses, Grillo has made the cut in all three of his previous trips to the RBC Canadian Open. However, he has passed on this event in each of the last two seasons.
Grillo leads the entire field in Strokes Gained: Approach over the last 16 rounds and is second in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. He has lost strokes off the tee and on the greens, but if he can flip his putter and deliver a high finish, he could be a great value play. Even though he’s a good pivot play due to his lack of attention, he’s actually a relatively low-risk fantasy golf option at this price point since so many other players in this price range are even more high-risk.
