The Open Championship is the final major of the 2025 season, and it shapes up to be another outstanding tournament from across the pond as the PGA TOUR and LIV Golf pros head to Royal Portrush for this week’s event. With so many great options in the field, it should be a fun week of fantasy golf, giving everyone a chance to bulk up the bankroll a little bit with cash game or double-up contests on DraftKings. If you’re playing in that format, check out my top fantasy golf cash game picks for The Open Championship: Rory McIlroy ($11,500), Russell Henley ($7,900) and Matt Fitzpatrick ($7,800).
Make sure to also check out my top-three pivot plays for tournament lineups at The Open Championship in a companion piece to this post. Pivot plays for tournament lineups are usually more aggressive, while these three picks are safer with higher floors and lower risk. The picks in this post generally have much higher ownership than my pivot plays, but they are good selections for contests where the uniqueness of your lineup is less important. Think of cash game picks as laying back and playing a par 5 as it was designed, with three shots before reaching the green, looking for a solid birdie. Tournament picks are going driver off the deck to try to reach the green in two — more reward if it works, but much more risk, as well.
These picks are best used in “cash games,” which are contests that pay out to about the top half of entries. Typically, they are in the 50/50s & Double Ups or Head-to-Head sections of the DraftKings lobby.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR Single Entry $10 Double Up
Rory McIlroy ($11,500)
Rory continued to showcase his resurgent form last week, coming up just short at the Renaissance Club. He finished T2 behind Chris Gotterup in Scotland and should get a special boost from being back in his homeland for this week’s event at Royal Portrush.
Rory completed his career grand slam earlier this season, but winning a major in Northern Ireland would be another special addition to his jam-packed trophy case. He has an outstanding history at The Open Championship with six top-five finishes and 12 made cuts in his 15 career appearances. He missed the cut the last time the event was held at this venue, but he’ll look to avenge that week this time around.
After his win at the Masters, he struggled a little bit with a T47 at the PGA Championship and a missed cut at the RBC Canadian Open. However, he got things rolling again at the U.S. Open, where he finished in the top 20 after a final-round 67, and a T6 at the Travelers Championship. His runner-up finish last week was fueled by his typically solid putting and strong work off the tee.
Rory comes at a huge discount from Scottie Scheffler ($14,200), leaving you many more options if you use Rory as your star in fantasy golf cash game lineups.
Russell Henley ($7,900)
The small greens at Royal Portrush place a premium on approach play, and Henley is a great fit from that perspective and comes in with great form and solid history at The Open.
Henley ranks second in this elite field in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green over his last 12 rounds. Longer-term, he ranks third in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and fifth in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green over his last 36 rounds.
Earlier this season, Henley won the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard to claim his fifth PGA TOUR victory. He also finished in the top 10 at the Signature Events at the RBC Heritage and the Memorial. He finished T10 at the U.S. Open and T2 at the Travelers Championship before taking the last few weeks off.
Henley finished fifth last year at The Open Championship, and he has made the cut in five of his 10 appearances. He didn’t play this course in 2019, but it should be a good fit for his game.
Based on his form, he brings a good floor and high ceiling this week from under $8,000, leaving you plenty of salary to avoid playing super-risky cheap options alongside him.
Matt Fitzpatrick ($7,800)
Another veteran option surging coming into this event is Matt Fitzpatrick, who has a lot of great links golf experience and has been on a very nice roll coming back to Royal Portrush.
He posted a T20 in 2019 on this track, which is his best career finish at The Open. He has made the cut in each of the last five Open Championships, and he has made seven of nine cuts at this event in his career.
Fitzpatrick won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the DP World Tour in October of 2023, after winning the U.S. Open and RBC Heritage on the PGA TOUR in the previous calendar year. His links golf experience gives him a high floor this week, especially given his current heater.
In five of his last seven events, Fitzpatrick has finished in the top 25. He was T8 at the U.S. Open during that stretch and T6 at the Genesis Scottish Open last week. He’s riding a streak of 10 straight rounds under 70, including each of his four rounds last week at The Renaissance Club.
Over the last 12 rounds, Fitzpatrick ranks fifth in the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, eighth in Total Strokes Gained and 17th in Strokes Gained: Approach. He also ranked sixth in the field last week in both Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and in Strokes Gained: Putting.
All the pieces are there for him to go extremely low in the right scenario, and he also brings a very high floor given how well he’s been playing lately. He’s a relatively safe play with a high ceiling, which makes him a great fit for fantasy golf cash game lineups this week.
