The oldest golf tournament in the world is also the final major championship of the season, so the eyes of the entire golf world will be on Royal Portrush this week for 2025’s The Open Championship. This will be the third time in its history that the event has visited Royal Portrush, and it should be an excellent event stuffed with storylines. Be sure to get your lineup set early before contests lock at 1:35 a.m. ET on Thursday. As you get your tournament lineups set, check out my top three fantasy golf pivot plays for the week. This week, I’m looking at Xander Schauffele ($9,700), Louis Oosthuizen ($6,500) and Kristoffer Reitan ($5,900) as under-the-radar options who have the potential to exceed salary-based expectations.
To make sure we’re all targeting the same flag stick, a “fantasy golf pivot play” is a golfer with low ownership and high upside. Typically, they come with major risk factors compared to more popular options that are available around the same DFS salary. Even though these plays are NOT the safest options in their price range, they have enough potential upside to be worth the sweat since they come with lower ownership. Be sure to check out my companion post to this one that highlights 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 $2.75 Fantasy Golf Millionaire [$1M to 1st]
Xander Schauffele ($9,700)
It’s hard to call the defending champion and current “Champion Golfer of the Year” an under-the-radar pick, but Schauffele’s ownership is shaping up to be much lower than big names Scottie Scheffler ($14,200) and Rory McIlroy ($11,500); and even LIV Golf options Jon Rahm ($10,400) and Bryson DeChambeau ($10,100).
Schauffele could end up being against-the-grain enough as a pay-up play to be an elite option in our fantasy golf pivot plays since he typically crushes links style golf like he’ll be faced with this week at Royal Portrush. Even before he won the 2024 Open Championship, he had a good history at the event. He has made the cut in all seven of his appearances at The Open Championship, with five top-25 finishes, including a runner-up finish in 2018. He made the cut and finished T41 at Royal Portrush in 2019.
The reason he isn’t more popular this week is mostly due to his disappointing results this season after returning from a rib injury. While he hasn’t missed any cuts in his 12 PGA TOUR events, he hasn’t been in contention as often as he usually has been over the last few years.
However, he did post a strong T8 last week at the Genesis Scottish Open, where he led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach. He also had a T12 at the U.S. Open and T8 at the Masters in majors earlier this year, and top-20 finishes at signature events at the Truist Championship and RBC Heritage.
While it’s rare for a player to win back-to-back titles in general on the PGA TOUR, there have been some recent back-to-back winners at The Open, including Tiger Woods in 2005 and 2006 followed immediately in 2007 and 2008 by Padraig Harrington ($5,800).
Since Schauffele has done so well at this style of course and looked so good last week, getting him under $10,000 could be a great fantasy golf pivot, even if playgreen can sometimes be a little shaky. When he puts it together, though, he gives you the upside of snagging a victory at very low ownership.
Louis Oosthuizen ($6,500)
Oosthuizen has a good history at The Open Championship, and the 42-year-old has been playing well in LIV Golf this season. He’s coming in quietly, compared to Keegan Bradley ($6,700), Harry Hall ($6,400), Chris Gotterup ($6,900), and Harris English ($6,400), who shape up to be some of the more popular plays under $7,000.
He has three top-25 finishes in his last four events on LIV Golf, including a runner-up finish in Dallas two weeks ago. Oosthuizen lost that event in a playoff to Patrick Reed ($7,100), who will also be in the field this week.
Oosthuizen won The Open Championship in 2010 for the only PGA TOUR win in his career, but he had 10 other wins on the DP World Tour, three wins on the Asian Tour, and 10 wins on the Sunshine Tour.
Overall, the South African made the cut in nine of his 17 trips to The Open, with six top-25 finishes. He missed the cut last year, but finished T3 in 2021 and T2 in 2015 after his win at St. Andrews. In 2019 at Royla Potrush, Oosty finished T20.
While he’s a long-shot play with plenty of risk, Oosthuizen does have the experience to surprise, especially with his recent success with LIV Golf.
Kristoffer Reitan ($5,900)
I had Reitan in my pivot plays last week, and I’m ready to come back to the well this week as a bargain play under $6,000 with plenty of upside.
The 27-year-old finished T13 at the Genesis Scottish Open after opening with a 71 and following that up with 65-68-69. He ranked 20th in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and 10th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, continuing his strong form from the last few weeks on the DP World Tour.
Before coming to Scotland, he won the eight-event points race on the DP World Tour called the “European Swing.” As part of that, he claimed his first DP World Tour win at the Soudal Open in Belgium in a playoff and finished in the top 15 in three of the last four events in Europe.
In his last few events, Reitan has been especially effective in the final round, posting a 62 in Belgium and a 60 in Austria. He’ll look to stay hot this week at Royal Portrush, and I like him as a value pivot play since he has a lot more upside than most of the other players under $6,000.
