The PGA TOUR had a great couple of weeks abroad, but now it’s down to business, with just two weeks left for players to earn their way into the FedExCup playoffs. This week’s stop is in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” in Minnesota, and all that water is definitely well represented in this week’s layout at TPC Twin Cities, which has hosted the 3M Open since its beginning in 2019. If you’re ready to take on the hazards of the Twin Cities, DraftKings has some great GPP contests available. As you set your tournament lineups this week, check out my top three fantasy golf pivot plays for the week. This week, I’m looking at Wyndham Clark ($9,800), Matti Schmid ($7,300) and Jackson Suber ($6,900) as my top under-the-radar options who have the potential to exceed salary-based expectations.
Let’s be sure to define our terms before we jump in. 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 near 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 $800K Summer Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
Wyndham Clark ($9,800)
Clark is exactly the kind of player that makes sense in tournament lineups since he brings an extremely high ceiling when he’s dialed in. He’s also extremely volatile (in more ways than one), but we can take the extra risk in GPP lineups where his “boom-or-bust” ceiling is worth taking a shot on.
He’s not as expensive or as popular as Chris Gotterup ($10,000), Sam Burns ($10,400) or Maverick McNealy ($10,300) this week, and even Taylor Pendrith ($9,400) and Jake Knapp ($8,900) are getting more attention.
Clark hasn’t played this event in the last few years but did pop for a T5 back in 2019. He missed the cut the next two years but finished T38 in his last trip in 2022. Another missed cut is a real possibility, but the ceiling is definitely there if he is on his game.
He comes in with good momentum after a T4 at The Open Championship last week. Even his results for that tournament show his volatility, since he opened with a 76 before stringing together 66-66-65. If he had even been close to par in Round 1, he would have been right in the mix on Sunday.
Instead, he settled for his third straight top-20 in his last four events. He missed the cut at the Rocket Classic during that stretch, but he still ranks in the top 10 in the field in Total Strokes Gained and Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green over his last 16 rounds.
Clark’s realistic possible outcomes are all over the map, but his upside is high enough to make him a strong leverage option near the top of the salary structure.
Matti Schmid ($7,300)
Schmid is not quite as off the radar as would be ideal for tournament lineups, but he brings so much potential upside at this salary, he’s too good to pass up.
The 27-year-old is exactly the kind of driver-first player that has a good track record at TPC Twin Cities, so it’s no surprise that he has had success with a T20 and T12 the last two years at this event.
He has been extremely boom-or-bust this season, like Clark, but he brings the kind of high ceiling that works in tournament builds. Schmid has missed the cut in half of his 20 tournaments this year, but he posted seven top-25 finishes in his 10 made cuts, including four top-10 finishes and a memorable runner-up at the Charles Schwab Challenge to Ben Griffin.
Coming into the week, he sits just inside the top 70 in the FedExCup standings, and he has a good shot of securing a playoff spot in the next two weeks. In the last two weeks, Schmid played his way into The Open Championship with a T17 at the Genesis Scottish Open and then finished 69th after making the cut at Royal Portrush.
He ranks second in the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee over the last 16 rounds, and he has the potential to break through for a win if he gets in the groove this week.
Jackson Suber ($6,900)
In the last spot in this week’s fantasy golf pivot plays, I’m taking a flier on Suber from under $7,000. There are plenty of great plays in this range, but I like the rookie 25-year-old to exceed expectations this week in his debut at TPC Twin Cities.
Suber has excellent Strokes Gained numbers after making the cut in five of his last six tournaments. Over his last 16 rounds, Suber ranks fifth in the entire field in Total Strokes Gained and 24th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. He is third in Birdie or Better rate and also ranks in the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Putting.
Last year, Suber earned his way onto the PGA TOUR by finishing 20th in the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List. He posted a T6 just after joining the PGA TOUR at the Sony Open but then posted some forgettable results as the season went on.
He caught fire over the last few months, though, starting with a T18 at the RBC Canadian Open, when he carded four rounds under 70. Suber kept right on rolling with a T6 at the Rocket Classic in Detroit before barely missing the cut at the John Deere Classic. He made the cut in each of the last two weeks in alternate field events, posting a T45 at the ISCO Championship and a seventh-place finish last week at the Barracuda Championship.
