The PGA TOUR had a fun start to the season in Hawaii, and this week the early season action continues with another unique event, as the setting shifts from the Pacific islands to the California desert. The American Express uses a unique pro-am format and a three-course rotation, meaning they can get a full field of PGA TOUR golfers with limited daylight by using three courses for the first three rounds. After a unique cut after Round 3, the top 65 players (and ties) will take on the Pete Dye Tournament Course at PGA WEST, setting up a low-scoring week with an exciting finish and a great week for DFS fantasy golf contests on DraftKings. As you set your tournament and GPP lineups, check out my top three fantasy golf pivot plays for the week: Patrick Cantlay ($10,400), Pierceson Coody ($7,800) and Kevin Roy ($7,100). These three golfers come in under the radar but have a strong chance to step-up and exceed salary-based expectations as strong pivot plays.
Let’s be sure to define what we’re hunting for in this post, to be sure we’re all aiming at the same green. A “fantasy golf pivot play” is a golfer with low expected ownership in tournament formats but a very high upside. Typically, these selections 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 extra sweat since they come with lower ownership. These are “grip it and rip it,” “boom-or-bust” style options that could go off or could flame out.
Getting players at low ownership is critical to finding success in GPP tournament-style events with many entries, where making yours stand out is critical. 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 overall 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 $600K Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
Ben Griffin ($10,100)
At the top of the salary structure, four players from the top 10 in the world lead a fairly strong showing for this tournament. Russell Henley ($10,300) has such great history at this event that he’s getting lots of deserved attention, and there are some very strong players priced just below Griffin with Colin Morikawa ($9,800), Hideki Matsuyama ($9,700) and J.J. Spaun ($9,500) all getting lots of attention as well. While Griffin’s ownership will still be high, it could lag behind many of those options, even though he’s coming off an incredibly impressive breakthrough season and has a game that should fit this course very well.
Griffin won three tournaments in 2025 and finished second in two other events. He won his most recent event, which was in early November in Mexico on a track that has many similarities to the one he’ll face this week. Griffin finished in the top 12 in each of his last six events in 2025, and he will be set up for another monster season if he can carry over that success.
While he does bring plenty of win equity and a very high ceiling, he was also consistent with 24 made cuts in his 30 events last year, including at the Sony. In his career, he is 3-for-3 in making it to the weekend at Waialae with a pair of top-30 finishes.
Statistically, Griffin leads the field in Total Strokes Gained per round over the last 12 months, and he is sixth in Strokes Gained: Approach, and eighth in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. His outstanding approach game makes him my favorite straight-up pick in the field this week.
Patrick Cantlay ($10,400)
Cantlay is the second-most expensive golfer behind only World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler ($14,200). He’s a pay-up source of leverage since many fantasy golf managers would rather go with Ben Griffin ($10,200), who I am again high on this week, or Robert MacIntyre ($9,400), Harry Hall ($9,300), or depending champ Sepp Straka ($9,200), who are all much cheaper.
We haven’t seen Cantlay in a while since he only played one event after the TOUR Championship, where he finished T2 for his best finish of the season. He was T30 at the Procore Championship to put the finishing touches on a solid 2025 that included 17 made cuts in 20 events, including four top-five finishes.
The California native has been very good in his previous appearances at The American Express, and he owns a share of the Stadium Course tournament record with a 61.
He finished one shot behind Si Woo Kim ($9,000) after his epic Final Round as the runner-up in 2021, which is one of four top-10 finishes in his last six trips to this event, all of which have resulted in a made cut.
Cantlay doesn’t typically play a heavy schedule, so his unknown form isn’t anything to be especially alarmed about. It does make him high risk, though, which is why most people are staying away and setting him up as an outstanding GPP pivot this week.
Pierceson Coody ($7,800)
Whoever you build around as your stud plays, the value options around $8K have to deliver for it to be a winning week for you. Options like Rasmus Hojgaard ($8,500), Michael Thorbjornsen ($8,600), Rico Hoey ($7,700) and Matt Wallace ($7,300) are getting plenty of attention, but I love some of the indicators brought by Pierceson Coody.
Coody could be lined up for a breakout season this year after earning his PGA TOUR card once again with a strong split year last year between the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA TOUR.
He ended up finishing No. 12 on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, posting seven top-10 finishes in 15 events. He also had an impressive run in the fall on the PGA TOUR, making five straight cuts with three top-25 finishes, highlighted by a T3 at the Bank of Utah Championship.
He carried over his early season success to last week in Hawaii, where a closing 64 on Sunday vaulted him all the way up to T13.
The 26-year-old typically excels on low-scoring tracks and leads the entire field in average Par 5 scoring over the last 12 months (among players who played more than 10 rounds. He also ranks second in Birdie or Better percentage over that span behind only Scottie (among players with 20+ rounds).
Coody also has the metrics to back up his recent surge, ranking in the top 10 in the field over the last 24 rounds in Total Strokes Gained, third in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, and second in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee.
He missed the cut at this event in 2024 in his rookie year on the PGA TOUR, but his game is in a much better place, and he could go low this week to climb into contention.
Kevin Roy ($7,100)
Roy is another flier worth taking for GPP lineups this week. He doesn’t have nearly the history of Cantlay or the recent form of Coody, but he has spiked in a couple of key tournaments that could indicate he’s ready for a big week. Players like Mac Meissner ($6,900), John Parry ($7,100), Sami Valimaki ($7,300) and Sam Stevens ($7,300) are getting much more attention than Roy, and I like the 35-year-old from New York as a nice pivot option.
Roy earned his PGA TOUR card for this season by finishing No. 91 in the FedExCup Fall last year, making 18 of 29 cuts, including eight top-25 finishes. Most of his success was during the summer, and he faded with two missed cuts and a T60 over his last three events of 2025.
He looked great in Hawaii last week, though, opening with a red-hot, eight-under 62 that had him co-leader with Nick Taylor after Round 1. He ranked in the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Putting and Strokes Gained: Around the Green. If he can keep his short game sharp at The American Express, he should have plenty of birdie chances.
Last year, Roy finished in the top 20 at this event, so he has a little course history and recent form to build on. No one seems to buy into him continuing to find success, but he’s worth a look in GPP lineups at this price since he brings so much upside.
