The PGA TOUR’s 2026 season kicks off this week with its first elevated event at Pebble Beach, where 80 golfers will tee off at the famous West Coast venue. DraftKings users can play in DraftKings PGA Pick6 contests for all four rounds. If you’re new, Pick6 is a single-user daily fantasy game where you select players to go over or under the totals.
This week, the PGA heads to Pebble Beach for the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where players will compete in a pro-am-style event across two courses. Each player will have one round on each course on Thursday and Friday: Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill. The venues are both shorter Par 72s under, making them relatively easy for the players, if the weather cooperates and the wind stays down. Winning scores for this event can vary greatly. Last year, nicer weather allowed the winner Rory McIlroy to get to -21, but poor weather can keep scoring much higher.
I reviewed additional statistics and course dynamics in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am PGA Cheat Sheet and included some notes on the course below for Pick6 research.
As far as layout goes, the host course (Pebble Beach) is a traditional par 72 with four par 5s and four par 3s. Three of the four par 5s often play under 550 yards in length, and only one par 3 is over 200 yards. Even though there are some longer par 4s, length off the tee isn’t all that essential this week, and the average driving distance for the field is generally 10-15 yards lower this week than the average PGA TOUR event. Many of the holes force players to club down off the tee (either due to doglegs or shorter fairways), and it’s worth noting that three of the past seven winners of this event have lost strokes off the tee for the week, including 2023 winner Justin Rose (-0.4 OTT in 2023).
Despite this being a less-than-driver course, there is still plenty of trouble lurking around Pebble Beach, and players can get in trouble both off the tee and around the green. As a result, a solid approach game and iron play are a must. Six of the top 10 finishers at this event in 2023 gained 2.0 strokes or more on approach.
Around the green, the area can also be vital at Pebble, especially when the wind is bad and causes more missed greens. Six of the top seven players in 2020 gained +1.2 strokes or more around the greens, and winners Justin Rose and Wyndham Clark have gained 2.6 strokes and 1.4 strokes ATG.
Last year, Rory McIlroy relied more on ball-striking as he gained 5.9+ strokes off the tee alone and over 3.3 strokes on approach.
The PGA TOUR heads to Florida this week for the start of the Florida swing at PGA National, the host of the 2026 Cognizant Classic. DraftKings users can play in DraftKings PGA Pick6 contests for all four rounds. If you’re new, Pick6 is a single-user daily fantasy game where you select players to go over or under the totals.
With Florida now on the menu, PGA golfers will be exposed to heavier winds and courses like PGA National with tons of water and high-variance shots. This week, each player in the field of the 144+ man Cognizant Classic will take on PGA National for four rounds, a tougher Par 71 that features water on over 50% of the holes and the Bear Trap, a tough three-hole stretch (15-16-17) that tests players down the stretch.
I reviewed additional statistics and course dynamics in the Cognizant Classic PGA Cheat Sheet and included some notes on the course below for Pick6 research.
“In the last two seasons, the winner has gotten to 17-under par or better, with Joe Highsmith winning the 2025 version of this event at -19. I would expect that, without terrible weather, the winner here will be between 14 and 20 under par most seasons.
The greens are still Tifeagle Bermuda and can play quite fast if the weather gets hot enough. They will be even tougher to hold if the wind is up. Green in Regulation %’s at this event are some of the lowest we’ll see all season and typically fall 5-7% under the PGA TOUR average. As such, PGA National, as you might expect, puts a huge premium on ball-striking. It rewards players who can pound the greens hole after hole, and also those who possess the short game necessary to navigate the plethora of greenside bunkers.
While the venue often gets compared to places like TPC Sawgrass and Harbour Town, its best-comparable course on the PGA TOUR is likely TPC Southwind, the host of the FedEx St. Jude Classic and one of the toughest par-70s on the schedule. Daniel Berger (winner of Southwind 2016 and 2017, playoff loser PGA National 2015) and Sepp Straka (winner of PGA National 2022 and playoff loser TPC Southwind 2022) are a couple of the players who provide good links between the two venues.
For statistical purposes, solid overall ball striking is key to avoiding big numbers, but it’s generally on approach where players can make up the most ground. Four of the last six winners at PGA National — Keith Mitchell, Sungjae Im, Chris Kirk, and Matt Jones — gained over +5.0 strokes on their approaches for the week, and most of the winners here have also tended to be very positive in their stats around the green for the week.”
As of now, we have Round 1 totals up on the Pick6 site for play, so that’s where we’ll be focusing this week. Weather looks decent for Round 1, but I do expect early starters to have an advantage as the wind typically picks up on this course throughout the day.
Here is where I’ve focused on a few of my favorite plays for Round 1 below.
Andrew Putnam Less Than 69.5 Strokes
While he can be an inconsistent ball-striker, Putnam’s irons were in good form in Palm Springs, and he’s a great putter scrambler who ranked top 20 in sand saves last season (and again this year). Overall, he’s the sort of veteran player I expect to do well at PGA National, where he managed a solid T11 finish last year.
His Pick6 total for Round does mean we’ll need a solid opener from him to cash this pick, but Round 1 is where I would be targeting Putnam anyway. He’s typically a fast starter and ranked 7th in first-round scoring last season. He’s only played in two events this far in 2026 and needs good finishes for more starts, so I expected a solid opener here as well.
Nicholas Echavarria Less Than 69.5 strokes
Echavarria can be a very up-and-down player, but when he’s on, he typically gets into contention. His only good finish this season yielded a T8 in the elite field Pebble Beach event, and he typically excels on more technical courses where he can take advantage of his great short iron play.
The Columbian has played this event each of the past two seasons, and his results suggest this is a good line to take the less than on. He’s shot 69 or better now in five of his last six rounds on PGA National, with his only poor round being a 70 from last season. He’s also teeing off in the early wave, which should give him a small boost.
Daniel Berger More Than 4.5 birdies or better
Berger may be coming off a couple of poor starts, but Florida is where he typically excels. The American lost in a playoff at PGA National as a rookie and grew up around the course, which he’s now played 10 times as a PGA pro. He’s also a Jupiter resident, so any struggles he had on the West Coast could be erased quickly this week, now that he’s back near his home base.
Overall, Berger showed great form to start the year with a T6 at the Sony Open, so I’m fine looking past his recent poor starts. He’s posted some great rounds at PGA National in the past and excels in accuracy-driven venues, having won at TPC Southwind x2 and Pebble Beach. With a decent forecast, I’m all for being bullish on him in Round 1 and looking for him to post 5 or more birdies or better.
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