After last week’s birdie blitz at TPC Craig Ranch, the PGA TOUR will head to the other side of the Dallas Metroplex and stop in Fort Worth, Texas, for this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge. The course this week is a huge contrast to last week’s, and scores will likely be much closer to normal at the historic Colonial Country Club, which has been hosting this event for the last 80 years. The par-70 is a course that demands accuracy off the tee to tree-lined, parkland fairways, and with smaller-than-average Bentgrass greens, it is also demanding on approach. DraftKings is ready to finish the two-week stop in Texas with some nice GPP contests with large top prizes. My top three fantasy golf picks as pivot plays for this week’s GPP contests are J.J. Spaun ($9,200), John Keefer ($7,100) and Mark Hubbard ($6,800).
Let’s define what we’re searching for in this post, to be sure we’re all aiming at the same target. A fantasy golf pivot play is a golfer with low expected ownership in tournament formats but high upside. These picks go against the grain and typically come with more risk compared to popular options with similar salaries. In large-field tournaments, it’s important to differentiate your lineup with low-ownership plays like these, even though they are NOT the safest options.
These are “grip it and rip it,” boom-or-bust style options that could go off or flame out. Getting players at low ownership is critical for success in GPP tournament-style events with many entries, so 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 floor.
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 $700K Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
J.J. Spaun ($9,200)
Even with Wyndham Clark withdrawing at just above his salary, Spaun is getting much less attention than defending champ Ben Griffin ($9,400), Alex Smalley ($9,100) and Akshay Bhatia ($9,000). Spaun did burn his investors with a missed cut at the PGA Championship, when I was high on him as well, but he was on a nice run before that and has a very high ceiling at Colonial based on his current form. He is a good pivot with a high ceiling, even though he does come with more risk, making him a textbook GPP pivot option.
Spaun hadn’t had much success at Colonial until last year, when he posted a T6 at the venue as he ramped up to his major breakthrough at the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. He gained strokes in every major category in that strong finish last year, especially excelling in accuracy and on approach, which will be key again this week.
While he has missed three cuts in his last eight events, the five times that he has made the weekend, he has ended up high on the leaderboard. He won the Valero Texas Open during that time span and also finished T5 at the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow just before coming up short at the PGA Championship.
Spaun ranks second in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green over the last three months behind only Ludvig Aberg ($10,500). His accuracy off the tee has been on point throughout that run, but his putter has been inconsistent. If he can get his putter rolling like he had it last year at this course, he could be right in the mix for another triumph in Texas this week.
John Keefer ($7,100)
If you’re stacking your GPP with high-cost players with high ceilings, you’ll probably be shopping for a few value plays to round out your roster. Some of the more popular options in the $7,000s this week include Rico Hoey ($7,300), Doug Ghim ($7,300), Sudarshan Yellamaraju ($7,400) and Max Greyserman ($7,900). While all those options are strong plays, don’t sleep on Keefer, who is even cheaper but brings a very high ceiling.
The 25-year-old PGA TOUR rookie has shown off his upside in two Texas tournaments already this season, and he starts this week sitting at no. 79 in the FedExCup points list. After winning 2025 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year honors and finishing atop the Korn Ferry Tour Points List last season, Keefer has made the cut in nine of his 15 tournaments this season, with two top-10 finishes.
Both of those high finishes were in the Lone Star State, and one came last week at TPC Craig Ranch. Keefer closed out with a blistering 63 on Sunday and moved up to a T9 at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson. His other top-10 finish was a T3 at the Texas Children’s Houston Open at the end of March.
Keefer did miss the cut at the Valero Texas Open, the Masters and the Zurich Classic, before finding his rhythm at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic and making the cut at the PGA Championship before last week’s strong finish.
Over the last month, Keefer ranks in the top 20 in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and the top 15 in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee over the last six months. His accuracy can be a little shaky at times, which could be trouble at Colonial, but his upside is worth taking a flier on him for GPP lineups, where he could pay off with a low ownership if he can carry over his form from last Sunday.
Mark Hubbard ($6,800)
The options under $7K are all high-risk, high-reward. Some of them are young rising players trying to prove themselves, while others are proven veterans looking to improve on their status after struggling at times. Max Homa ($7,000), Beau Hossler ($7,000), Austin Smotherman ($6,900) and Zecheng Dou ($6,700) are some of the names around this price point, but Hubbard is still off the radar even after posting a couple of strong finishes.
Hubbard started the year slowly, missing six cuts and finishing lower than T60 in three other events in his first 11 tournaments. He finished T23 at the Cognizant Classic in his only strong finish early in the season, before he got his game in gear at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic. He finished runner-up in that event, which was an alternate-field event early in May.
The 37-year-old veteran built on that with a solid T31 with four rounds under 70 last week at TPC Craig Ranch. Over the last three months, Hubbard ranks third in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach, but his cold putter and a few wayward drives have held him back. His putter finally got rolling at Myrtle Beach, which led to his surge in strong results.
Since the course is a good fit for his skill set, Hubbard has an excellent history at Colonial. He has made the cut in every one of his seven career appearances at the venue dating back to 2016. His best finish was a T9 in 2023, and he ended up with a solid T28 last year. If he can keep his putting even around field average, he’ll have a strong chance to make the cut this week. At this salary, he doesn’t have to do much to be a good option in this week’s fantasy golf picks since he saves so much salary.
