The PGA TOUR is celebrating the 50th year at Jack’s Place with the 2026 edition of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Ohio. The Signature Event will bring a strong field to the well-known and difficult course and should set up a great tournament. DraftKings is ready to tee it up 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 Ben Griffin ($9,000), Sepp Straka ($7,700) and Sungjae Im ($6,500).
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 $750K Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
Ben Griffin ($9,000)
Some of the most popular options this week appear to be Scottie Scheffler ($13,500), Rory McIlroy ($11,500), Cameron Young ($10,300) and Min Woo Lee ($8,900). Griffin is a much less popular option but comes in with a very high ceiling. He hasn’t been as consistent as some of the other top options, but for GPP lineups, he makes a great pivot play.
Griffin has a great combination of course history and current form. He just went off for a T3 last week at the Charles Schwab Challenge, as he was looking to defend his 2025 victory. He had a putt lip out on the final hole and finished just one stroke out of the playoff, even after a 65 in the Final Round. He started the week with three straight rounds of 68 and seems to be rounding into form nicely.
Over his last five tournaments, Griffin has posted four top-15 finishes, including another T3 at the Cadillac Championship, which was also a Signature Event. Over the last 20 rounds, Griffin ranks fourth in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting and 16th in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green.
Last year at the Memorial, Griffin finished runner-up at Muirfield Village Country Club behind Scheffler. He had missed the cut in his two previous appearances at the tournament but turned things around last year.
His T3 last week and runner-up last year show his high ceiling, and getting him at only $9,000 with a low ownership could be a great GPP pivot play this week.
Sepp Straka ($7,700)
Straka is another boom-or-bust play that comes with little hype but plenty of upside. Under $8,000, Wydham Clark ($7,300), Nicolai Hojgaard ($7,700) and Akshay Bhatia ($7,400) are some of the most popular plays, but Straka matches their upside as a much less popular pick.
Like Griffin, Straka has been hit-or-miss this year, but comes with a very high ceiling and big-time potential. He ranks third in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach over the last 20 rounds behind only Scheffler and Ludvig Aberg ($10,100).
The approach specialist has proven to be a great horse for the course at Muirfield Village Golf Club over the last few seasons, posting three straight top-20 finishes in the last three years. He finished T5 in 2024 and was even better last year, finishing third behind only Scheffler and Griffin.
His putter can be streaky, but his strong approach game has already led to high finishes this season. The four-time PGA TOUR winner has six top-20 finishes this season, highlighted by a T4 at the Cadillac Championship, a T8 at THE PLAYERS, and a T2 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Even in events like the PGA Championship, where he missed the cut, he has still played well on approach. He has gained over 1.0 strokes per round on approach in six straight tournaments and in eight of his last nine dating back to March.
Rather than play at Colonial last week, Straka teed it up on the DP World Tour, playing in his native Austria. He ended up T12 at the Austrian Alpine Open after another great week of approach play.
He’ll be back on the PGA TOUR this week, though, and should be ready for a nice bounce-back after the PGA Championship.
Sungjae Im ($6,500)
If you can handle some extreme volatility, Sungjae Im is a fascinating bargain play to consider. The 28-year-old from Korea has been extremely boom or bust since getting a late start to the season, posting a few excellent results and also crashing out of a few tournaments.
Im missed the cut at Colonial last week and lost over three strokes per round on approach. His approach game has been shaky all year, but he has also gone off for a few big weeks. He missed the cut in two of his last three events and finished way back in the field at T65 at the Cadillac Championship (no cut event).
However, on the plus side, Im flashed form with a T4 at the Valspar, a T5 at the Truist, and a T9 at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson two weeks ago. When he has been at his best, most of his strokes gained have come off the tee and with his putter.
In the past, Im’s game has fit Muirfield Village Golf Club beautifully. He has three top-25 finishes in his last four appearances at the event, including a T10 in 2022, a T8 in 2024, and a T16 last year.
He has the potential to contend for the win if he’s at his best, but he also has the potential to miss the cut if he plays like he did last week. That wide range of results makes him a high-risk play that works for GPP lineups, though, so use him as a salary-saver this week if you’re swinging for the fences.
