The PGA TOUR is in Scotland this week, getting ready for next week’s final major championship of the year. The Genesis Scottish Open is always a fun prelude to the Open Championship and offers a unique blend of the top players from the DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR in the co-sanctioned tournament. As you get your DraftKings rosters together for this week, be sure to check out my top three fantasy golf picks as pivot plays for GPP contests. These players will likely have lower ownership but still have high upside. My favorite GPP picks for this week are Rory McIlroy ($12,000), Nicolai Hojgaard ($8,000) and Oliver Lindell ($6,600).
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 $600K Sand Trap [$1M to 1st]
Top Pivot Picks for the 2026 Genesis Scottish Open
Rory McIlroy ($12,000)
Rory seems like an obvious play this week, but since Scottie Scheffler ($14,000) seems so close to breaking through for a win, and there are a host of strong options just under $9,000, McIlroy is actually being overlooked in many lineups.
McIlroy hasn’t played as much as some of the other big names, sitting out some Signature Events and only teeing it up four times since winning his second straight major at Augusta. McIlroy has played 14 tournaments worldwide since the start of last November, with nine top-15 finishes, including his win at Augusta and runner-up finish at the DP World Tour Championship.
Rory did have a down week by his lofty standards with a T32 at the U.S. Open, where he lost strokes on approach, which is not usual for him. Since he hasn’t played since then, the public is sleeping on him a little too much. He still leads the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and ranks 3rd in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green over the last 6 months, with the 2nd-most Total Strokes Gained over that span.
McIlroy has picked up an impressive 30 career wins on the PGA TOUR, along with 15 wins on the DP World Tour. He also has an exceptional course history at The Renaissance Club, where he beat out home crowd favorite Robert MacIntyre ($9,000) in a thrilling finish in 2023. Bobby Mac bounced back and won in 2024, with Rory finishing T4. Last year, McIlroy posted his third straight top-5 finish at the event, finishing T2 behind Chris Gotterup ($9,300), who has won four times in the last calendar year after picking up the win last week at the John Deere Classic.
Rory is a great player to build around based on that course history and his ability to contend any time he tees it up. The field is full of options, but with so much attention everywhere else, McIlroy stands out as a strong pivot play.
Nicolai Hojgaard ($8,000)
Another player with strong DP World Tour ties who has shown a high ceiling on the PGA TOUR is 25-year-old Nicolai Hojgaard. Hojgaard is still looking for his first PGA TOUR win, but he has won three times on the DP World Tour, most recently at the 2023 DP World Tour Championship.
Hojgaard has come close to getting his PGA TOUR breakthrough this season with runner-up finishes at the Texas Children’s Houston Open and the Truist Championship. He has posted a nice total of nine top-25 finishes worldwide in 2026.
Before a nice T14 at the Travelers Championship became his most recent top-25 finish to add to that list, he had missed the cut in three straight events, coming up short of the weekend at the U.S. Open, the RBC Canadian Open, and the Memorial.
Hojgaard started at TPC River Highlands with a 71 but finished the week 66-67-62. That impressive Final Round was a bogey-free, eight-under that vaulted him 32 spots up the leaderboard. He finished the Travelers ranked third in driving distance, fourth in scrambling, and 16th in Stroked Gained: Approach for the week.
His long driving and solid iron play should be a good fit for this week’s course, as he has shown in his past appearances at The Renaissance Club. He finished T6 in 2023 and T4 last year, so he has the game to contend at this venue.
Since he had that shaky form before that strong finish in Connecticut, he is a risky play this week, but since he should be very familiar with the European feel of this track, he makes a great GPP option this week at an affordable salary and a very high ceiling.
Oliver Lindell ($6,600)
Let’s stick with European options and take another player from the DP World Tour. Since the options from that side are less popular, they provide nice low-ownership plays even though they come with less certainty.
As a bargain play, Lindell is a nice sleeper to consider. The 27-year-old from Finland turned pro in 2016 and won twice in the Nordic Golf League to get a spot in the Challenge Tour. He played on that circuit for several years before earning his promotion to the DP World Tour in 2025.
In his rookie season in 2025, Lindell posted 13 top-25 finishes, including three top-10 finishes at the AmGen Irish Open, the Nexo Championship, and the Danish Golf Championship. He also qualified for The Open Championship and made the cut to finish T28 in his first career major championship.
Lindell’s consistent results have continued this season, and he has nine top-25 finishes in his last 15 events. He has also made the cut in each of the 18 tournaments he has played on the DP World Tour, which would likely be enough to make him a strong value play if he can keep that streak alive this week in Scotland.
He’s currently on the fringes of earning a PGA TOUR card from the Race to Dubai Rankings. Since the top 10 not already exempt will earn full-time PGA TOUR membership for 2027, it will be an important race to track down the stretch. With all the schedule transition on deck for 2027, it will be an especially important year for players looking to improve their status.
He has gotten off to a fast start to the season, finishing runner-up at the KLM Open a month ago for his best career finish on the DP World Tour, and followed that up with a T6 in Italy and a T13 in Munich in recent DP World Tour events.
Over the last 6 months, he ranks 11th in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting and 21st in Strokes Gained: Approach. He’ll be making his first career appearance at this tournament, but he is a nice pivot play for GPP lineups based on the consistency and upside he’s shown in Europe.
