The PGA TOUR is headed to Bay Hill Club & Lodge for this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, which is the fourth Signature Event of the season. The API and Bay Hill have a great history, and the best players in the world have plenty of course history to help you choose which studs to build around for this week’s tournament. If you’re playing in “cash game” formats on DraftKings, my favorite three options are Scottie Scheffler ($12,000), Russell Henley ($8,800) and Thomas Detry ($7,200).
Earlier on Wednesday, I broke down my top three pivot plays for tournament lineups in a companion piece to this post. The picks in both posts have upside and characteristics that I like for this week’s event. The pivot plays for tournaments are more aggressive, while these three plays are safer options, but will also likely have much higher ownerships. Think of cash game picks as playing a par 5 as it was designed — looking for a solid birdie; while the tournament plays are more aggressive picks that try to go for the green in two. There is potentially more reward with those picks, but also more risk.
The picks I highlight here are designed for “cash game” contests, which are contests on DraftKings that pay out to about the top half of entries. Typically, they are in the 50/50s & Double Ups or Head-to-Head sections of the DraftKings lobby. In this style of contest, it’s important to minimize risk and try to focus more on the floor of your entry rather than the ceiling. Typically, cash lineups will be more balanced in their spending. In cash games, finding low ownership plays doesn’t matter as much since you’re just trying to finish in the top half of contests rather than finish at the very top of a GPP.
With those ground rules in place, let’s dive deeper into my top three cash game plays for this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Scottie Scheffler ($12,000)
If you’re looking for the safest play in the field, the highest-priced option is a great place to start. Scheffler is a strong favorite this week on DraftKings Sportsbook and has won this event in two of the last three years, finishing fourth in 2023 when Kurt Kitayama won the event. In his worst showing on this track, he finished T15 in his debut, showing how ridiculously high his floor is at a course that fits his game very well.
Scheffler hasn’t been in top form yet this season since we haven’t seen him in the winner’s circle, but he has continued to post strong results overall. He finished T9 in his season debut at the AT&T Pebble Beach which was a Signature Event with a stacked field. The next week, he finished T25 in the WM Phoenix Open, and then he finished a very strong T3 at The Genesis Invitational before taking two weeks off.
Even while “knocking the rust off” after his hand procedure, he has still been posting very high finishes and deserves to be included in cash game strategies. He brings such a high floor and chance of winning that he is a great place to start your cash game lineups as long as you can find the salary cap space to build around him.
Russell Henley ($8,800)
Henley is a great option under $9,000 and a very solid way to be able to afford paying up for Scottie. He can also anchor a very balanced approach if you like a lot of the players between $8,000 and $9,000. Henley comes in with very strong form and is in my cash game picks for a second-straight week.
Last week, he finished T6 at the Cognizant Classic, where he was in contention into his back nine. He has three top-10 finishes in his last four tournaments, including a T5 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which was a Signature Event.
Henley has played Bay Hill eight times in his career with five made cuts and two top-15 finishes. Both of those top-15 finishes came in the last three years, and he finished T4 last year. The track fits his game since he is an approach-game specialist and excels putting on Bermuda greens. This is typically the strong part of his season, and he’ll look to keep cranking out great results this week at Bay Hill.
Thomas Detry ($7,200)
I’m going a little cheaper than normal for a cash game pick in this spot since this field is so deep with good options, even this low in the salary spectrum. Detry broke through for his first career PGA TOUR victory earlier this season by dominating the field at the WM Phoenix Open. DFS players have been familiar with Detry’s game for a while, though, and the 32-year-old Belgian has typically played well on difficult courses like Bay Hill.
He finished T24 in his debut on this track two years ago and has made the cut in each of his last five major championships, including three top-15 finishes in the last three majors. He finished an impressive T4 at Valhalla last May in the PGA Championship.
Detry has made the cut in each of his last eight starts worldwide including in each of his six PGA TOUR events this season. He finished T5 at The Sentry and T15 at the Farmers Insurance Open before breaking through for his big win on Super Bowl Sunday in Phoenix.
Over his 24 rounds, he ranks in the top 10 in this field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and in the top 15 in Total Strokes Gained. If he can carry over that momentum this week at Bay Hill, he should be a very strong option at this salary.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR SINGLE ENTRY $25 Double Up (PGA TOUR)
