Outside of the major championships, THE PLAYERS Championship garners the most intrigue every season as the PGA TOUR’s flagship tournament. Every season, 144 of the world’s best players descend upon the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. for one of the TOUR’s most exciting events. The two-time defending champion, Scottie Scheffler ($12,800) is both the betting favorite and the player with the highest price tag in this weekend’s DFS contest on DraftKings.
While THE PLAYERS Championship is mostly won by the world’s best — Scheffler, Justin Thomas ($10,100), Rory McIlroy ($11,500), and Tiger Woods have all lifted the trophy at least once — there are plenty of less-heralded players who have recorded solid finishes. For his price tag, the best value play this weekend is Doug Ghim ($5,600).
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $500K Drive the Green [$100K to 1st]
Like with most Florida courses, the ability to keep the ball in play and control the sometimes-swirling coastal winds are critical at TPC Sawgrass. According to Data Golf, it ranks as one of the circuit’s harder courses both off the tee and on approaches to the green, but unlike several nearby courses, it is also difficult around the green, which requires a player to not only be excellent with his full swings, it also requires him to be nifty with his chips. Good putting is a must everywhere, of course, but it’s comparatively less important at TPC Sawgrass, which is only of average difficulty on the greens.
That’s where Ghim comes in; he’s above average off the tee, elite with his irons, and decent around the greens as well. He’s nearly dead last on the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting, which has held him back from fulfilling his potential as a top-level player, but his game is tailor-made for Florida. Overall, he ranks ninth in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, and the players above him — including Collin Morikawa ($10,500), Scheffler, McIlroy, and Thomas — are a who’s-who of the world’s best. He’s in the Top 10 on all short approach categories, which should make him well-equipped to handle TPC Sawgrass’s signature island-green 17th, which, in 2024, was the second-hardest hole on TOUR that played under 150 yards.
Ghim has only had one top-20 finish in his six events this season, but unsurprisingly, it came in Florida, at The Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, at a course that profiles somewhat similarly as TPC Sawgrass does. He’s also made the cut in three of his four appearances at THE PLAYERS, including a tie for sixth in 2022.
