As we sit just one week away from the season’s second major — the PGA Championship — the PGA TOUR makes a stop in Flourtown, Pennsylvania for the Truist Championship. This tournament is usually known as the Wells Fargo Championship and played at Quail Hollow Club, but that is the location for the PGA Championship next week, so we are getting a brand new course for this event. Philadelphia Cricket Club is that aforementioned new course, and measures as a 7,119-yard par 70 with Bentgrass greens.
This is the sixth of eight Signature Events on the schedule this year, and like most of them, will not feature a cut. Scottie Scheffler is the only qualified golfer electing to take the week off. Rory McIlroy will be making his first non-team-event start since his Masters win last month, and he’ll be joined the likes of Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas.
Below, I have outlined three of my favorite DraftKings plays for the week.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $700K Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
Jordan Spieth ($9,200)
Spieth is on absolute fire right now. He closed with a nine-under 62 on Sunday at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson to finish in solo fourth. It marked his third top-10 finish of the season (including second top-four), and fourth straight top-18 finish overall.
Spieth gained 10.4 strokes ball-striking at TPC Craig Ranch last week, including 6.6 on approach alone. His irons have been absolutely dialed in lately, as he also spiked with them back at the Valero Texas Open last month, where he gained 7.6 on approach.
Over this recent stretch, Spieth ranks ninth in this field in SG: Tee-to-Green, eighth in SG: Ball-Striking and fourth in Total Strokes Gained. He’s getting hot at exactly the right time, as we sit just one week away from the PGA Championship, where he’ll look to be just the seventh golfer in history to complete the career grand slam.
As for how his game will translate to the Philadelphia Cricket Club; it should be a non-issue, as we’ve Spieth at his absolute best (ahem, Augusta) on tough, long-iron tracks with large Bentgrass greens. Outside of McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler — the latter of who is not in the field this week — Spieth is playing as good of golf as anyone in the world right now, and is a terrific value at just $9,200.
Keegan Bradley ($8,100)
Anytime we get to a tough northeastern golf course that features Bentgrass greens, Bradley has to be in the conversation. He grew up in New England, and more than 25% of his career PGA TOUR wins have come in this portion of the country. Bradley won the 2018 BMW Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Newton Square, Pennsylvania, which is just a 30-minute drive from Philadelphia Cricket Club. It will also come as no surprise to learn that Aronimink is a 7,200-yard par 70 with Bentgrass greens.
Bradley’s other win in the northeast came at the Travelers Championship back in 2023, which is a bit shorter and likely easier than PCC will play this week, but is also a par 70 that features Bentgrass. This alone should have Bradley on your radar, but the fact that he’s also playing some great golf this season is the icing on the cake. The 38-year-old has a pair of top-10s in 11 starts so far this year, and has finished T20 or better six times already.
Bradley has been putting horribly of late, but he did gain 4.3 strokes ball-striking and 7.7 strokes from tee-to-green in his last start at the RBC Heritage. A move back to his preferred Bentgrass should do wonders for his confidence, and at just $8,100 all the contextual factors are in place for him to smash his salary based expectations.
Si Woo Kim ($7,600)
After a bit of a rough stretch, Kim has really picked up his game of late, posting back-to-back top-15 finishes at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson and RBC Heritage. Much like Jordan Spieth, Kim was absolutely firing darts last week at TPC Craig Ranch, as he gained 6.9 strokes on approach for the tournament. Unfortunately, he wound up losing 3.3 strokes on the greens and had to settle for a T15, which has felt like a theme for the South Korean all year.
Even despite the poor putting, Kim ranks ninth in this field in Total Strokes Gained over his past eight rounds thanks to his incredible ball-striking. This $7,600 price tag is simply too cheap for the way he’s striping it right now, and when you factor in that he cannot miss the cut this week, he’s a borderline lock in this range.
The two times this season where Kim spiked with the putter were at the ZOZO back in October and at Harbour Town two weeks ago, both of which resulted in top-10 finishes. The recipe is clear, putt close to neutral for the week and he’ll be in contention.
