The 125th edition of the U.S. Open will be played at Oakmont Country Club (par 70, 7,372 yards, POA annua greens) in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. This is the third of four majors this season and the 10th time Oakmont has hosted the U.S. Open. This par 70 last hosted in 2016, when Dustin Johnson (-4) won by three strokes. Last year’s U.S. Open was played at Pinehurst No. 2 and Byrson DeChambeau (-6) won by one stroke.
For the U.S. Open, DraftKings is offering a $3 Million Fantasy Golf Millionaire Contest that only costs $25 to enter and pays out $1 million to first place! You will need to find some low-owned plays that perform well to contend in the Fantasy Golf Millionaire and, below, I have featured some of my favorite contrarian DFS options from each price range.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA $3M Fantasy Golf Millionaire [$1M to 1st]
Xander Schauffele ($10,400)
With most DFS players gravitating towards Byrson DeChambeau ($11,000) or Jon Rahm ($10,200) in this price range, Schauffele should naturally come with low ownership and the 31-year-old is one of the best contrarian plays on the board for the U.S. Open. While Schauffele has yet to win this major, he has been extremely close. In eight starts at the U.S. Open, Schauffele has notably only finished outside the top 10 one time.
He finished T7 at Pinehurst No. 2 last season and, in his six starts at majors over the last two years, Schauffele has provided five top-eight finishes, including wins at the 2024 PGA Championship and 2024 Open Championship. When we compare this field’s results at majors the last two years, Schauffele ranks first in strokes gained per round, even ahead of the mighty Scottie Scheffler. With four top 20 finishes in just nine starts this season, Schauffele is going to contend for his first win of the season very soon and Oakmont is the perfect place for that to happen. Schauffele’s irons have been his back bone this season, with him ranking seventh in SG APP, and his elite ball striking sets him up well for Oakmont, where Johnson led his field in GIR when he won the 2016 U.S. Open at this venue.
Justin Thomas ($9,000)
With a few chalky plays in Tommy Fleetwood ($8,800) and Joaquin Niemann ($8,600) priced right below Thomas, the latter is likely to get slept on this week. Thomas finished a respectable T32 at Oakmont in 2016 and, this time around, he returns to the challenging venue 26 spots higher in the World Golf Rankings at No. 5. Despite this ranking, Thomas is only the ninth-most expensive player on DraftKings for DFS.
Thomas is having a great 2025, with six top 10 finishes in 13 starts, including three runner-up finishes and a win at the RBC Heritage in April. Thomas ranks fourth in the FedEx Cup standings, fourth in par four performance and eighth in SG APP this season. Johnson led his field in par four efficiency when he won at Oakmont in 2016. If Thomas can replicate that, he has a great chance to contend this week.
Viktor Hovland ($8,500)
Just like Thomas, with Fleetwood and Niemann seeing most of the attention in this price range, Hovland shouldn’t be popular. The Norwegian professional has finished T13 or better in five of his last 13 starts at the major level and Hovland travels to Oakmont riding a five-tournament made cut streak. During this run, he has carded five top 30 finishes, most notably with a win at the Valspar Championship.
Ranking eighth in SG APP, Hovland’s irons have been excellent. He also ranks 35th in total driving, which is encouraging for Oakmont, where being efficient with your driver will pay dividends. Hovland ranks fourth in strokes gained per round when we compare this field’s last 50 rounds at par 70s and he is a tremendous GPP target this week.
Tony Finau ($7,300)
With a plethora of appealing targets in this $7K range, Finau should be a forgotten man this week. The 35-year-old has supplied four top 15 finishes in nine starts at the U.S. Open, with his best result being a T3 at Pinehurst No. 2 last season. Finau just finished T19 at Quail Hollow for the PGA Championship last month and he has carded five top 20 finishes in 14 starts this season.
Finau has gained strokes on approach at back-to-back events and, with his ball striking trending up, Finau has a ton of merit at this cheap salary. The veteran missed the cut at Oakmont in 2016, but Finau now sits 34 spots higher in the World Golf Rankings and he has advanced to the weekend in eight of his last 12 starts at a major, with five top 30 finishes.
Emiliano Grillo ($5,700)
Grillo never garners much attention for DFS, but the professional out of Argentina is a great, cheap gamble for GPPs this week. Grillo finished T54 at Oakmont in 2016 and he finished T41 at last year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. Grillo now returns to Oakmont in compelling form, as the maker of eight of his last 10 cuts.
Specifically in his last five starts, Grillo has finished T18, MC, T20, T16 and T24. That final finish came at last week’s RBC Canadian Open and, at TPC Toronto, Grillo gained 9.4 strokes on approach, which led the event and is the second-best SG APP performance of Grillo’s career. The 32-year-old has gained strokes on approach at five tournaments in a row and, with Grillo sizzling hot as a ball striker right now, he has potential top 30 upside at this event.
