The Cheat Sheet provides DraftKings fantasy golf players with course info, player history, and the most noteworthy trends of the week to help them with their roster selections.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $200K Sand Trap [$50K to 1st] (TOUR)
The Field
The PGA TOUR heads off the mainland this week for a no-cut event in Japan, where a field of 78 golfers will tee things up for four rounds. This event was held in California in 2020 (where it was won by Patrick Cantlay, who is not in the field this week), but its initial running was won in Japan by Tiger Woods in 2019. In 2021, the event returned to Chiba, Japan, and was won by national hero Hideki Matsuyama, who also finished runner-up to Woods in 2019. This season, it’s undergone a name change (Baycurrent Classic) and will also feature a new venue in Yokohama Country Club.
The field is headlined by Americans Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele, the latter being the event favorite at +1000 on DraftKings Sportsbook. Schauffele won the Olympic gold medal in Japan in 2021 and loves these no-cut events, while Morikawa won this event in 2023 (different venue). The event has an $8.5 million prize purse and also features a returning Matsuyama. While there are numerous sponsor exemptions and players from the Asian Tour in the field, there’s also a much deeper top end of talent available for fantasy purposes than we have seen in recent weeks, making this a nice change of pace as we continue into the fall swing.
Let’s dive into the course and player preview below.
The Course
Yokohama Country Club – Yokohama, Japan
Par 71, 7,315 yards
On top of getting a new sponsorship and title, this event will also have a new venue for 2025. Yokohama Country Club in Yokohama, Japan (located just south of Tokyo) will be hosting the event for the first time this fall. The venue has hosted some Japanese Tour events in the past, and for this week, the PGA venue will be a composite of the two 18-hole facilities on the venue.
There isn’t a whole lot of information about Yokohama out there, but like most Japanese golf courses, it is a bit quirky in design. The venue is a par 71 but will only feature two par 5s and just three par 3s. There are eight par 4s on the back nine alone, so Par 4 scoring is obviously something to weigh a little more this week. The venue does appear to be heavily tree-lined, but it isn’t as claustrophobic as some of the tight classic designs on the PGA like Colonial. That said, its layout does have similar features to Colonial, such as some tricky par 3s guarded by water and tight doglegs that require precision off the tee rather than power.
Driving accuracy should be important this week as there are likely to be several holes where less than driver will be required, and where accuracy will be more important than overall power. It’s a parkland setting, but with some elevated greens and tighter approach shots, I do expect good around-the-green play to be somewhat necessary this week as well. Overall, players with good experience on technical venues like Colonial, Hilton Head, or TPC River Highlands should do well here.
2025 Outlook: There doesn’t appear to be a ton of poor weather for this week, but the event will start with some heavy winds. Gusts up to 15-20 mph could be in the forecast for Thursday, with gusts expected to last all day. Either way, the first day of the event looks like it will feature some very poor conditions and tough scoring. After that, things start to die down, although Friday morning does look like it will still have residual gusts, with Friday afternoon looking better. Winds pick up a little on Sunday, although they will be calmer than on the first day. As of now, players starting Thursday p.m./Friday a.m. may be the ones to avoid, but as with any forecast, it’s hard to say how this will play out early in the week. ATG play may be a big factor.
Last 5 Winners
2024 — Nico Echavarria -20 (over Justin Thomas -19 and Max Greyserman)
2023 — Collin Morikawa -14 (over Eric Cole and Beau Hossler -8)
2022 — Keegan Bradley -15 (over Andrew Putnam and Rickie Fowler -14)
2021 — Hideki Matsuyama -15 (over Brendan Steele and Cameron Tringale -10)
*2020 — Patrick Cantlay -23 (over Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm -22)
*Played at Sherwood CC (not this week’s venue)
Winning Trends
- Tiger was playing his first fall event of the year when he won this event in 2019 and was coming off two months of competitive rest.
- The 2019 second-place finisher, Hideki Matsuyama, provides us with a little more info. He was busier around this time in 2019. His second-place finish to Woods was preceded by a T-3 finish at the CJ Cup and a T-16 at the Shriners, so he had some momentum.
- In 2021, Matsuyama had already posted a strong finish prior to his win at this event, grabbing a share of fifth at the Fortinet in 2021 just a couple of weeks prior to playing in Japan.
- In 2022, both Rickie Fowler and Keegan Bradley had posted top-five finishes in the Fall series (Fowler at Fortinet and Bradley two weeks prior at the Sanderson Farms). Clearly, some fall golf (and good fall form) has not hurt the competitors here.
- The 2023 winner, Collin Morikawa, was also making his first fall start after two months off, but finished T-6 at the Tour Championship in August.
- As far as performance goes, we don’t have strokes gained metrics, but Woods was top eight in fairways gained and GIR%. He was smart enough just to hit fairways at this shorter course and then had elite iron play and a putter that got red-hot (led the field in PUTTS PER GIR).
- Morikawa was also a leader in GIR hit (T-3 in GIR%) and generally outperformed on the greens as well (second in Putts per GIR)
- Echavarria had missed the cut in his prior start but finished T11 at the Sanderson Farms two events before winning.
Finding Values (DraftKings Sportsbook)
Odds to win are one factor to think about when picking players (but not the only thing, so be careful putting too much weight on them). This section is going to detail a few of the players who have the best fantasy value compared to their DraftKings Sportsbook odds of winning this week.
Wyndham Clark +3500 and $8,600
Comparables:
Max Greyserman +5000 and $8,000
Comparables:
All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook are subject to change.
Recent Form
1. Alex Noren ($9,800, Recent finishes: win-MC-win): Coming in off two wins, and has one of the better short games on the planet. Given the strange venue and poor weather, a third win this fall is possible.
2. Kurt Kitayama ($9,400, Recent finishes: T19-T9): Won not too long ago in Minnesota and has followed that up with some more solid results. He is coming in off a longer break, but we have seen players do the same and excel at this event before.
3. Michael Kim ($9,300, Recent finishes: win-MC-T10): Kim won on the Euro Tour in his last start in France just a couple of weeks ago. The American is very accurate with his irons and profiles well for a tighter test like Yokohama.
4. Min Woo Lee ($8,800, Recent finishes: MC-T5-T11): Min Woo missed the cut last week at the Sanderson, where he was one of the favorites, but has still generally played great over the fall with a couple of big finishes over in Europe. He’s a good bounce-back candidate this week.
DRAFTKINGS DFS STRATEGY
Cash Games: Xander should produce
It hasn’t been a great season for Xander Schauffele overall, but he has had a lot of success in these sorts of no-cut events in the past, which includes winning the gold medal in Japan back in 2021. He’s not a huge favorite this week, but at only $11,000, he’s also not overly expensive and someone I’d be looking to get out in front of in these weaker events where he’s likely to find his game soon. Below him, I also like the price on Christiaan Bezuidenhout ($8,400) this week, who has the putting and ATG game to survive tough conditions and would not put anyone off targeting Mac Meissner ($7,100) at well under 8k given the form he’s been showing. It’ll be a tough week for cash games, but, in general, I’d want to target steady producers who have been firing well in multiple areas this week to offset what will likely be a lower fantasy scoring week overall.
Tournaments: Noren could go again
Asking someone to win three times in a span of two months is a lot, but given the weaker field and weather uncertainty, I do feel like Noren has a shot at accomplishing it this week. The Swede sets up well for a test of golf that will force players to make a lot of par saves, and his iron game has been terrific of late, which hopefully keeps him out of trouble at the start. We’ve seen veterans perform well at this event in the past (Tiger in 2019, Keegan in 2022), and Adam Scott ($8,500) could certainly continue that trend this week, given the technical course. The Aussie is likely to be lower-owned in the 8k range, so if you’re looking to differentiate and embrace that weather volatility, I like building around him where possible. Other names to consider lower down include Andrew Putnam (see below), David Lipsky ($6,400), and Joel Dahmen ($6,500).
MY PICK: Si Woo Kim ($9,600)
This week starts with some poor weather, which could make things interesting. It’s hard to say in these sorts of scenarios who will show up and who won’t, but judging the setup and the recent form, I do like the chances of Si Woo Kim to produce in this spot. The South Korean has played plenty in this part of the world and was T6 at this event last season, his third time playing over in Japan on the PGA. This year, he comes in with arguably better form than last season after he managed top 20s in his two playoff appearances (T14 FedEx St. Jude; T19 BMW) and a T6 at the BMW Championship over in England last month, which was his first time playing the famous Wentworth venue.
Kim gained over 8.0 strokes on approach at the FedEx, and while his putter hasn’t quite clicked yet, Yokohama is a new venue to almost everyone in the field. He may not be as disadvantaged on the greens as he would normally be at a regular PGA stop, as the uncertainty is likely to create more variance for the better putters. Regardless, we’ve seen Kim play well in tougher conditions before at venues like Sawgrass and Muirfield Village, and given the uncertainty we have this week, it makes sense to lean on him for DFS.
MY SLEEPER: Andrew Putnam ($6,700)
Putnam is coming in off a bunch of missed cuts, but the veteran has still been hitting the ball relatively well as he’s actually gained strokes on approach in four straight events (all of them MCs). A great scrambler who ranked 9th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green stats last season, Putnam should also be helped by the Par 4 heavy layout this week, given his lack of distance often puts him at a disadvantage on the par 5s.
The former Barracuda winner was 10th last year in Par 4 scoring, so seeing him excel at Yokohama wouldn’t be that surprising, especially if scrambling becomes a big focus due to the weather. He’s also familiar with this part of the world, at the very least, having played the Zozo in both 2022 and 2024, and posted a T2 in Chiba back in 2022.
To me, there is little downside in using Putnam at his current price, given the no-cut event, and for betting his +8000 outright and +500 top-10 odds are both attractive enough to make him a solid add to cards this week.
