DraftKings Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: PGA Championship

Daily fantasy golf requires a new approach for each and every event.

The course and field change week after week, making no two contests alike. That means you need to refine your approach for each PGA Tour event to try to find golfers who are primed to excel for your daily fantasy golf lineups.

Each week, we have a course primer, and our daily fantasy golf projections and lineup builder can help you get started, but these golfers stand out specifically on DraftKings for the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black.

Key Stats

Let's get to the picks. For details on why these stats stand out this week, check out the primer.

Total driving stats are from the PGA Tour's official website and are for the current season, and all other stats are from Fantasy National Golf Club and are for golfers in the field over the last 50 rounds, unless otherwise noted.

High-Priced Studs

Dustin Johnson (DraftKings Price: $11,100 | FanDuel Sportsbook Win Odds 11/1) - DJ immediately gets the value nod as the co-favorite with Tiger Woods at a $200 salary discount. Woods obviously garners extra attention at books, and DK has priced him accordingly. Johnson's driver has not been up to his standard so far this year, as he ranks just 105th in total driving, but he hasn't finished outside the top 35 in that stat over a full season since 2015. Over is last 50 rounds he is third in strokes gained: ballstriking (6th off the tee and 8th on approach) and 19th in birdies or better gained.

Rory McIlroy ($10,900 | 12) - Quite possibly the hottest player in the world, McIlroy posted another top 10 his last time out, giving him seven in his last eight events (T21 at The Masters being the only exception). McIlroy is first in strokes gained: ballstriking and birdies or better gained. He is also first in strokes gained: tee to green and total strokes gained. He is 33rd in total driving, and his poor marks in scrambling gained (101st) can be explained by his dearth of scrambling opportunities when he hits every green. Rory has the chops to get up and down, as he ranked 17th in each of the past two full seasons in scrambling percentage.

Justin Rose ($9,900 | 20) - Rose has been terrific for over a year, but with the cream of the crop all above him and lots of good values below, the Englishman actually looks like he could be sneaky this week. Brooks Koepka has the noted upside in major championships, but Rose finished top 20 in all four majors last year, and despite a missed cut at Augusta last month he still has as high a pedigree as anyone in the field. In a limited schedule he is currently 85th in total driving this season, but even in that split he is 22nd in distance. Rose is 3rd in birdies or better gained and 12th in ball striking (21st off the tee/11th in approach).

Mid-Priced Options

Tommy Fleetwood ($9,200 | 35) - Another major championship week, another Tommy Fleetwood chalk week. He will continue to be priced down until he pulls off the elusive first win, but Fleetwood is a rock-solid play with top five upside once again this week. He enters the week off hosting duties at the British Masters, where amidst all his other obligations he finished tied for 8th. After what had to be an exhausting week, there is definitely a letdown possibility, but just as likely is he is refreshed and focused. Fleetwood is 16th in ballstriking, 28th in birdies or better gained, and 32nd in scrambling gained. He is currently 17th in total driving after finishing 2nd last season.

Jason Day ($9,000 | 25) - Day should be a popular option given his inexplicable discount, but the threat of a withdraw (and how often he's burned people in the past) will likely keep his ownership in check. Pricing is fairly soft this week, and Day fits easily into any construction. His game never pops off the sheet from a stats perspective, but he has plenty of distance and overall is 23rd in total driving. He is 9th in birdies or better gained and 20th in total strokes gained. Day has finished top 20 in each of the last six PGA Championships, and he was T4 at the 2016 Barclays held at Bethpage Black.

Bryson DeChambeau ($8,900 | 40) - Like Rose, DeChambeau is surrounded by terrific options that could suppress ownership across the DFS industry. As long as there is no injury news on Day, Bryson could very well come out as the lowest owned of this mini-range made up of with Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele, Day, and the always popular Tony Finau. Despite that, DeChambeau has as much win equity as anyone in the field with five worldwide wins in the past year. He is third in total driving, fifth in birdies or better gained, and ninth in strokes gained: ball striking.

Patrick Cantlay ($8,200 | 38) - Despite missed cuts at THE PLAYERS and the Farmers Insurance Open this year, Cantlay has cemented his status among the best ballstrikers on Tour. He is seventh in strokes gained: ballstriking, and he rode a hot tee to green game to a top 10 finish at The Masters, followed by an incredibly unlikely T3 at the RBC Heritage. One of the best iron players on Tour managing a podium finish at the only event where approach game plays second fiddle is extraordinary. He is 15th in driving distance but his accuracy is dragging down his total driving ranking (184th in accuracy, 92nd in total driving). He has shown over the past two season that he can right the ship, however, finishing 18th in 2017 and 32nd in 2018.

Low Priced Options

Sergio Garcia ($7,900 | 39) - Sergio gets little respect from DK this week, priced way down coming off a T4 finish at another long course in Quail Hollow. He is the only golfer in the field with three top 10s at Bethpage Black, having finished 4th at the 2002 U.S. Open, T10 at the 2009 U.S. Open, and T3 at the 2012 Barclays. He is 20th in strokes gained: ballstriking, and with a horrid 2018 behind him he boasts elite upside at a bargain price. He has total driving chops, finishing 12th in that stat in 2017.

Gary Woodland ($7,700 | 70) - Woodland has finally shown high-finish upside on a consistent basis after some ups and downs for most of his career, and the best form of his life began with last year's PGA Championship. Even though that event was played in the summer, he still has to feel great about a T6 in one of the best fields on Tour. He withdrew from the AT&T Byron Nelson with an illness but is expected to be back out there this week (likely he was sick of Trinity Forest). He is fourth in birdies or better gained and sixth in strokes gained: ballstriking, and he is second in total driving this season after finishing third last year.

Jason Kokrak ($7,600 | 120) - Kokrak is the first golfer with legitimate questions about whether or not he can really win this thing. Vegas isn't too confident, but the way he's been playing over the past five months indicates he absolutely can get in the mix. Kokrak had good showings at challenging courses at the Valero Texas Open (T7) and the Valspar Championship (T2). He is 4th in ballstriking, 15th in total driving, and 16th in birdies or better gained.

Lucas Glover ($7,300 | 100) - The champion of the last major held at Bethpage, Glover has had some dark days in the decade since his U.S. Open title, not the least of which was a stint on the Web.com Tour last year. He has not only bounced back, but actually sports some of the best form of his career since that 2009 win. He is 2nd in scrambling gained, 11th in total strokes gained, and 35th in ballstriking. He is currently 30th in total driving, and he has been a consistent presence at the top of that stat over the past decade (notably 1st in 2014, 2nd in 2016, and 4th in 2017).

Keegan Bradley ($7,200 | 160) - You'd like him more in a birdie fest, but Bradley was able to capitalize on wet conditions at last year's BMW Championship against a similarly strong (albeit smaller) field. Soft conditions (and slower putting surfaces) benefit Bradley immensely. He is 5th in strokes gained: ballstriking and has finished each of the past six seasons inside the top 10 in total driving, including first in both 2016 and 2017. Half of the top 10 at last year's PGA Championship had a major championship title to their name, and Keegan has that type of upside.

Bargain Basement

Corey Conners ($6,800 | 300) - Given the pedigree of top 10 finishers over the past few years at majors (and particularly this major), lineups should be constructed almost entirely of golfers with at least some shot of a win or at least a top-5. Conners has that, having earned the title at the Valero Texas Open back in April. He did his damage off the tee and on approach, and he ranks 8th in strokes gained: ballstriking (10th off the tee / 16th approach). He is 22nd in total driving and was 16th last year.

Luke List ($6,800 | 300) - Because scrambling to save par includes putting, List is "bad" at scrambling to the tune of 141st in the field. But he is a solid tee to green player (19th), and he is 24th in ballstriking. Locking List in DFS lineups is basically a prayer that the scale of importance of total driving tips firmly toward the distance portion this week. Over the last two years, he is top five in distance and bottom ten in accuracy off the tee.

Mike Rodden is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Mike Rodden also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mike_rodden. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.