Top DraftKings PGA DFS Plays for the 2022 Tour Championship

Top DraftKings PGA DFS Plays for the 2022 Tour Championship

We have arrived at the final exhale of the PGA Tour season. The Tour Championship pits the best 30 golfers from this season against one another with an $18 million grand prize on the 72nd hole.

The venue, East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, has hosted the FedEx Cup’s swansong event since 2004. It is an extremely challenging par-70 track that stretches to 7,340 yards with Bermudagrass throughout. The 30 golfers who qualify for the Tour Championship are awarded a starting stroke score relative to their incoming standings in the FedEx Cup playoffs. Scottie Scheffler will begin his first round at 10-under par, Patrick Cantlay at 8-under par, and so on down the list. Here are the 30 golfers in the field and their initial score to par with staggered standings.

-10: Scottie Scheffler

-8: Patrick Cantlay

-7: Will Zalatoris* (WD, due to herniated discs in back)

-6: Xander Schauffele

-5: Sam Burns

-4: Cameron Smith, Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau, Sepp Straka, Sungaje Im

-3: Jon Rahm, Scott Stallings, Justin Thomas, Cameron Young, Matthew Fitzpatrick

-2: Max Homa, Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth, Joaquin Niemann, Viktor Hovland

-1: Collin Morikawa, Billy Horschel, Tom Hoge, Corey Conners, Brian Harman

EVEN: K.H. Lee, J.T. Poston, Sahith Theegala, Adam Scott, Aaron Wise

Since the DFS sites like DraftKings and FanDuel award points for standings, they have altered contest salaries to reflect the increased odds of winning for the golfers who have a better starting score and standing.

With such a constricted field and vast disparities in salary, I am limiting my player pool to only 12. I will also only partake in single-entry tournaments and smaller head-to-head matchups to avoid duplicates and assist in good DFS investing. Team Rise or Fall has you covered with all the best data and analysis across every DFS sport. Click here to become a premium subscriber and use Promo Code: Bo for $10 off your initial month. You will also receive a $20 voucher to Fantasy Cruncher, the gold standard in lineup-generating technology.

PGA Study Hub Projections

The tools included in that amazing premium subscription include access to the PGA Study Hub and Stats Model, where you can weight individual statistics that are the most pertinent to this week’s event. East Lake is a tight course that demands accuracy from tee to green and stellar all-around play. My most-weighted metrics are Strokes Gained from Tee to Green (SG: T2G), Strokes Gained Off the Tee (SG: OTT), Strokes Gained on Approach (SG: APP), Three-Putt Avoidance, and Proximity on Approach from 150-175 yards. Recent form is also another very important consideration. Of course, building a lineup with some leverage picks (high-upside, low rostership) is important to any DFS player.

Grandma just set out some peach cobbler and Ray Charles is crooning “Georgia on My Mind” through her old radio. Let’s tee off.

Stick It Close: Studs to Target

Xander Schauffele (DK: $12,300; FD: $12,400; Y!: $40)

Xander is starting this tournament four strokes behind world number one and FedEx Cup leader, Scheffler. The course fits Xander’s game to a tee. Now that Schauffele got the winning monkey off his back, he is a threat to go low on tough courses like East Lake. Any semblance of a sluggish start for Scheffler and the field will be licking its chops.

Tony Finau (DK: $9,600; FD: $11,500; Y!: $29)

There is still not a hotter golfer on the planet than Finau, who also appears as the second-best golfer in my statistical model. Many DFS players will hesitate to spend up on a golfer who is starting six shots off the lead, but it is still not unheard of for someone to make a charge from the back of the pack over the course of four days and 72 holes of championship golf. I will wager that if anyone can storm to the top of this leaderboard, it would be the Utah native with the short backswing and incredible recent form.

Sungjae Im (DK: $9,100; FD: $10,600; Y!: $23)

The young Korean comes in sixth in my model this week, which is extra appealing because he is not expected to gather much rostership for his salary. In a full-field event, 20% rostership would be ultra-chalky. This week, 20% is a wonderful leverage spot for a guy that is an amazing ball-striker (especially on approach). He also starts his round on Thursday at four-under par, right on that six-shot earshot from the lead.

Other Studs in My Pool: Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas

No Gimme: Tap-In Values

Collin Morikawa (DK: $7,900; FD: $9,700; Y!: $33)

Morikawa is simply too cheap this week. He is starting nine strokes behind Scheffler and is projecting a middling 24% rostership. Those are the knocks against him. Statistically speaking, he is another prime fit for East Lake’s daunting tee-to-green gauntlet. We need our value golfers to score lots of fantasy points to make up for their staggered initial standings and the Cal Bear is primed to make this tough course look easy.

Hideki Matsuyama (DK: $8,100; FD: $8,900; Y!: $24)

I love Hideki’s game. He was very impressive last week at the BMW after withdrawing from the St. Jude the week before. He now enters the Tour Championship as an extreme leverage play with a two-under starting score. His best asset is his world-class approach game, which will be paramount to score in Atlanta. Who knows? Scheffler might slip up and let everyone back into this thing.

Aaron Wise (DK: $5,400; FD: $7,600; Y!: $20)

With how egregiously expensive the top golfers in this field are, you need a cheap option to round out an optimal roster build. The former Oregon Duck is playing with some blistering-hot form these days and is a very chalky value pick. With all of the other leverage picks I’ve highlighted for this week, I still want Wise in my lineup. If the chalk is too suffocating for your taste, Brian Harman and Tom Hoge are also decent plays without the fanfare.

Other Values in My Pool: Corey Conners, Scott Stallings, Billy Horschel