The PGA TOUR continues the West Coast swing by traveling to Southern California and spending the week at the famous Torrey Pines golf courses nestled against the Pacific. This week’s event draws an elite field for a full-field event, and it has the unique distinction of running Wednesday through Saturday in order to avoid going head-to-head with the NFL Conference Championships on Sunday.
Like last week, multiple courses are in play this week, but this week, there are just two in the rotation. Each player will play one round at Torrey South and one round at Torrey North on Wednesday and Thursday before the cut is made, and the top 65 and ties move to Torrey South for the final two rounds of the event. The North Course typically plays much easier relative to par, so keep that in mind for the first two days of action.
Unlike last week’s birdie-fest, this week should result in more typical scoring. Torrey Pines is known for its length and difficulty, so be sure to target players with good course history, plenty of length off the tee, and success on longer approach shots. After some surprise winners in the first few tournaments of the season, the big names will likely return to the leaderboard this week if past history is any indication.
Defending champion Max Homa leads a strong field that includes seven past champions on this track. Homa is joined by Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa as big-name players with strong California ties. Those four players are priced over $10,000, but there is also a strong contingent of players in the $9,000 range, including Sungjae Im, Jason Day, Tony Finau, and Eric Cole.
In this post each week, we’ll focus on players who are strong GPP options. That means they have lower ownership projections than their potential performance. Finding this kind of high-leverage play is critical for GPP success. The picks here go against the grain to take advantage of players who may be overlooked and under-owned.
Since these are GPP picks, we can accept more risk if it raises the lineup’s ceiling. High-risk, high-reward options with low ownership create the “boom-or-bust” style lineups that usually lead to large-field success.
GPP contests are contests that have large numbers of entries and pay out huge prizes to the top few percent. This week, the largest GPP on DraftKings is the $600K Pitch + Putt, which awards $200K to first place and is $20 per entry.
The players highlighted will be good options in all formats if they deliver, but they come with risk factors that usually keep them from being safe plays. Consistency and reliability should be the focus of lineups in cash and double-up contests, where finishing in the top spot isn’t quite as important, but in GPP tournaments, we can “swing for the fences.” To find specific guidance for all contest types, check out our full Daily Fantasy Golf coverage each week.
No matter what type of format you prefer, be sure to use the FantasyLabs PGA Models to help you make the best choices. These models use stats and simulations to highlight different players’ strengths and weaknesses. A few critical new stats for GPP play are Perfect% and SimLeverage, which are further explained here.
Usually, I rely on the Stroked Gained Model, which is very predictive of results. I also tend to lean into players that gain shots on approach since week-to-week putting performance can be highly volatile, even for the best players on the PGA TOUR.
As you dig into the numbers, you can enjoy the many tools that FantasyLabs offers, including the Lineup Optimizer, which effortlessly creates up to 300 lineups. Alternatively, you can use the Lineup Builder if you prefer a more hands-on approach.
Check out my top picks in each price range listed below.
Editors note: SimLeverage and Perfect% numbers may change after this piece is published. Be sure to check the PGA Models for any updates to the sims.
High-Priced PGA DFS Picks
Max Homa $10,100
Of the four players priced over $10,000, Homa has the best Projected Plus/Minus and the lowest ownership projection. Despite being the defending champ, he has a mixed history at Torrey Pines, with three top 20s and three missed cuts in six career appearances. That boom-or-bust history, though, works just fine for GPP play, and getting him at lower ownership than Schauffele, Cantlay, and Morikawa makes him an even stronger option.
Homa may also be flying a little under the radar since he hasn’t played a lot recently. He has an impressive record when he has teed it up, though, including a top 15 at the Sentry in his only appearance in 2024. Since the end of the playoffs last season, he posted a top 10 at the Fortinet Championship and won the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa on the DP World Tour.
He has exceeded salary-based expectations in eight of his last nine tournaments in DFS play, including that victory and eight straight top-20 finishes.
Homa excels on poa putting surfaces and has won in California four times in his career. He seems poised to continue his dominant form at one of his favorite courses, so building around him is a strong place to start your GPP lineups.
Jason Day $9,500
Day’s projections this week are a touch behind the other players in this price range, but his ownership is the lowest of any player over $9,000, and he has an elite course history.
In 2018, Day won at Torrey Pines and chased that with a top-five finish in 2019. He has also finished in the top 10 in each of the last two years as he turned his career back around after a series of injuries. Last year, he finished T7 here and ultimately re-emerged as one of the top players on the PGA TOUR as the year went on, claiming a memorable win at the Byron Nelson.
Day was very consistent last week at The American Express, with four rounds of 68 or better on his way to a T34. He also finished in the top 10 at The Sentry and won the Grant Thornton Invitational while teaming with Lydia Ko last month. His form is solid coming back to a course he loves, so getting him at low ownership is a chance that’s too good to pass up.
Mid-Priced PGA DFS Picks
Harris English $8,800
In the mid-priced tier, there are several strong options to consider, but English stands out as a play with high upside and low ownership. His ownership projection of under 10% is the lowest of all players priced at over $8,100.
English has a boom-or-bust track record on courses that play long and difficult like Torrey Pines, but his high points have been noteworthy. He finished third at the U.S. Open on this track in 2021 and also had a top-10 finish at Torrey back in 2018. On the downside, he did miss the cut in three of his last four trips to the Farmers Insurance Open, with a T71 as his only weekend showing.
He does come to this year’s tournament in good form, though, after posting a T14 at The Sentry and a T10 at the Sony Open. He was just one bad round from being in contention in both of those events and took last week to recover from his two-week trip to the islands.
English is a boom-or-bust play, but that’s exactly what we want for GPP formats. His game is more about scrambling and precision than bombing it off the tee, but with suspect weather and higher scoring potentially in the forecast, the week could end up playing to his strengths.
Adrian Meronk $8,200
Meronk has the highest ceiling projection of all players priced under $9,500, and he comes with a projected ownership of just over 10%. The Polish international will be making his first start on the PGA TOUR this season after earning his membership by finishing in the top 10 in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai in 2023.
He finished 2023 with a run of strong results in the Fall, including a win at the Andalucia Masters in Spain and a T15 at the Nedbank Golf Challenge that Homa won. He started 2024 with a T10 last week at the Dubai Invitational.
This will be Meronk’s 15th overall start on the PGA TOUR and his second trip to Torrey Pines. He missed the cut on this track in 2021 but posted three top 25s last season, including a top 15 at The Honda Classic and a top 25 at The Open Championship on courses that played more difficult.
Meronk is a wild card since he doesn’t have a long track record of success at this venue, but the 30-year-old comes loaded with upside as he looks to make a splash this week.
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Value PGA DFS Picks
Ryan Fox $7,500
Fox also earned his way onto the PGA TOUR by finishing in the top 10 in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai in 2023, slotting in one spot behind Meronk. He has more PGA TOUR experience in his career and comes at a very attractive salary of just $7,500. He has the third-highest ceiling projection of all the players under $8,000 and also has the highest Projected Plus/Minus in the entire field.
Fox won the BMW PGA Championship in England in November and finished second the next week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Last week, he was also in the top 15 at the Dubai Invitational, so he comes to this event with good momentum.
This will be his first tournament at Torrey Pines, but his game should fit the course well. He’s got plenty of length off the tee and can also scramble well and navigate tricky conditions. He brings solid upside for his very affordable salary.
Michael Kim $7,300
Don’t worry, Michael Kim, we see you! After getting forgotten by the PGA TOUR for his Torrey Pines ties, Kim will look to post a memorable showing in his homecoming to Torrey Pines this week. He celebrated his top-six last week at La Quinta in California style with a trip to In-N-Out, so he definitely has this Cali vibe thing down.
Interesting tweets and menu choices aside, Kim has a strong enough course history to deserve some attention this week. He made the cut in five of his last six appearances with a top 25 back in 2018.
Kim had a strong run last spring before struggling a little bit of the summer. He regained his form in the FedExCup Fall, though, placing in the top 25 in three of his last four events of 2023. He started this year with a made cut at the Sony Open before his strong finish last week at The American Express. If he can keep playing so well this week, he brings great upside at this affordable salary.
Sleeper PGA DFS Picks
Joseph Bramlett $6,800
There are 88 golfers priced under $7,000 in this week’s tournament, and all of them have ownership projections under 5%. Bramlett’s is under 2% despite a few things going in his favor. He is one of the longest drivers on the PGA TOUR, so it makes sense that his game fits Torrey Pines better than most bargain plays. His course history bears that out as well since he has made the cut in all four of his trips to this event and finished in the top 20 in two of the last three seasons.
Bramlett missed the cut at The American Express last week but did play the weekend at The Sony Open in Hawaii the week before. He exceeded salary-based expectations in both events despite exiting early after playing three rounds at La Quinta. His recent form is solid enough to take him as a horse-for-the-course flier.
Callum Tarren $6,400
Tarren is another cheap option who is one of the longest hitters available. He used that skill to finish in the top 25 at this event last season after missing the cut in his debut in 2022. Tarren missed the cut at The Sony Open and The American Express, but he did finish with a 66 on Saturday last week at La Quinta Country Club, where he made eight birdies before double-bogeying the final hole.
While he definitely has been volatile, the 33-year-old has a high ceiling with six top 25s last season, including the one at this track. He made four cuts during the FedExCup Fall, including a top 10 at the Fortinet Championship and a top 25 at the Shriners Children’s Open. He has a very high ceiling this week for a play under $6,500.
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