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PGA DFS: Top Cash Game Picks for the TOUR Championship on DraftKings

Up next is the TOUR Championship, which will conclude the 2024 PGA TOUR season and the FedEx Cup Playoffs. This event will be played at East Lake Golf Club (par 71, 7,490 yards, Bermuda greens) in Atlanta, Georgia, which has been the home of the TOUR Championship since 2004. Viktor Hovland won last year’s edition of this event at -15, and after the conclusion of that TOUR Championship, East Lake saw major renovations. All the grass was converted to near surface types, bunkers were added, the greens were expanded, and the 14th hole was converted to a par five, making East Lake a par 71 instead of a par 70 like it was in the past. The course is going to feel different for the players, but the overall layout remains mostly the same and looking back at player’s histories at East Lake still has merit.

For this week’s format, the TOUR Championship is a no-cut event that consists of the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings, and each golfer will begin the tournament with a score based on their position in the standings. As the FedEx Cup points leader, Scottie Scheffler will start the TOUR Championship at -10, which is two shots clear of Xander Schauffele at -8. The rest of the field’s starting positions can be found in this article on PGATOUR.com.

The PGA DFS Breakdown offers data-driven analysis for each week’s slate, using the FantasyLabs Tools and metrics to highlight notable golfers.

I’ll be highlighting the best cash game/single-entry plays on the DraftKings main slate, but these players are often great options in any contest.

My analysis will frequently reference Strokes Gained, a set of proprietary metrics generated by the PGA TOUR using millions of data points to calculate how many shots, on average, it takes a player to get the ball in the hole from every distance and situation.

Strokes Gained is now available in the FantasyLabs PGA Models.

There are a variety of Strokes Gained-related metrics, but the six main categories you need to know include:

  • Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (SG: Off-the-Tee)
  • Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: Approach)
  • Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green (SG: Around-the-Green)
  • Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: Putting)
  • Strokes Gained: Ball-Striking (SG: Ball-Striking), which is SG: Off-the-Tee + SG: Approach
  • Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (SG: Tee-to-Green), which is SG: Ball-Striking + SG: Around-the-Green

Don’t forget to check out two key metrics in our models — Perfect% and SimLeverage. You can find an explainer on those metrics here.

The cliff notes version is that you can use SimLeverage to quickly find leverage plays in tournaments, while Perfect% is great for finding the best price-considered plays for cash games.

And don’t forget to utilize our various PGA DFS tools like our Lineup Optimizer, Lineup Builder, PGA Correlation Dashboard, and our Trends tool.

The following players listed are based on DraftKings scoring and pricing.

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PGA DFS Cash Game Thoughts

Note: FantasyLabs has partnered with Betsperts Golf and the Rabbit Hole! Sign up for the biggest database of golf stats available on the internet and get 25% off a yearly sub with our link! 

Unless otherwise noted, all Strokes Gained metrics referenced in this article come via the Rabbit Hole.

Tool Highlights

  • Build unlimited custom stat models with official PGA TOUR data.
  • Hundreds of filters to find the exact data split you’re looking for.
  • Save custom reports and run them again with next week’s field.
  • Download anything you right to your computer with the click of a button.
  • See expert models each week.
 

Xander Schauffele ($11,000) – Saving $1,200 and rostering Schauffele over Scheffler is the right move for the TOUR Championship, despite Schauffele starting two strokes behind Scheffler. Schauffele will begin this season finale with the second-best position at -8 and is simply playing better golf than Scheffler right now. In his last four starts, Schauffele has won the Open Championship, finished T9th at the Olympics, finished runner-up at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and finished T5th at the BMW Championship, in that order. On the other hand, Scheffler was a major disappointment at the BMW Championship last week, finishing T33rd, and he notably lost strokes from tee to green for the first time this season. On top of the more appealing form, Schauffle boasts a better resume at East Lake than Scheffler. Including a win in his debut at the course in 2017, Schauffele owns a ridiculous 3.3rd place career average finish in seven starts at East Lake, while Scheffler carries an 8.8th place career average finish at the Ross design in four starts. Overall, when we compare this field’s last 50 rounds at Ross courses via the Rabbit Hole, Schaffuele ranks second in strokes gained per round versus Scheffler, who ranks 20th. Schauffele is simply the better value of the two studs, and starting your cash game lineups with the 30-year-old is the best strategy for this week.

Now available: our PGA DFS SimLabs Lineup Generator that creates advanced DFS lineups using the power of simulation.

Sam Burns ($8,400) – Burns made some serious noise at East Lake last season, finishing T9th at -10 after he began the TOUR Championship at even par. For this year’s edition of the playoff finale, Burns will start the event at -4 and he is playing outstanding golf currently, coming off a runner-up at the BMW Championship last week, which marked his third straight top-12 finish. These three starts alone have moved Burns up 12 spots in the world golf rankings, and he has collectively gained strokes on approach and with his putter at every tournament during this stretch. If Burns can stay hot in both these departments this week, the 28-year-old has top-five upside.

Wyndham Clark ($8,100) – Despite starting six shots off the lead at last year’s TOUR Championship, Clark stormed back and finished third in his first attempt at East Lake. At -4, the 30-year-old finds himself with the exact same position starting position for this year’s TOUR Championship, and Clark brings elite upside once again, heading to Atlanta in even better form this time around. Clark is coming off a T13 at last week’s BMW Championship and he has finished inside the top-15 in five of his last six starts, with that lone outlier being a missed cut in the violate conditions at Royal Troon for the Open Championship. Clark is the cheapest of the six golfers starting at -4 this week and is a stellar value play.

Adam Scott ($7,900) – Scott’s game is firing on all cylinders right now, and he is a terrific bargain at this salary. The Aussie will start this event at -4, thanks to a terrific recent stretch that has vaulted him up the standings. Scott took a few weeks off after the Travelers Championship in June, and after the short break, he has finished runner-up, T10th, T18th, and runner-up in his last four starts. That latter near win was just last week at the BMW Championship when Scott finished one stroke short of winner Keegan Bradley, and when we compare this field’s last 16 rounds via the Rabbit Hole, Scott impressively ranks second in Total Strokes Gained, only trailing Schauffele. Scott has generated six top-10 finishes in 12 starts at East Lake – most notably with a win in 2006 – and he is in a great position to add another top-10 finish to his resume at the Ross creation.  

Justin Thomas ($6,800) – While Thomas’ recent results haven’t been great, his subpar play has mostly been a product of some poor putting, and a return to East Lake could revitalize him, given his love for this venue. Including a pair of runner-up finishes, Thomas has never finished worse than T7th in seven starts at East Lake. The former major champion’s career average finish of 4th place at this venue ranks second among the players in this field who have competed at East Lake more than once. Furthermore, Thomas ranks third in Strokes Gained per round when we compare this field’s history at East Lake, and he ranks fourth in Strokes Gained per round when we analyze this field’s last 50 rounds at FedEx Cup Playoff events via the Rabbit Hole. While Thomas will begin this event at even par, he is one of the better values available at this cheap salary, which is easily the lowest he has ever been priced for a TOUR Championship at East Lake.

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Up next is the TOUR Championship, which will conclude the 2024 PGA TOUR season and the FedEx Cup Playoffs. This event will be played at East Lake Golf Club (par 71, 7,490 yards, Bermuda greens) in Atlanta, Georgia, which has been the home of the TOUR Championship since 2004. Viktor Hovland won last year’s edition of this event at -15, and after the conclusion of that TOUR Championship, East Lake saw major renovations. All the grass was converted to near surface types, bunkers were added, the greens were expanded, and the 14th hole was converted to a par five, making East Lake a par 71 instead of a par 70 like it was in the past. The course is going to feel different for the players, but the overall layout remains mostly the same and looking back at player’s histories at East Lake still has merit.

For this week’s format, the TOUR Championship is a no-cut event that consists of the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings, and each golfer will begin the tournament with a score based on their position in the standings. As the FedEx Cup points leader, Scottie Scheffler will start the TOUR Championship at -10, which is two shots clear of Xander Schauffele at -8. The rest of the field’s starting positions can be found in this article on PGATOUR.com.

The PGA DFS Breakdown offers data-driven analysis for each week’s slate, using the FantasyLabs Tools and metrics to highlight notable golfers.

I’ll be highlighting the best cash game/single-entry plays on the DraftKings main slate, but these players are often great options in any contest.

My analysis will frequently reference Strokes Gained, a set of proprietary metrics generated by the PGA TOUR using millions of data points to calculate how many shots, on average, it takes a player to get the ball in the hole from every distance and situation.

Strokes Gained is now available in the FantasyLabs PGA Models.

There are a variety of Strokes Gained-related metrics, but the six main categories you need to know include:

  • Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (SG: Off-the-Tee)
  • Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: Approach)
  • Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green (SG: Around-the-Green)
  • Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: Putting)
  • Strokes Gained: Ball-Striking (SG: Ball-Striking), which is SG: Off-the-Tee + SG: Approach
  • Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (SG: Tee-to-Green), which is SG: Ball-Striking + SG: Around-the-Green

Don’t forget to check out two key metrics in our models — Perfect% and SimLeverage. You can find an explainer on those metrics here.

The cliff notes version is that you can use SimLeverage to quickly find leverage plays in tournaments, while Perfect% is great for finding the best price-considered plays for cash games.

And don’t forget to utilize our various PGA DFS tools like our Lineup Optimizer, Lineup Builder, PGA Correlation Dashboard, and our Trends tool.

The following players listed are based on DraftKings scoring and pricing.

Become an All-Access Member Today

Lineup builder and optimizer

Real-time DFS models & projections

Data-driven analysis & tutorials
Become a PRO Member
 

PGA DFS Cash Game Thoughts

Note: FantasyLabs has partnered with Betsperts Golf and the Rabbit Hole! Sign up for the biggest database of golf stats available on the internet and get 25% off a yearly sub with our link! 

Unless otherwise noted, all Strokes Gained metrics referenced in this article come via the Rabbit Hole.

Tool Highlights

  • Build unlimited custom stat models with official PGA TOUR data.
  • Hundreds of filters to find the exact data split you’re looking for.
  • Save custom reports and run them again with next week’s field.
  • Download anything you right to your computer with the click of a button.
  • See expert models each week.
 

Xander Schauffele ($11,000) – Saving $1,200 and rostering Schauffele over Scheffler is the right move for the TOUR Championship, despite Schauffele starting two strokes behind Scheffler. Schauffele will begin this season finale with the second-best position at -8 and is simply playing better golf than Scheffler right now. In his last four starts, Schauffele has won the Open Championship, finished T9th at the Olympics, finished runner-up at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and finished T5th at the BMW Championship, in that order. On the other hand, Scheffler was a major disappointment at the BMW Championship last week, finishing T33rd, and he notably lost strokes from tee to green for the first time this season. On top of the more appealing form, Schauffle boasts a better resume at East Lake than Scheffler. Including a win in his debut at the course in 2017, Schauffele owns a ridiculous 3.3rd place career average finish in seven starts at East Lake, while Scheffler carries an 8.8th place career average finish at the Ross design in four starts. Overall, when we compare this field’s last 50 rounds at Ross courses via the Rabbit Hole, Schaffuele ranks second in strokes gained per round versus Scheffler, who ranks 20th. Schauffele is simply the better value of the two studs, and starting your cash game lineups with the 30-year-old is the best strategy for this week.

Now available: our PGA DFS SimLabs Lineup Generator that creates advanced DFS lineups using the power of simulation.

Sam Burns ($8,400) – Burns made some serious noise at East Lake last season, finishing T9th at -10 after he began the TOUR Championship at even par. For this year’s edition of the playoff finale, Burns will start the event at -4 and he is playing outstanding golf currently, coming off a runner-up at the BMW Championship last week, which marked his third straight top-12 finish. These three starts alone have moved Burns up 12 spots in the world golf rankings, and he has collectively gained strokes on approach and with his putter at every tournament during this stretch. If Burns can stay hot in both these departments this week, the 28-year-old has top-five upside.

Wyndham Clark ($8,100) – Despite starting six shots off the lead at last year’s TOUR Championship, Clark stormed back and finished third in his first attempt at East Lake. At -4, the 30-year-old finds himself with the exact same position starting position for this year’s TOUR Championship, and Clark brings elite upside once again, heading to Atlanta in even better form this time around. Clark is coming off a T13 at last week’s BMW Championship and he has finished inside the top-15 in five of his last six starts, with that lone outlier being a missed cut in the violate conditions at Royal Troon for the Open Championship. Clark is the cheapest of the six golfers starting at -4 this week and is a stellar value play.

Adam Scott ($7,900) – Scott’s game is firing on all cylinders right now, and he is a terrific bargain at this salary. The Aussie will start this event at -4, thanks to a terrific recent stretch that has vaulted him up the standings. Scott took a few weeks off after the Travelers Championship in June, and after the short break, he has finished runner-up, T10th, T18th, and runner-up in his last four starts. That latter near win was just last week at the BMW Championship when Scott finished one stroke short of winner Keegan Bradley, and when we compare this field’s last 16 rounds via the Rabbit Hole, Scott impressively ranks second in Total Strokes Gained, only trailing Schauffele. Scott has generated six top-10 finishes in 12 starts at East Lake – most notably with a win in 2006 – and he is in a great position to add another top-10 finish to his resume at the Ross creation.  

Justin Thomas ($6,800) – While Thomas’ recent results haven’t been great, his subpar play has mostly been a product of some poor putting, and a return to East Lake could revitalize him, given his love for this venue. Including a pair of runner-up finishes, Thomas has never finished worse than T7th in seven starts at East Lake. The former major champion’s career average finish of 4th place at this venue ranks second among the players in this field who have competed at East Lake more than once. Furthermore, Thomas ranks third in Strokes Gained per round when we compare this field’s history at East Lake, and he ranks fourth in Strokes Gained per round when we analyze this field’s last 50 rounds at FedEx Cup Playoff events via the Rabbit Hole. While Thomas will begin this event at even par, he is one of the better values available at this cheap salary, which is easily the lowest he has ever been priced for a TOUR Championship at East Lake.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Shriners Children’s Open Top PGA DFS Picks, Values and Sleepers for Large-Field GPPs PGA DFS: Top Cash Game Picks for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba Top PGA DFS Picks, Values and Sleepers for Large-Field GPPs on DraftKings Hero World Challenge: Top PGA DFS Picks and Values for Large-Field GPPs on DraftKings

About the Author

Alex Hunter is an avid DFS player who produces NFL and NBA content for FantasyLabs. He has been playing DFS for nearly a decade, dating back to the DraftStreet days and has been in the fantasy/betting content business for over eight years. Alex earned his bachelor’s degree in communications at Worcester State University and has contributed content for some of the biggest outlets in the industry, such as DraftKings Network, Stokastic (formerly Awesemo) and RotoWire, covering NBA, NFL and PGA. Alex is a data-driven analyst that has multiple wins and high finishes in GPPs on his DFS resume, as well as years of being a successful cash-game player. If you have any questions or need any lineup advice, Alex can be found @Hunta512 on Twitter.