DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: Truist Championship Cash and GPP Strategy

TRUIST CHAMPIONSHIP

Purse: $20M
Winner's Share: $3.6M
FedEx Cup Points: 700 to the Winner
Location: Charlotte, N.C.
Course: Quail Hollow Club
Yardage: 7,583
Par: 71
2025 champion: Sepp Straka  (Wissahickon)

Tournament Preview

It's too strong to say that the top players don't care about signature events. But it now seems absolutely fair to say they don't care about them as much s they used to.

Four more top players -- most notably Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa -- are sitting out this week's Truist Championship. And that's on the heels of Rory McIlroy and five others skipping last week's Cadillac Championship. None of the absences is injury related, as far as we've been told, though Morikawa has recently experienced back issues but played last week. Perhaps he wants to take it easy the week before the PGA Championship?

Joining Scheffler and Morikawa on the sidelines this week are world No. 8 Russell Henley and Shane Lowry.

That means that six of the top-10 players in the current world rankings, seven of the top-12 and eight of the top-15 sat out either last week or will this week.

There are eight signature events on the PGA Tour Calendar, with the Truist the sixth of the season. When you add in the four majors, THE PLAYERS Championship and the three playoff events, that's 16 big events. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has said he'd like to create a schedule with at least 21 big events for the top players. If you can't get everyone to play in 16, it's surely not gonna happen with 21.

There is so much money in golf now, with all those tournaments generating $20 million purses or more, that the lure of a $3.6 million winner's share is not the same as it used to be, as hard as that is to fathom.

McIlroy is back this week after skipping two signature events. He heads the no-cut field of 72 at his wheelhouse course, Quail Hollow. We haven't seen him since he played at what apparently has become his other wheelhouse course, Augusta National (unless you got a glimpse of him last week at the White House state dinner for King Charles and Queen Camilla).

World No. 4 Matt Fitzpatrick is also back after taking last week off. He will reunite with his younger brother, Alex Fitzpatrick, after they won the Zurich Classic together two weeks back. Runaway Cadillac Championship winner Cameron Young  will shoot for another $3.6 million. Sepp Straka will defend his Truist title, though he won at the Philadelphia Cricket Club last May while Quail Hollow was primping for the PGA Championship the following week. Scheffler won that PGA last year. The last winner of the Truist at Quail Hollow was McIlroy in 2024, though back then it was still called the Wells Fargo.

This week's sponsor invites are starting to sound like "round up the usual suspects": Tony Finau and Max Homa are back once more, this time joined by Carolina residents Webb Simpson and Mackenzie Hughes.

Quail Hollow, at more than 7,500 yards one of the biggest brutes on the PGA tour calendar, is a 1961 George Cobb design with a 2016 Tom Fazio renovation. It normally ranks among the top-10 hardest courses on Tour, a track with many long holes and very narrow fairways. Of course, the highlight is the closing three-hole stretch known as The Green Mile: two par-4s of about 500 yards sandwiching a long par-3 over water. Just about everyone would sign up right now for four straight days of par-par-par.

Last year at the PGA Championship, the 223-yard 17th and 529-yard 16th were the two hardest holes. The 494-yard 18th wasn't nearly as hard collectively, but it did have 46 double bogeys and two triples or worse, far more carnage than on any other hole. Nearly 46 percent of the doubles/triples/worse at the PGA -- 98 of 215 -- took place at those three holes.

Before the closing stretch, there's the 344-yard drivable 14th, which saw 10 eagles at the PGA, and the 577-yard 15th, which produced 16, so the final five holes could deliver some wild swings on the leaderboard.

Nine of the 11 par-4s are at least 450 yards (okay, one of them is 449) and five of those are 480-plus. Three of the par-3s are 190 or more, with No. 6 topping out at a just-not-fair 249.

The key to Quail Hollow success was always the par-5s -- birdie the heck out of them, strive for pars most everywhere else. It used to be a par-72 with four par-5s and now it's a par-71 with only three. It's still critical to score on those holes -- check the Champions Profile below -- as none of them 600 yards. Even when there were four par-5s, sometimes the winning score was single digits.

The last time the Truist was played at Quail Hollow, McIlroy won at 17-under, though he was five clear of Xander Schauffele. Scheffler won last year's PGA there at 11-under and, like McIlroy, he was five clear of second place.

The poa overseed greens are large, averaging nearly 6,600 square feet, with 61 bunkers and four water hazards encompassing seven holes.

As for the weather, right now there's a strong likelihood of thunderstorms on Thursday, so be mindful to recheck the weather. With such a small field, tee times may not matter but maybe. After that, Friday will be a bit chilly in the 60s before warming up over the weekend, when there's little chance of more rain. The wind is forecast to be on the lighter side all week.

Truist/Wells Fargo factoid: Interestingly, this will be just the fourth time in seven years Quail Hollow will play host to this tournament. There was the pandemic in 2020. In 2022, it was moved to TPC Avenel to make way for the Presidents Cup later that fall. And last year, with the PGA Championship staged at Quail Hollow, they played at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. 

Key Stats to Winning at Quail Hollow

The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.

• Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee
• Strokes Gained: Approach/Approach from 175-200 yards 
• Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green/Scrambling
• Strokes Gained: Putting
• Par-4s 450-500 Yards
• Bogey Avoidance

Past Champions (at Quail Hollow except where noted)

2025 - Sepp Straka (Wissahickon)
2024 - Rory McIlroy
2023 - Wyndham Clark
2022 - Max Homa (TPC Avenel)
2021 - Rory McIlroy
2020 - None
2019 - Max Homa
2018 - Jason Day
2017 - Brian Harman (Eagle Point GC)
2016 - James Hahn

Champion's Profile

Scheffler won the last tournament played at Quail Hollow, last year's PGA Championship. He won at 11-under and by five shots. The last time the Truist was played at Quail Hollow, it was still the Wells Fargo Championship. McIlroy won at 17-under, and again it was by five shots.

While McIlroy led the field in driving distance averaging about 337 yards, Scheffler was only 30th at 308ish. That's a huge difference.

But Scheffler was far straighter off the tee, while also ranking eighth in SG: Approach, fifth in Around-the-Green, sixth in greens in regulation and 25th in SG: Putting.

McIlroy ranked fourth in Approach, ninth Around-the-Green, second in GIR and eighth in Putting. Those numbers are better than Scheffler's, but Quail Hollow played harder for the major. That also explains how McIlroy got to 17-under -- by doing almost everything at the highest level.

Don't be fooled by the length of the course. Putting is important this week, if not to make birdies then certainly to avoid bogeys -- or even doubles.

At the PGA, Scheffler scored 8-under of his 11-under total at the par-5s. For McIlroy, it was 9-under of his 17-under and for Clark in 2023, 10-under of his 19-under.

The over/under on the winning score per golfodds.com is 267.5, which is 16.5 under par,

DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS

Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap

$10,000 and up

Rory McIlroy - $11,700 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +580) 
McIlroy has won at Quail Hollow four times, beginning way back in 2010 and most recently in 2024. If McIlroy wins this week, he'll vault over Cameron Young and Matt Fitzpatrick as the new favorite for Player of the Year.

Xander Schauffele - $10,000 (+1225) 
If there's one player who's kind of been forgotten this season, it's Schauffele. He's playing very well, Of course, not as well as the Big Four. But he was T12 last week and has had top-10s at THE PLAYERS and Masters. Schauffele was runner-up twice at Quail Hollow in 2023 and '24, caught behind McIlroy and Clark, both of whom simply went off.

$9,000-$9,900

Si Woo Kim - $9,400 (+2500) 
Kim had a couple of bad weeks at THE PLAYERS and Masters, but otherwise has been otherworldly in the best season of his career. That included last week with a tie for fourth. Very often, poor putters such as Kim have trouble finishing in the top-10. The rest of his game has been so elite, however, he's still be piling up not only top-10s but top-5s. He's finished top-20 the past two years at Quail Hollow and now is playing far better.

Sam Burns - $9,100 (+3100) 
Burns tied for 13th last time this tournament was played at Quail Hollow. He was a so-so T30 at last year's PGA. He is kind of quietly having maybe his best season ever, but certainly in years. Burns was 13th at THE PLAYERS and seventh at the Masters. Putting is sneaky important this week and Burns is one of the best on Tour.

$8,000-$8,900

Adam Scott - $8,900 (+3200) 
Scott has been playing this tournament since 2005. In other words, since right around when world No. 1 amateur Jackson Koivun was born (May 23, 2005, to save you the trouble of looking it up). He hasn't been lights-out at Quail Hollow, but good to sometimes very good. He tied for fifth in 2023. At 45, Scott is having a great season, adding to it last week with a tie for fourth.

Min Woo Lee - $8,300 (+4600) 
We were high on Lee for the Masters and he crushed us with a bad missed cut. The Lee we expected to see resurfaced last week with a tie for 18th at the Cadillac. A long hitter with great club head speed and a very good putter, Lee has the capability for a good finish this week.

$7,000-$7,900

Akshay Bhatia - $7,700 (+5100) 
Bhatia has fallen off the radar a bit since winning at Bay Hill. But he's still having a very good season, though the MC at the Masters didn't look great. He was 13th at THE PLAYERS, then added top-25s at the past two signature events at very different courses in Harbour Town and Doral. He's not the longest hitter off the tee, so he'll have to be especially sharp from the fairway on in. Most of the time this season, he has been.

Jacob Bridgeman - $7,500 (+7000) 
One of the darlings of the early part of the season, Bridgeman has fallen off in recent weeks. Maybe it's because he's getting a bit tired in the grind of a long season, maybe it's simple regression. Because in his first eight starts, which included a win at Riviera, he had eight top-25s. In his past three? None. Now his price has dropped back, and he's still leading the Tour in putting, so we're back on the bandwagon this week.

$6,000-$6,900

Sudarshan Yellamaraju - $6,700 (+13500) 
The 24-year-old Canadian by way of India has played himself into recent signature events. He's done okay. He was 52nd at the RBC Heritage, which is meh, but 30th at the Cadillac, which is decent. It stands to reason that the big-hitting Yellamaraju would fare better at a longer track, and Quail Hollow certainly qualifies. He's ranked top-25 on Tour in driving distance, SG: Approach and SG: Putting heading into his Truist debut.

Michael Kim - 6,400 (+14000) 
Kim's very slow start to the season made us naturally wonder whether last year's breakthrough was a fluke. The jury is still out. But Kim has finished top-25 in the past two sig events, one on a short course in Harbour Town and one at a long track in Doral. That's usually a good sign. He withdrew from last year's PGA at Quail Hollow but finished seventh there in 2023. Kim's approach numbers have been steadily subpar this season, but his putter is carrying him with a ranking of 13th. 

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