DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: WM Phoenix Open Cash and GPP Strategy

WM PHOENIX OPEN

Purse: $9.6M
Winner's Share: $1.728M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Scottsdale, Ariz.
Course: TPC Scottsdale (Stadium Course)
Yardage: 7,261
Par: 71
2025 champion: Thomas Detry

Tournament Preview

Throughout the ongoing soap opera known as the PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf, the biggest outcry from the golf community has been that the best golfers aren't regularly playing against each other. With Brooks Koepka's recent break from LIV, there now is the start of a pathway for that to happen, even if it's just a tiny crack right now.

This week, Koepka, the former best player in the world, will come face to face with Scottie Scheffler, the current best player in the world. The fact that both are two-time winners of this tournament makes a potential mano-a-mano even more delectable.

We were awaiting word on the featured groups, but if the PGA Tour and tournament organizers wanted the best players to play together, then the only way to go would be for Koepka and Scheffler to be paired for the first two rounds. That would make the most raucous, rollicking tournament on the planet even more lit.

Mission accomplished. Good job, PGA Tour.

Scheffler and Koepka aren't the only two big names in this 123-man field. But they are the headliners. Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth and quite a few others make up a pretty sweet supporting cast.

One thing the WMPO has always had going for it that many other tournaments don't is that it doesn't necessarily need all those big names because it can always fall back on and ride the sheer madness of the event.

But since the big names are here ... Imagine if Scheffler and Koepka were dueling down to the wire on Super Sunday at the self-proclaimed Greatest Show on Grass? Yes, please. Sign us up for that.

The epicenter of TPC Scottsdale is, of course, the wild-beyond-words 163-yard 16th hole with some 15,000 fans ringing the amphitheater-like setting while fully lathered from dawn to dusk. In all, hundreds of thousands of fans will converge on the Stadium Course across the weeklong event, creating what some say is the world's largest sporting event outside of the Olympics and World Cup.

The WMPO began as the Arizona Open back in 1932, thus making it the fifth-oldest event on Tour. As you'll recall, three-time major champion Ralph Guldahl won that inaugural edition.

The tournament has been at it present location at the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale for 39 years now. The Tom Weiskopf design is such a fun track. The aforementioned par-3 16th is part of a five-hole finish that lends itself to big swings atop the leaderboard. The 490-yard 14th is annually among the harder holes on the course, the 15th is a 553-yard reachable par-5, the 17th is a 332-yard risk/reward drivable/water-filled par-4 and No. 18 is a 442-yarder with more water and the famed church pew bunkers.

When you add in the 472-yard 11th and 192-yard 12th -- the two hardest holes on the course last year, respectively -- it's easy to understand why there were 58 double bogeys or worse on the back nine alone in 2025. Twenty-three of them came on just those two holes.

But the 16th is where it all happens. And last year it was the third-hardest hole on the course. There always are memorable moments. Who can forget 2022, when Harry Higgs and Joel Dahmen stripped off their shirts and ran around the green waving them, somehow raising the decibel level that already was at Defcon 1. (Deafcon?)

TPC Scottsdale plays shorter than the official distance of 7,261, thanks to some 1,500 feet of altitude in the Phoenix area. It has only three par-5s, none of which reaches 560 yards. It's really a ball-strikers' track, and some pretty bad putters have won there through the years. The poa trivialis/bentgrass/ryegrass overseed greens are firm and large, a little more than 7,000 square feet. There are only 67 bunkers across all 18 holes. There's water on six of those holes.

As for the weather, the official Golf Course Superintendents fact sheet advised that the "area had above average rainfall and maintenance crew experienced a multitude of challenges getting the golf course seeded around heavy rainfall events." This week's forecast, however, calls for pristine conditions. High temperatures will be in the 80s all four days with no chance of rain and even minimal wind. Giddyap!

Lineup construction. With a field of 123, more than half the field will make the cut. That will include quite a few golfers in the $6,000s, which lends itself to taking some risks on lower-priced guys -- and conversely being able to stack multiple high-priced guys.

WMPO Amazing Factoid: One of the greatest weeks by a golfer in PGA Tour history took place here in 2001. In the strongest Phoenix field ever before the 2023 signature event, Mark Calcavecchia won by *eight* shots. Third place was 12 shots back and Calcavecchia bested Tiger Woods by a whopping 15 strokes. He shot a course-record-tying 60 in the second round and set a then-PGA Tour record with 32 birdies across 72 holes. 

Key Stats to Winning at TPC Scottsdale

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

• Ball striking/Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green
• Strokes Gained: Approach/Greens in regulation
• SG: Putting, especially inside 10 feet
• Par 5 scoring, 500-550 yards (all three are short, just over 550) 

Past Champions

2025 - Thomas Detry
2024 - Nick Taylor
2023 - Scottie Scheffler
2022 - Scottie Scheffler
2021 - Brooks Koepka
2020 - Webb Simpson
2019 - Rickie Fowler
2018 - Gary Woodland
2017 - Hideki Matsuyama
2016 - Hideki Matsuyama

Champion's Profile

As we mentioned earlier, some pretty bad putters have won here (Woodland, Matsuyama, Kevin Stadler in 2014). But that was when the winning score was in the upper teens.

The winning score was remarkably consistent between 16- and 19-under until creeping into the 20s the past three years. And then Detry blew the doors off with a 24-under score a year ago. With calm conditions this week, 20-plus-under seems quite reachable again. You will have to make a bunch of putts to get there.

The top five on the leaderboard last year were Detry (who is now with LIV), Michael Kim, Daniel Berger, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Jordan Spieth. Detry played the tournament of his life in winning by seven strokes. He led the field in both SG: Approach and greens in regulation, and he was second in SG: Putting. Those numbers will win tournaments 100 times out of 100.

Co-runner-up Kim ranked T7 in Approach and T4 in GIR. Spieth, who tied for fourth, ranked second in both Approach and GIR and ranked 13th in Putting. It was one of his best weeks all year.

None of the top five guys ranked even in the top 30 in driving distance.

Normally, this tournament is all about ball striking, SG: Approach and GIR. Detry putted out of his mind but he was so good from tee to green that he likely would've won even with mediocre putting.

The over/under on the winning score per golfodds.com was set at 263.5, which is 20.5 under par.

DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS

Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap

$10,000 and up

Scottie Scheffler - $14,500 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +225)
Scheffler had his worst week of the 2025 season at this tournament. He tied for 25th. How embarrassing! It was only his second tournament back after that Christmas Night accident led to hand surgery. (Scheffler actually didn't win any of his fist eight starts last year). In the three prior seasons at the WMPO, he won twice and finished third. We almost didn't pick Scheffler, because a lot of guys have played well here often. But we couldn't bring ourselves to pull the trigger.

$9,000-$9,900

Si Woo Kim - $9,900 (+2700)
Look who's the No. 3 guy on the entire DraftKings board, behind only Scheffler and Xander Schauffele. Kim is off to a blistering start to 2025, finishing T11, T6 and then last week's T2. He is ranked top-5 on Tour in both SG: Tee-to-Green and Approach. Kim has shined at this tournament, finishing top-25 the past three years and just missing another four years ago. He'll go as far as his wonky putter carries him this week.

Cameron Young - $9,800 (+2400)
Young made his 2026 debut last week at the Farmers and tied for 22nd. He's been great the past two years at the WMPO, tying for 12th in 2025 and eighth in 2024. He's never missed a cut in four tries. Young broke through for his maiden Tour win last year at the Wyndham. He got it to 22-under, which is about where the winning score could end up this week.

Maverick McNealy - $9,100 (+3300)
McNealy always seems to fly under the radar. He had a top-25 at the Sony and a top-10 last week at the Farmers, but ever so quietly. He's ranked No. 21 in the world but without a win in 2025. He's finished top-10 here the past two years but didn't contend. McNealy doesn't do anything statistically elite. But he does do everything pretty well.

$8,000-$8,900

Sahith Theegala - $8,400 (+4500)
It was four years ago here that Theegala announced himself to the golf world. Leading for a stretch of the tournament, battling Scheffler, Koepka and Patrick Cantlay, he wound up third. Two years later, he tied for fifth. Last year was entirely an injury-filled lost cause. But Theegala seems healthy again, with top-10s the past two weeks. He reached 21-under at the Amex. Theegala is still having trouble hitting his drives in the fairway. But he is ranked 15th on Tour in SG: Putting.

Jordan Spieth - $8,200 (+5500)
On the whole, Spieth has done little the past five years. But at the WMPO? He's finished fourth twice and sixth twice. He even had two other top-10s about a decade ago. That's the very definition of "horse for the course." Spieth is just one start back from his offseason wrist surgery -- two if you want to include the Hero World Challenge. He tied for 24th at the Sony.

$7,000-$7,900

Nick Taylor - $7,800 (+7800)
Taylor is not elite in any one area. But he is at least good in every key stat. That explains a win here two years ago and a runner-up in 2023. He tied for 25th last year. Taylor opened this season with a T13 at the Sony and a T27 at the Amex. This course plays very short, which helps a guy who is not even averaging 290 in the stat "Driving Distance -- All Drives."

J.T. Poston - $7,500 (+7400)
In the past five years here, Poston has three top-25s and two missed cuts. That's a hell of a full house. He tied for 16th last year. Poston missed only four cuts in 26 starts in 2025, amassing nine top-25s. So far in 2026, he has made just one start, a tie for 38th at the Amex. His iron play was electric, though, so much so that he leads the Tour in SG: Approach.

Jacob Bridgeman - $7,100 (+12000)
Bridgeman opened 2026 with a T4 at the Sony and a T13 at the Amex -- that after making the Tour Championship last year. He's trending toward cracking the top-50 OWGR for the first time. He's currently at 57th. Bridgeman made his Phoenix debut last year and missed the cut. Hey, this tournament can be a bit unnerving for a new guy. Bridgeman is ranked top-25 on Tour in both SG: Approach and Putting in the early going.

$6,000-$6,900

Billy Horschel - $6,500 (+24000)
Horschel had made 10 straight cuts here until last year, when he MCed shortly before shutting down his season for hip surgery. This season, he has made 2 of 3 cuts, missing last week. Horschel tied for 27th at the Amex and managed rounds of 64 and 66. So he can go low and make some putts.

Adam Schenk - $6,200 (+55000)
We were on Schenk last week at the Farmers at the same $6,200 price tag. And he tied for 11th. Just like at Torrey Pines, Schenk is riding a stretch of top-25s at TPC Scottsdale. He's made three in a row here, and one of those was at a loaded signature event in 2023. Schenk landed in the top-30 in our model.  

Finalizing your lineups for the WM Phoenix Open? See how they look in RotoWire's PGA DFS Lineup Optimizer.