2026 Underdog PGA Draft Review
The 2026 PGA Tour season is upon us and Underdog's featured $10 "The Scramble" contest with $50k to first is less than half full with a week until the season begins. In this article, we'll take a look at a draft I completed on Dec. 30 out of the four hole.
RotoWire Golf Tools
A full breakdown of each golfer's schedule and projected point total can be found on RotoWire's 2026 Fantasy Golf Schedule Breakdown page. This is incredibly useful not only for projected total points but also that it can be sorted for each round of the contest.
RotoWire community members can access our 2026 Fantasy Underdog Golf Cheat Sheet. These rankings can be exported directly to Underdog for your convenience.
Are you new to Underdog's season-long PGA contest? Get up to speed with this article -- RotoWire's 2026 Underdog PGA Best Ball: Overview, Rankings and Strategy.
Early Round Analysis
Targets
Si Woo Kim is quality target in the later half of the first round as he's one of the rare golfers that on top of being really good, is qualified for all of the Signature Events and will likely play at least 17 of the 26 tournaments in the contest. We have him as the highest projected scorer in Round 3, a top-20 player in Round 2 and we have him playing three of the last four events to help you if you make the finals.
I touched on Rory McIlroy in my contest overview article, but I think he's a great value where I got him here at 16th overall. He's being pushed down because he'll probably only play 14 events and won't make his debut until Pebble Beach. However, he's the second or third best golfer in the world, and if you're able to get to the finals, we have him as the highest projected player in Round 4.
Hideki Matsuyama rounds out the first half of my draft, and while he doesn't project to play a massive schedule, we have him expected for a solid 16 events. On top of that, we have him projected to play five events in Round 1. Matsuyama won the Hero World Challenge last month, so we know his game is in good form. He lacked the elite results last year, but I expect some positive regression in that regard.
Fades
Michael Kim went seventh overall, and he reminds me a lot of Eric Cole, who was being drafted slightly earlier a year ago. We know that Kim is going to play a busy schedule that likely includes eight of the first nine events, but you're paying a premium for a golfer with below average distance and accuracy that went through a 17-event stretch last year with only one top-25. At some point we have to focus on quality over quantity, and there are a lot of golfers that are just as good, if not better than Kim that can be had in the last couple of rounds that will also play often.
It's a little tricky projecting Jordan Spieth's schedule considering he isn't locked into the Signature Events even though he will likely get exemptions into most of them. Overall, we have him into a solid 17 events, but I can't get behind him like this drafter did taking him at the 2/3 turn. Why not take someone like Maverick McNealy a few picks later when we think he's the better golfer and into the same number of tournaments?
Late-Round Breakdown
Targets
With six players locked into all of the Signature Events next year, this is the point in the draft where I focus only on golfers that finished outside the top 50 in the FedExCup Standings and will be forced to play a busy schedule that includes most of the lesser events. Aaron Rai was my seventh round pick and his schedule will likely look a bit different than last year and more similarly to 2024 when he was in the same position. He's one of the most accurate drivers and most precise iron players on Tour.
Since I already discussed Vince Whaley and Matti Schmid in my overview article, I'll dive into a couple other guys I've been drafting often later in drafts - Garrick Higgo and Kevin Yu. We have Yu projected to play in six of the first seven events, and Higgo for five events in Round 1. They'll both be valuable golfers to help you advance, and will play the non-Signature Events to balance out when your elite players are taking the week off. Higgo closed the year with four consecutive top-10 finishes, while Yu is an excellent driver and entering his prime.
Fades
I've avoided the likes of Sahith Theegala, Brian Campbell and Tom Hoge. The latter two are getting drafted because they're in all of the Signature Events and will play a lot in general, but how often are they finishing top-10 and contributing much to your team? I'm not going to bet on a comeback from Theegala or Tom Kim, either. They've shown a high level in the past, but with just five top-25s between them last year, there are other golfers playing much better right now that have significantly less risk.
Outside of my team, I thought Team 3 did a good job with their picks and roster construction. They have a good mix of elite players in Ben Griffin, Tommy Fleetwood and Russell Henley combined with players such as Neal Shipley and Emiliano Grillo that will play events counter to them.
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