This article is part of our Yahoo PGA DFS Picks series.
THE PLAYERS Championship
Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
TPC Sawgrass - Par 72 - 7,256 yards
Field - 144 entrants
Purse - $20M
The Preview
Some refer to it as the PGA Tour's fifth major, while fellow writers might prefer the "Caps Lock Invitational," but regardless of its various nicknames, THE PLAYERS Championship promises to deliver a fair share of drama with the largest purse in golf up for grabs. A stellar 144-man field heads to the iconic TPC Sawgrass where the signature island green on the Stadium Course's 17th hole demands your best full wedge under pressure. But there's much more to this par-72 layout, as penal rough lines the fairways while scorable par-5s provide spells of hope. Inclement weather is slated to add another level of difficulty to this year's edition, as thunderstorms are expected to arrive Thursday with persistent rain until Saturday morning, though sunny skies should accompany a cold front for Sunday's final round.
Recent Champions
2021 - Justin Thomas
2020 - None
2019 - Rory McIlroy
2018 - Webb Simpson
2017 - Si Woo Kim
2016 - Jason Day
2015 - Rickie Fowler
2014 - Martin Kaymer
2013 - Tiger Woods
2012 - Matt Kuchar
Key Stats to Victory
SG: Approach
Proximity: 75-150 yards
Par-5 scoring
Bogey Avoidance
Yahoo Value Picks
Based on $200 salary cap
Cream of the Crop
Jon Rahm - $45
It was still entirely feasible to pay up for Rahm throughout his past five starts despite a $50.2 average salary since the American Express, but now we get about a $5 discount on the world No. 1 thanks to a major-esque field and three consecutive finishes of T10 or worse for the Spaniard. Rahm's recent short-game struggles are well documented with a combined 13 strokes lost on and around the greens across three events dating to the WM Phoenix Open. However, the ball striking remains ridiculously good, as he sits No. 1 in both SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Tee-to-Green, and No. 3 in overall proximity over his last 12 rounds. Rahm owns a pair of top-12s at the PLAYERS since 2019, and he's gained at least 6.3 strokes from tee to green in three straight trips to TPC Sawgrass.
Collin Morikawa - $44
Coming off the second-best putting performance of his entire career en route to a T2 at the Genesis Invitational, Morikawa also ranks second in Opportunities Gained, fourth in Prox: 100-125 yards and eighth in SG: Approach over his past 12 rounds. Morikawa's lethal combination of driving accuracy and elite iron play lends such an advantage at TPC Sawgrass, which was evident in his debut here last year when he gained a collective 6.8 strokes off the tee and on his approaches to combat a brutal short-game showing.
Rory McIlroy - $42
If it actually pours a ton of rain in Ponte Vedra Beach and TPC Sawgrass plays much softer and longer than usual, McIlroy's prowess off the tee becomes an exaggerated positive. He paced the field in driving distance on the way to a top-15 result at last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational, and he's third in SG: OTT over his past 12 rounds. During this stretch, he's also first in scrambling, eighth in bogey avoidance and 20th in Prox: 125-150 yards. The 2019 PLAYERS champ has tallied four top-10 finishes in 11 career outings at Sawgrass.
Glue Guys
Brooks Koepka - $36
Weather delays might test his patience, but a $3.6M check waiting for the eventual champion should keep Koepka motivated as the native Floridian makes his first start since a T16 at the Honda Classic, where he gained 5.6 strokes from tee to green. Not only does Koepka rank 10th in SG: Total over his last 36 rounds on Pete Dye tracks, but bermuda is his preferred putting surface and he's gained strokes with the flat stick in all five of his previous PLAYERS Championship appearances.
Matt Fitzpatrick - $34
Expect plenty of rostership to float Fitzpatrick's way this week as he checks all the boxes when it comes to his recent form and course/weather fit at TPC Sawgrass, where he tied for ninth last year while ranking sixth among the field in driving accuracy and T5 in GIR percentage. This past week at Bay Hill, Fitzpatrick led the tournament in scrambling, ranked T2 in FIRs and finished on the positive side of each Strokes Gained subcategory for a second straight start. The Englishman commenced his 2022 campaign with a top-10 run of T6-T10-T9 from the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am through the API.
Max Homa - $32
Straying from his occasional struggles with consistency, Homa has rattled off three consecutive top 20s since the WM Phoenix Open, most recently tying for 17th at Bay Hill where he finished second in GIR percentage and fourth in SG: Approach. Over his last 12 rounds, he's now 14th in SG: T2G, 17th in bogey avoidance, 18th in SG: OTT and 19th in SG: APP. Expand the sample size to 36 rounds and he's 37th among his peers in SG: Putting on bermuda.
Bargain Bin
Alex Noren - $27
Noren landed in the No. 9 spot of my custom model for the PLAYERS, aided by his current rankings of sixth in Prox: 75-100, fourth in Par-4: 450-500 efficiency, ninth in SG: Approach and 12th in bogey avoidance over his past 12 rounds. The Swede tied for fifth at The Honda Classic, and he gained a collective 8.9 strokes with his irons over his last two starts. Noren, who has placed T17 or better in two of four TPC Sawgrass appearances, gained 14.8 strokes from tee to green in his debut here in 2017.
Sebastian Munoz - $23
Make it four straight top-40s for Munoz, who continues to produce in the 'Bargain Bin' as he tied for 26th at Arnie's place while ranking top 25 in both GIR percentage and scrambling in Orlando. Munoz is No. 4 in driving accuracy, fourth in SG: T2G, seventh in SG: OTT and ninth in Opportunities Gained over his last 12 rounds, but his salary has dipped even closer to the $20 minimum this week.
Joel Dahmen - $20
I certainly wouldn't have guessed that Dahmen has gained strokes off the tee in all but one of his last nine measured starts dating back to the Shriners Children's Open in October, but he's also seventh in driving accuracy over his last 12 rounds. He lost 5.2 strokes with the putter en route to a missed cut at TPC Sawgrass last season, but Dahmen has gained a combined 12.2 strokes from tee to green across two outings here, accompanying his T12 result in 2019.
