This article is part of our DraftKings PGA DFS Picks series.
PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
Purse: $20M
Winner's Share: $3.6M
FedEx Cup Points: 750 to the Winner
Location: Charlotte, N.C.
Course: Quail Hollow Club
Yardage: 7,626
Par: 71
2024 champion: Xander Schauffele (Valhalla)
Tournament Preview
Beginning with this 107th PGA Championship, a new era in men's major golf championships will be upon us. Now that Rory McIlroy has won another major -- finally! -- ending an 11-year drought, the narrative of every major tournament will change. No longer will golf (and all of us) be held hostage. And the fact that McIlroy won the Masters, completing the career Grand Slam, well, that just killed two subplots with one victory.
So we begin the P.M. era -- Post Masters? Post McIlroy? Either or.
With a fifth major in tow, McIlroy now begins the rest of his life. And what better place for him than Quail Hollow Club, where he has won a record four times?
Whether McIlroy -- who occupies a prominent spot in RotoWire's 2025 PGA Championship Power Rankings -- now free from the thousand-pound weight he's been carrying on his shoulders for more than a decade, can go on a major run is the preeminent storyline of the PGA Championship. With Quail Hollow, Oakmont for the U.S. Open and Royal Portrush back in Ireland for the Open Championship, there's even talk of a single-season Grand Slam, on top of the career slam.
But there are other storylines this week, other players in the 156-man field, and some of them will have a big say in who hoists the Wanamaker Trophy come Sunday night.
- Scottie Scheffler: Remember him? Still world No. 1? Yeah, that guy. He's favored over McIlroy, somewhat surprisingly. He just won the Byron Nelson for his first title of 2025, to McIlroy's three, then said afterward: "I'm excited to start the rest of the season." That's about as big of a shot that the genial Scheffler will ever take. Very under the radar, but it sure sounded like: "Game on, Rory!"
- Bryson DeChambeau: Runner-up to Xander Schauffele at last year's PGA, conqueror of McIlroy at last year's U.S. Open, unwitting foil of McIlroy at last month's Masters, winner of the most recent LIV tournament in South Korea, DeChambeau finds himself in much more favorable surroundings at Quail Hollow than Augusta National. He might attempt to bludgeon his way to a third major title, much like he did at Winged Foot in 2020.
- Justin Thomas: Now back at No. 5 in the OWGR, or No. 6 in Data Golf, if that's your world ranking of choice (Scheffler, McIlroy and DeChambeau are 1-2-3 in Data Golf), Thomas is coming off his first win in three years at the RBC Heritage to announce he's once again among the elite. He won the PGA the last time it was at Quail Hollow, at age 24 in 2017.
- Jon Rahm: Will he show up in a major? He has not contended since leaving for LIV at the beginning of 2024. He missed the cut at last year's PGA. His T14 at last month's Masters may look decent enough, but it was a backdoor top-20 if there ever were one.
- Jordan Spieth: Just because career Grand Slams are in vogue, could we actually see two of them completed in back-to-back majors? Not likely. Spieth's odyssey has not gone on as long as McIlroy's, but it's getting there, now in Year 9. It actually began with the 2017 PGA won by Thomas, which was played in August and immediately followed Spieth's third career major at the Open Championship. He's still sitting on three.
All the other big names in golf are here, as well, though they don't get there own breakout storylines. Among them: defending champion Schauffele, three-time PGA winner Brooks Koepka, winless-since-2023 Collin Morikawa, looking-for-his-first-major Ludvig Aberg and Sepp Straka, whose win Sunday at the Truist was his second of the season and moved him into the top-10 in the world rankings. The top 102 in the OWGR are in attendance, the proverbial "strongest field in golf." That also includes the 20 club pros, most notably good ol' Blockie, Michael Block.
Quail Hollow is a 1961 George Cobb design with a 2016 Tom Fazio renovation. It normally ranks among the 10 hardest courses on Tour when it plays host to the annual Wells Fargo-now-Truist Championship. 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 Wells Fargo, the 529-yard 16th and 223-yard 17th were the two hardest holes on the course. And at 494 yards with water down the right side and a major championship on the line, good luck on No. 18. Last year, there were 26 double bogeys or worse on 17, and 25 on 18 (with only a 68-man field for a signature event). More than half the doubles/worse at last year's Wells Fargo came on those three holes alone.
Before the closing stretch, there's the 344-yard drivable 14th, which saw three eagles last year, and the 577-yard 15th, which also produced three, so the final five holes could deliver some wild swings on the leaderboard.
The winning score at the 2017 PGA at Quail Hollow, similarly set up, was Thomas' 8-under-par. Keep in mind that that tournament took place in August. They also played the 2022 Presidents Cup there, in September.
The meat of Quail Hollow lies in the nine par-4s that exceed 450 yards, with three of them 500-plus.
The key to success there was always the par-5s -- birdie the heck out of them, strive for pars most everywhere else. But now there are only three, and there used to be four. It's still critical to score on those holes, none of which reaches 600 yards. Even when there were four par-5s, sometimes the winning score was single digits.
Fairways average 28 feet wide. The rough will be set at 2.75 inches. The bermudagrass greens with poa overseed are large, averaging 6,578 square feet, according to the official Golf Course Superintendents Fact Sheet, with 61 bunkers and four water hazards encompassing seven holes. The fact sheet goes on to say: "According to the PGA of America this is just the 2nd PGA Championship to be played on overseed in recent history (Kiawah Island in 2021)."
Unlike other PGA Tour events, 70 golfers and ties will make the 36-hole cut this week, giving us a smidge more leeway in getting six golfers through to the weekend.
As for lineup construction, with Scheffler at $13,400, that presents a problem. He is the favorite and many gamers will want to put him in their lineups. But that doesn't leave much for the other five golfers -- an average of just $7,320, to be exact. With golfers priced down to $5,000, it is surely doable and mathematically possible to add another contender or two, though the margin for error is slim. McIlroy is priced at $12,200 and DeChambeau at $11,500, offering significantly more flexibility. As always in the majors, some very good golfers with good chances for a high finish (Top 10? Maybe top-5?) fall all the way into the $7,000s. That usually provides a good option to rostering the winner amid a balanced lineup.
As for the weather, thunderstorms were in the forecast for Monday to Wednesday, which sure would lengthen an already long track. But the tournament itself should find more favorable conditions, with highs in the 80s all four days under cloudy skies, slight chances of rain and very manageable wind.
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-4 Efficiency 450-500 yards
- Par-5 Scoring
- Bogey Avoidance
- Major History
Past Champions
2024 - Xander Schauffele (Valhalla)
2023 - Brooks Koepka (Oak Hill)
2022 - Justin Thomas (Southern Hills)
2021 - Phil Mickelson (The Ocean Course)
2020 - Collin Morikawa (Harding Park)
2019 - Brooks Koepka (Bethpage)
2018 - Brooks Koepka (Bellerive)
2017 - Justin Thomas (Quail Hollow)
2016 - Jimmy Walker (Baltusrol)
2015 - Jason Day (Whistling Straits)
Champion's Profile
Distance surely helps at Quail Hollow. One of the longest players of his generation, McIlroy has won there four times, including last year. He reached 17-under, but that's a bit misleading. He was five clear of runner-up Schauffele and eight ahead of third-place Byeong Hun An. They were the only three guys better than 6-under.
McIlroy led the field in driving distance and was 59th in accuracy, adding up to first in SG: Off-the-Tee. He was fourth in SG: Approach, ninth in SG: Around-the-Green, eighth in SG: Putting and second in both scrambling and greens in regulation. Do that again and he'll have his sixth major. You could pretty much do that anywhere and anyone would win the tournament.
Schauffele ranked only 11th in distance, plus 18th in accuracy, for second in SG: Off-the-Tee. He was first in SG: Approach and greens in regulation, fourth in scrambling, 27th in SG: Around-the-Green and 25th in SG: Putting.
Two yeas ago at the Wells Fargo, Wyndham Clark won. Of the top five guys on the leaderboard, four of them were top-5 in the field in SG: Tee-to-Green as well as top-11 in Approach.
In 2021, McIlroy ranked third in the field in greens in regulation, 10th in Strokes Gained: Approach and ninth in SG: Tee-to-Green. He also was third in SG: Putting. Those are great, great numbers, but he won at only 10-under. The top four guys on the leaderboard -- Abraham Ancer at 9-under and Viktor Hovland and Keith Mitchell tied for third at 8-under -- all were great at greens in regulation, Approach and Tee-to-Green. McIlroy was 6-under on the par-5s.
DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS
Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap
$10,000 and up
Scottie Scheffler - $13,400 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +400)
On one hand, spending $13,400 for one guy will certainly make it harder to field a competitive six-man lineup. On the other, Scheffler has a good chance of winning and prices to dip to $5,000. Despite only two weeks ago winning his first tournament of the season, he was very close in multiple others and statistically has been the second best player on Tour in 2025, behind only this next guy.
Rory McIlroy - $12,200 (+450)
Could the stars align any more for one golfer in one tournament than for McIlroy at this PGA? The mental and emotional weight of going winless for more than a decade in majors has been lifted. He's had more success at Quail Hollow than any other course (four wins). He's amid a spectacular first half of the 2025 season, with three victories: Masters, PLAYERS, Pebble Beach. Oh, and McIlroy is also ranked sixth on Tour in SG: Putting.
Bryson DeChambeau - $11,500 (+1200)
DeChambeau may be the one guy who left for LIV -- maybe also Patrick Reed -- who hasn't lost his fastball. The fact that he contended the past two years at the Masters is telling. He used to be terrible at Augusta National. In the majors that are more favorable to his power game -- the PGA and U.S. Open -- he finished second and first last year. At nearly $2,000 cheaper than Scheffler and at triple the odds, DeChambeau is the more quality play. That doesn't mean he will win, of course. But he could!
$9,000-$9,900
Justin Thomas - $9,300 (+2200)
Watching a golfer struggle the way Thomas did on the greens around this time last year, the turnaround has been remarkable. He's now ranked 23rd on Tour in SG: Putting. And since that was the weakest part of his game, that's pretty darn good. He reclaimed a top-5 spot in the OWGR thanks to a win at the RBC Heritage and two runners-up, including Sunday at he Truist. His driving accuracy, which has been a trouble spot in 2025, is improving. Thomas is now ranked 108th there.
Viktor Hovland - $9,800 (+4500)
There isn't a preponderance of evidence supporting this pick other than Hovland's ceiling. We haven't seen it much over the past couple of years, but it resurfaced recently at the Valspar to remind us. Following that win, he's had top-25s at the Masters and Harbour Town. The longer clubs are not the issue. Hovland's putting is slightly below tour average with a ranking of 115th. It's the wedge play around the greens that's been terrible. If his iron play is as great it can be, wedge play could be minimized.
Shane Lowry - $9,200 (+6000)
Lowry might not be the best fit for a PGA, hitting it so short off the tee. But he's still managed to finish in the top-8 three of the past six years, including T6 last year. And it doesn't matter how you get to the first page of the leaderboard, only that you got there. The rub is that Lowry has not handled Quail Hollow very well. But he's been so good this year, with a co-runner-up on Sunday at the Truist the latest evidence, maybe the most consistent he's ever been. Plus he often shows out in the biggest tournaments.
Tommy Fleetwood - $9,100 (+4500)
The oddsmakers sure do like Fleetwood relative to his DFS price. Fleetwood has been great at Quail Hollow the past two years, tying for 13th last year and fifth in 2023. He just tied for 21st at the Masters, his 15th top-25 in major. He finished 18th at the 2023 PGA and fifth in 2022. Fleetwood is ranked top-12 on Tour in both SG: Approach and Tee-to-Green.
8,000-$8,900
Min Woo Lee - $8,600 (+9000)
If there's one guy outside the top echelon of golfers that usually are in the mix at majors -- and we realize that "echelon" is sort of vague -- Lee might be him. At 26, he's still a young player. But he's been playing well in majors for a few years. And now that he's finally figured out how to win at the sport's highest level -- he won the Houston Open last month -- he's primed to take the next step in majors. Lee is ranked in the top-12 on Tour in driving distance, SG: Around-the-Green and SG: Putting.
Corey Conners - $8,300 (+6500)
Conners played in the penultimate pairing on Sunday at the Masters. He tied for eighth, his fifth top-10 this season, to go along with eight top-25s. A huge reason is vastly improved putting -- he's ranked 90th. With the rest of his game, that's plenty good enough. In the past two years, with poor putting, he finished T13 and T8 at Quail Hollow. At the PGA, he's had recent finishes of T17, T12 and last year's T26.
Justin Rose - $8,000 (+9000)
Of all the golfers to reach No. 1 since the OWGR came into existence, Rose might be one of the most underrated. Yes he's won tournaments and a major and has excelled in the Ryder Cup. But four times a year, he becomes a bit of an afterthought. And he proved last month -- again -- that that's a mistake. He finished runner-up at the Masters for the second time. At the PGA, where he's never truly contended, he's finished top-10 four of the past five years. And the one outlier was, oh my, a tie for 13th. The big concern for Rose this week is that he had to WD from last week's Truist on Saturday morning because of illness. You'll have a keep a close on on updates.
$7,000-$7,900
Daniel Berger - $7,900 (+10000)
Berger has shown he is back to his pre-injury days. He's played in only two majors since 2022, and both of them were top-25s -- twin T21s at last year's U.S. Open and the Masters last month. He is ranked top-60 in every strokes-gained metric, and only a few guys can say that. His best is seventh in SG: Tee-to-Green. How good has Berger's 2025 been? He's 16th in the FedExCup Standings, meaning he would be in the TOUR Championship if it started today.
Akshay Bhatia - $7,300 (+13000)
This is a pick based on price -- well, they all are, really -- but for a player ranked 27th in SG: Approach and 13th in SG: Putting, this is a great value. Despite being a very short hitter, Bhatia showed he can compete on a long track in an elite field with a top-10 in the Genesis at Torrey Pines. He also tied for third at THE PLAYERS.
Keegan Bradley - $7,200 (+11000)
Bradley's putting is back to its woeful ways, ranked 143rd. But he's superior in every other facet of his game. including ranked eighth on Tour in SG: Tee-to-Green. So maybe contending for the title is out of the question without improved putting, but a top-25 or better is within reach. Such as earlier this season when Bradley tied for fifth at Bay Hill, or 15th at the Farmers or 20th at THE PLAYERS. Bradley, the 2011 PGA winner, tied for 18th last year. He also tied for 21st last year at Quail Hollow.
$6,000-$6,900
Harris English - $6,800 (+20000)
English is consistently among the better values in DFS. He tied for 18th last year at the PGA, among five straight made cuts in majors. He won the Farmers at a long course this season, he was top-20 at the Masters. If you look at his stats, they aren't pretty outside of putting. But some guys just figure out how to get the ball in the hole, and English is one of them.
Denny McCarthy - $6,700 (+16000)
McCarthy has excelled at Quail Hollow the past two years, finishing in the top-8 both times. (You might need to read that sentence again, because we had to double-check that info.) This season, he tied for 12th in the Genesis at Torrey Pines, one of six top-25s in 11 starts without a missed cut. McCarthy is ranked fifth in bogey avoidance. You can chalk that up to being ranked eighth in SG: Putting.
J.J. Spaun - $6,400 (+16000)
We remember Spaun coming out on Monday morning at THE PLAYERS and getting smoked in the playoff by McIlroy. But finishing second at Sawgrass is quite an achievement, especially when it's your second runner-up of the year (Cognizant). Spaun is ranked sixth on Tour in SG: Approach and 17th in Tee-to-Green. He's also 30th in bogey avoidance. Spaun has played in only six career majors before this year but is on track to play all four in 2025. He made the cut at the Masters.
$5,000-$5,900
Tom Hoge - $5,900 (+25000)
Hoge has been a solid performer in the PGA, his best major. He's never missed a cut in five starts, with one top-10 and a top-25 last year. Hoge is super accurate off the tee so, while he is not long, it has helped him rank 21st in SG: Approach this season. He had three top-10s and six top-25s in 13 starts heading into the Truist, including T3 at THE PLAYERS.
Gary Woodland - $5,800 (+20000)
Twenty months after brain surgery, the 40-year-old Woodland is playing better than anyone could've expected. He's still crushing the ball off the tee -- ranked ninth in distance. He's ranked top-65 on Tour in both SG: Off-the-Tee and Approach, and top-80 in SG: Putting. He's made the cut in 7 of his past 8 PGAs, including T22 at Quail Hollow in 2017. More recently there, he tied for 14th in 2023.
John Keefer - $5,300 (+60000)
We're not so sure Keefer will make the cut. But you could do worse, much worse, if you need a player at this price point. The 24-year-old's career has taken off in the past year, moving from unranked 12 months ago to top-100 now. He tore up the PGA Tour Americas and now is doing likewise on the Korn Ferry Tour, already with a win, T2, T4 and T6 in 2025. He is ranked second in the KF standings, yet is far ahead of the top player Hank Lebioda in the world rankings. You will definitely see Keefer on the PGA Tour next season. For now, this will be his first career major.
Agree with these recommendations? See how they stack up alongside other golfers in RotoWire's PGA DFS Lineup Optimizer.
