This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
Truist Championship
Course: The Philadelphia Cricket Club - Wissahickon Course (7,119 yards, par 70)
Purse: $20,000,000
Winner: $3,600,000 and 700 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
Quail Hollow has been a staple on the PGA Tour calendar since the inception of this event back in 2003. This will be the third time, however, that this tournament will be held at a different course. In 2017 it was hosted at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, North Carolina as Quail Hollow was getting set to host the PGA Championship in August. In 2022 it was held at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm as Quail was getting set to host the Presidents Cup in September. And this year it will be held at the Philadelphia Cricket Club as Quail gets set to host the PGA Championship again next week.
There will be a new title sponsor as well. Wells Fargo had the naming rights since 2011, but with the prices of Signature Events going up on the PGA Tour, they decided to discontinue their sponsorship. That made room for Truist to come in, which is a Charlotte-based bank. While this year it will be held in Philadelphia, Truist will keep a Signature Event in the Charlotte area and Quail Hollow for the foreseeable future.
The Truist Championship is the sixth of eight Signature Events on the PGA Tour calendar. There's been some big names win the first five in Hideki Matsuyama (The Sentry), Rory McIlroy (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am), Ludvig Aberg (Genesis Invitational), Russell Henley (Arnold Palmer Invitational) and Justin Thomas (RBC Heritage). The two remaining after this week will be The Memorial Tournament (May 29-June 1) and the Travelers Championship (June 19-22).
Rory McIlroy will be the main story this week. He is the defending winner of this Signature Event and has won this tournament four times, although all of those were at Quail Hollow. While McIlroy will have about as much experience as everyone in the field at the Wissahickon Course, this will be a good final tuneup for the PGA Championship next week at his best course in Quail Hollow. McIlroy already has wins at Pebble Beach, TPC Sawgrass and Augusta National this year, and is hoping to continue the good play. He might get some added motivation after World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler destroyed the field by eight shots last week at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson. Scheffler is the lone qualified player who is electing to not tee it up in Philadelphia.
Of course whenever we come to a Signature Event, it's always important to look at how players were able to qualify. Obviously, the large majority of this 72-man field comes from the top 50 players in last year's FedExCup standings. However, there are also plenty of players who didn't crack the top-50 last year who are off to an excellent start to 2025 and made this field via the Aon Next 10. Some of those players would be Andrew Novak, Maverick McNealy, J.J. Spaun and Justin Rose. All four of those players have come close to winning some big events this season and are already over 1,000 FedExCup points. The Aon Swing 5 for the Truist Championship is made up of the point point earners from the Corales Puntacana Championship, the Zurich Classic and THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson. That list features Corales winner Garrick Higgo, Byron Nelson runner-up Erik van Rooyen, along with Sam Stevens, last year's PGA Tour University No. 1 Michael Thorbjornsen and Zurich Classic runner-up Rasmus Hojgaard, who just barely edged out partner Nicolai Hojgaard due to his finish at Craig Ranch last week. The coveted four sponsors invites were given to familiar faces in Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Gary Woodland and Keith Mitchell.
Since this is not one of the three player-hosted Signature Events, all 72 players in this field will be guaranteed four rounds as their final prep for the second major championship of the year next week. The weather in Flourtown, PA is looking like we could see some rain fall on Thursday and Friday. The hope is that we won't get any electricity and play will not need to be delayed like it was last week at the Byron Nelson. Winds aren't expected to be a big issue this week and likely net out in the 8-12 mph range for the four tournament rounds. Soft with not much wind on a shorter golf course? It wouldn't be a complete shock to see Wyndham Clark's tournament record aggregate score of 265 (2023) fall on this par 70, and maybe even McIlroy's score-to-par of 21-under (2015) as well.
Recent Champions
2024 - Rory McIlroy (-17)
2023 - Wyndham Clark (-19)
2022 - Max Homa (-8)
2021 - Rory McIlroy (-10)
2020 - No Tournament
2019 - Max Homa (-15)
2018 - Jason Day (-12)
2017 - Brian Harman (-10)
2016 - James Hahn (-9)
2015 - Rory McIlroy (-21)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage
- Proximity from 100-125 yards/Proximity from 125-150 yards
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Accuracy
- SG: Around-the-Green/Scrambling
Champion's Profile
The Wissahickon Course at Philadelphia Cricket Club was designed by A.W. Tillinghast, who is one of the most respected golf course designers of all-time. Winged Foot, Bethpage Black, Baltursrol and Ridgewood are a few of his other masterpieces that have hosted PGA Tour events. In 2013 Keith Foster was brought in to restore the original 1922 design by Tillinghast at the Wissahickon Course. That project led to the removal of over 2,500 trees and really reopened the course back to a width and angles test. While listed on the card this week at just over 7,100 yards, players will certainly have to think their way around this course. Like some of his other great designs, the Wissahickon Course has some room to work with off the tee, but the primary defense are the green complexes. The bentgrass greens are very undulating and can make the putting surfaces play quite smaller than the 5,700 square feet they average depending on where the hole is located. There aren't a ton of shortgrass runoffs, apart from the false fronts, but the greens are extremely well bunkered on all sides. Some of the greenside bunkers are also quite deep and will be a challenge to get the ball up-and-down out of.
So what type of player are we looking for? Well this is going to be a week where you need to be dialed in with your wedges and short irons. With seven par-4s playing under 435 yards, there are going to be plenty of opportunities for players to attack. That said, with how undulating and protected these greens are, one slight miss could easily leave a player in a tough position to make par. While it looks wide open off the tees visually, you are not going to want to attack these greens out of this 3-4 inch fescue rough or well placed fairway bunkers. Driving accuracy will certainly be favored over distance, especially if does get a little wet. There should be enough opportunity for some of the top short game players to be able to make an impact as well. Unfamiliar greens typically do lend itself to ball-strikers having an advantage over some of the top putters.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Collin Morikawa ($12,200)
In theory this should be a great setup for Morikawa. He is second in driving accuracy on the PGA tour and ranks third in SG: Approach, sixth in proximity 100-125 yards and eighth in proximity 125-150 yards. Morikawa also is top-10 in birdie average, bogey avoidance, par-3 scoring and putts per GIR. He should also be energized working with new caddie Joe Greiner, who was able to help Thomas end a long winless drought a few weeks ago at the RBC Heritage in just their second start together.
Patrick Cantlay ($11,600)
Cantlay seems to excel in the Northeast and on non-regular PGA Tour stops. His ball-striking has really been strong over the last 12 months gaining strokes on approach in 16 of his last 18 starts, and off the tee in 13 of 15 events. Cantlay ranks top-25 this season in SG: Off-the-Tee, SG: Approach, total driving, GIR percentage and putts per GIR. He is also T4 on Tour in par-4 scoring average looking for his sixth top-15 of 2025.
Russell Henley ($10,900)
Henley was a little quiet after his big win at the API in early March, but after a T8 at the RBC Heritage it feels like he should continue to be a mainstay inside the top-10. Henley should be well suited for this test ranking top-20 on Tour in driving accuracy, SG: Approach, GIR percentage, proximity, SG: Around-the-Green and SG: Putting. He is also fourth in birdie average, 10th in bogey avoidance, second in par-3 scoring and T4 in par-4 scoring this season. There's a handful of players priced higher that Henley is playing much better than.
The Middle Tier
Keegan Bradley ($10,300)
Bradley is always one to watch when we come to this part of the country. The Wissahickon Course should fit his game quite well at sixth in SG: Tee-to-Green, 16th in total driving, 14th in proximity and 36th in SG: Around-the-Green. The only issue of late for Bradley has been the putter, but the unfamiliar greens for everyone should soften some of that blow. He was also T2 last year at Colonial, which is probably the closest comparison to this course among any regular PGA Tour venue.
Keith Mitchell ($9,500)
Mitchell received a sponsors exemption for this event and he all the sudden becomes one of the best plays in the $9K range in this loaded field. Mitchell has finished top-20 in his last four starts and continues to strike the ball beautifully. He has gained strokes off the tee in nine of his last ten measured starts, and on approach in eight of his last nine. There are a lot of par-4s you need to score well on here and Mitchell ranks seventh on Tour in par-4 birdie or better percentage. He also is excellent at getting off to hot starts, leading the Tour with a 67.10 first round scoring average.
Akshay Bhatia ($9,000)
Bhatia is typical a great DFS player because he makes a lot of birdies. Right now he is ninth on the PGA Tour in birdie average at 4.5 per round. To make a lot of birdies you need to hit it close and sink putts, and Bhatia does just that ranking top-35 in SG: Approach, proximity and SG: Putting. He is also top-15 on Tour in par-3 and par-4 scoring average. Bhatia has struggled in his last few starts, but this seems like a great place for him to get back to his early-season form when he logged three top-10s in a four-start stretch.
The Long Shots
Tom Hoge ($8,500)
Hoge has started to really find his groove finishing T3-T5-T14-T18 over his last four individual events. His iron play and putting have been very impressive over the last few months. He now sits 12th in SG: Approach, 16th in proximity, 51st in SG: Putting and eighth in putts per hole. Hoge is an accurate driver as well who is also 27th in sand-save percentage. $8,500 seems pretty cheap considering his course fit and upside.
Ryan Gerard ($8,400)
Gerard missed just his second cut of the season last week at the Byron Nelson, but the seven top-30 finishes in his previous 10 starts, including a pair of top-10s, give me confidence to go back this week. Gerard just does a lot of things well at 55th in total driving, 35th in SG: Approach, 26th in scrambling and 21st in SG: Putting. He is also top-15 on Tour in SG: Total and scoring average. Much like Hoge, it's hard to pass on that upside way down in the mid-$8K range.
Eric Cole ($8,300)
It wasn't that long ago Cole was pretty much an auto top-20 with top-5 upside. That form seems to be coming back to him with finishes of T12-T15-T26-T18-T5 in his last five individual starts. That came after a poor stretch where he missed four cuts in a five-start span. The hallmark of Cole's game since joining the PGA Tour has been his wedge play and putting. Both of those are firing on all cylinders again. The shorter-hitter will have no issues competing with the bombers on this course.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
With this being another no-cut event, it gives us a chance to be aggressive and target some of the top birdie makers on Tour. There are a number of those highlighted above and usually those players are ones who are dialed in on approach and with the putter. With this also being a course we have never seen before, a lot of people will have different ideas of what parts of the game will be most important to look at. I think we should see pretty balanced ownership across the board. The $7K range is extremely shallow this week with only nine players, and none of them give me any confidence. I tend to lean towards a more balanced build.
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