This article is part of our FantasyDraft PGA series.
PGA Championship
St. Louis, Missouri
Bellerive Country Club - Par 70 - 7,317 yards
Field - 156 entrants
Purse - $10.5M
The Preview
In the blink of an eye we're nearly a third of the way into August as the year's final major tournament is upon us. Bellerive Country Club is staged to play host to the PGA Championship for the first time since 1992, though it also was the scene of the 2008 BMW Championship when a young Colombian stud by the name of Camilo Villegas took home the hardware. Unfortunately for Camilo he won't be making the trip to St. Louis this week, but the star-studded field features nearly every single player in the top-100 of the Official World Golf Ranking. The 7,317-yard layout at Bellerive CC this week will be a lengthy par-70 setup, while bombed drives that find the fairway combined with a stellar GIR percentage will be the key to winning (shocking). In turn, focus your picks on the field's best ball strikers with above average SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Tee-to-Green numbers, though large and undulating greens translate to the importance of putting as well. The weather in St. Louis will be hot and sticky, while more precipitation than usual leading up to the tournament has resulted in wet fairways and iffy conditions around the edges of some greens. There could be more rain coming late Friday afternoon, so there might be a slight advantage in an afternoon/morning stack.
Past Champions
2017 - Justin Thomas
2016 - Jimmy Walker
2015 - Jason Day
2014 - Rory McIlroy
2013 - Jason Dufner
2012 - Rory McIlroy
2011 - Keegan Bradley
2010 - Martin Kaymer
FantasyDraft Value Picks - based on $100,000 salary cap
Cream of the Crop
Rory McIlroy - $17,400
Top-10 on Tour in both SG: Off-the-Tee and scrambling, McIlroy went T6-T2 in his past two starts at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and Open Championship. The fifth-ranked player in the OWGR owns a pair of PGA Championship victories and five top-10s in nine career appearances at the event. He faltered down the stretch during Sunday's final round at Firestone, but is ultimately heating up at the right time as the Northern Irishman battles for his third Wanamaker trophy.
Brooks Koepka - $16,100
The back-to-back U.S. Open champ has consistently been a menace in major tournaments the past few years, as a T39 at the Open Championship ended a streak of 11 consecutive top-25s in majors that extended from the 2015 U.S. Open to this year's victory at Shinnecock Hills. Koepka bounced back from a missed cut in Canada with a fifth-place finish at Firestone CC, while he's top-15 in SG: Off-the-Tee, driving distance and birdie average this season.
Justin Thomas - $16,000
It's surprising to see seven competitors listed higher in price on FantasyDraft than the defending champion, who also won last week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in demanding fashion by four strokes. Thomas presents a ton of value here as the world's second-ranked player, so it wouldn't be unwise to project his ownership at close to 30 percent in certain formats.
Glue Guys
Tony Finau - $14,800
Finau fired three rounds of 68 or better at the Bridgestone Invitational to notch his 11th top-25 of 2018. Ranking third on Tour in driving distance, Finau's power will come in handy again this week at Bellerive if he's able to keep it in the short grass.
Patrick Cantlay - $14,700
Cantlay doesn't yet seem to draw the praise he deserves, having recently climbed to a career-best 24th in the OWGR thanks to three consecutive top-15s from the Travelers Championship through the Bridgestone. He's made the cut in six of seven career major appearances, while Cantlay currently ranks 11th in SG: OTT and eighth in SG: T2G.
Paul Casey - $14,500
This is an oddly deflated price for the 15th-ranked golfer in both the world and FedExCup standings, who has also finished top-20 in six of the last eight major championships. The Englishman owns six top-10s in 2018 to go along with just one missed cut, while he's sixth on Tour in SG: Total and fourth in par-three scoring.
Bargain Bin
Webb Simpson - $14,000
Simpson heads to Bellerive coming off back-to-back top-25s, climbing to 11th in the FedExCup standings. He's 19th in SG: Approach, sixth in SG: Putting, third in sand-save percentage and par-four scoring average.
Kyle Stanley - $12,200
Stanley finished solo second at last week's Bridgestone Invitational, where he ranked third in SG: T2G, T6 in GIR percentage and first in driving accuracy. He could be a threat to win it all at Bellerive if he's able to once again find the fairways at a consistent rate, while he's also fourth on Tour in GIR percentage this season.
Thorbjorn Olesen - $12,000
The Danish 28-year-old has been brilliant in recent weeks en route to cracking the top-40 milestone in the OWGR, racking up results of T3-T12-T6 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Open Championship and Irish Open. Earlier this summer he also won the Euro Tour's Italian Open and finished runner-up at the BMW International Open.
