I’ll be sharing my weekly picks for Fanteam’s fantasy golf contests, along with selections for their player matchups and sportsbook offerings. Fanteam, the UKGC-regulated platform and Europe’s largest DFS site, offers an exciting way to engage with golf. Read on to find out how you can claim a free entry to their signature Players Championship contest—no deposit required!
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The Players Championship is a great way to start this new project. It’s a long time between Majors so this fills the gap nicely and gets us in the mood for next month’s Masters.
Scottie Scheffler has been the story here for the last two years and he’d join Jack Nicklaus as the only three-time winner if successful again.
Player talk in the build-up suggests the course is a little softer after rain although Scheffler said this in Tuesday’s press conference: “Played the back nine today with a few of my buddies, had fun. Golf course reacted pretty well to the rain, so hopefully it will firm up as the week goes on.”
As for the latest weather, it’s set to be calm on Thursday and Friday (so no obvious draw bias) but it could get gusty on both weekend days. So if you want to watch balls finding water on the island green at 17, Saturday and Sunday are your best bets.
So, let’s crack on with some fantasy picks for the action at TPC Sawgrass…
Top Tier Picks (Over $18m)
At the very top of the board, Scottie Scheffler ($25.6m) is obviously a great fit but he’s not quite at it in 2025 and trying to win this for a third year running would be a herculean effort. In short, it’s valid to oppose him after his poor putting display at Bay Hill. The same goes for Rory McIlroy ($23m), who was T15 in the Arnold Palmer and didn’t have his long game with him. Collin Morikawa ($21m) will have high ownership following his unlucky second place at Bay Hill but he’s yet to make the top 10 in four starts at Sawgrass.
So, who do I like…
Hideki Matsuyama ($19.8m): Finding consistency on this course is hard but Matsuyama has cracked the code almost better than anybody over the last five years, making the top eight in three of his last four visits. That also doesn’t take into account the abandoned Covid edition in 2020 when he’d opened with a 63 to hold a two-shot lead. The 2021 Masters champ was a brilliant birdie-laden winner of The Sentry in January and comes in off three top 25s on courses that don’t suit him as well as this one. Those victories at The Genesis and St. Jude last year show that Matsuyama’s best golf secures wins.
Ludvig Aberg ($20.4m): The other player from the $$$ range I like is Aberg. The Swede finished eighth on his Sawgrass debut last year and last October he became a Ponte Vedra resident. “TPC Sawgrass is one of my favourite golf courses. (I’ve) had the privilege to be able to play it now for a couple of months, and yeah, it’s cool to be seeing it in all the different winds,” he revealed in Tuesday’s press conference. A winner two starts ago at Torrey Pines, one bad round hurt him at Bay Hill last week but a closing 68 secured T22. Has the game and calm temperament to be a regular challenger here.
Others to consider: Daniel Berger ($19.2m) alway comes onto the radar in Florida and he’s delivering with 25th at the Cognizant and 15th at Bay Hill. That followed 12th at the Genesis and second in Phoenix. Berger’s streak of six straight cuts at Sawgrass includes a pair of ninths and a 13th. Like many, Justin Thomas ($20.2m) has a rather feast or famine record at Sawgrass but a win and a third shows the upside. Three top 10s this year point to a big week.
Mid-Range Value Selections ($12-18m)
Jason Day ($16.2m): Flying in the face of what we’ve become accustomed to, Day’s putter was letting him down early in the season. However, his long game was so strong that the Aussie still reeled off third at The American Express and 13th at Pebble. But last week at Bay Hill after getting back together with long-time coach Colin Swatton, he found his touch on the greens again, ranking 5th for Strokes Gained: Putting and finishing eighth. Day has a win, three other top 10s and two further top 20s at Sawgrass. He looks a strong mid-range option.
Brian Harman ($15.2m): There’s perhaps a feeling with Harman that when he won the Open Championship at Hoylake in 2023, that was that. He could spend the rest of his years recalling his astonishing six-shot win, drinking from a replica Claret Jug and shooting animals. But unlike the latter, he isn’t done yet. Harman is plodding along nicely, making his last five cuts (top 25s at Phoenix and Torrey Pines) and is a stud at TPC Sawgrass. Runner-up last year, the left-hander was third in 2021 and has two other top eights. He’s made the cut in eight of the last nine Players Championships.
Others to consider: And, by ‘consider’, I mean ‘highly consider’ when it comes to Sepp Straka ($17.2m). The Austrian is playing the golf of his life (1-7-15-MC-11-5 since mid-January) and has the perfect game for Sawgrass where he’s posted ninth and 16th in two of the last three years. He’ll arguably have higher ownership that Rory however. US Ryder Cup skipper Keegan Bradley ($15.4m) was a fast-finishing fifth at Bay Hill and has three other top 15s in a season where he’s yet to miss a cut. His Sawgrass CV shows a fifth (2022) and a seventh (2018).
Underdog Options (Under $12m)
Doug Ghim ($11.2m): In a game that awards x1.25pts to the Underdog (UD), i.e. your lowest priced player, some reliability is needed down the bottom end and Ghim certainly provides that. Starting with current form, he’s cashed in six of his last seven events, posting 11th at the Cognizant Classic last time where he ranked 1st for SG: Approach, a big plus for Sawgrass. Talking of which, in four starts at The Players he has a sixth, a 16th and a 29th.
Victor Perez ($11.2m): The Frenchman is an interesting low-cost, low-ownership option. He made his one and only TPC Sawgrass appearance in 2021 but caused a surprise by finishing ninth. After a tricky West Coast, he’s found his form again with 18th at the Cognizant Classic last time. An obvious explanation is the return to Florida as Perez seems to really like it there. He’s 6-for-7 in the Sunshine State with one top 10 and two other top 20s. Ghim and Perez are the same price but if you include both, note that Perez will be classed as the Underdog (UD) and hence score x1.25pts as, in the event of a tie, it’s decided on ‘Form’. Hover over the ‘i’ symbol on the player icons and you’ll see that Ghim’s form is 72.75 to Perez’s 58.5. Had they been the same, the player with the worse world ranking would be the UD (mighty close in this case as Perez is 99 and Ghim 100!).
Others to consider: The massively in-form Michael Kim ($11.8m) has to be an option even though he’ll surely be massively popular after a run of form from Phoenix to Bay Hill which reads 2-13-13-6-4. He also ranks 1st for Bogey Avoidance. Full scoring rules are here incidentally. Jake Knapp ($11.8m) is another to appeal. His sixth at the Cognizant represented a third straight top 25, he has three top sixes in his last five Florida starts when adding in Korn Ferry events and he was 45th on his Sawgrass debut 12 months ago.
A quick word on these. There are 15 tournament head-to-heads listed and you pick between 3 and 10 of these duels in an acca. Pick 10 correctly and win up to 500X your stake. Sounds good!
I’d be taking Tommy Fleetwood over Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger over Wyndham Clark and Matt Fitzpatrick against Sahith Theegala as my main three. That £10 entry would return £60. Add in a fourth – hmm, Shane Lowry to beat Russell Henley maybe – and that rises to £115. You get the idea.
Yes, there’s a Sportsbook too.
Scheffler is 5/1 favourite ahead of 10/1 McIlroy. Matsuyama at 25s is the one for me.
That’s week one in the books. Don’t forget to SIGN UP HERE
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DaveTindall365 