Fantasy Golf Rankings

Tracking the Most Valuable DFS Golfers on the PGA Tour

“Golf is a funny sport,” Bob Hope once said. “One day you miss every putt, wind up in every sand trap, and lose 2 matches in a row. And then the next day you really stink.” 

The game feels like that for a majority of hackers, if not PGA pros. 

Want some good news? FanDuel’s DFS, or Daily Fantasy Sports department, is offering weekly PGA Tour contests. It’s a new way to conquer the links without ever having to swing a club – or lose a 3-dollar Titleist in a pond. 

Fantasy golf is scored a little bit differently than the real thing. PGA Tour DFS draft choices earn points for GMs by scoring well over a game of 18 or 72 holes. However, players who make birdies and eagles often enough can help a Fantasy GM win with bonus points, even if they don’t score quite as well for the tournament as a more-careful DFS team. 

Which PGA Tour professionals are producing the most FanDuel points? 

Scroll down for current Golf DFS rankings, or read below for more on our drafting and scoring rules. 

FanDuel’s DFS Golf Draft and Scoring Rules

Each competitor at FanDuel can select 6 golfers headed into a PGA Tour event. Salary caps are in place to prevent dreary repetition in team selections. 

If everyone could select any “6-some” among top world-ranked golfers, then the sextets would tend to look alike. The website’s cap of “FanDuel dollars” presents tactical choices to each DFS golf draft participant. Want to load-up on “A” draft selections like Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson? Fine – but it’ll cost you in “B” options. 

Our DFS golf portal gives Fantasy GMs the option of competing in an entire 72-hole stroke-play tourney, “weekend only” or final 36-hole matches, or “winner take all” Sunday-only Fantasy events, with picks made on Saturday night. 

FanDuel uses an exciting system to score DFS draft picks’ performances. When a golfer finishes 1st or in the top 10 on Sunday, his Fantasy GM is rewarded with a bundle of points. For instance, a 3rd place finish results in an 18-point windfall for that player’s DFS team. Note, however, that there is no penalty if a drafted golfer finishes dead-last on Sunday. Nor are penalties for mishaps as substantial as rewards for birdies and eagles. 

Double Bogey or Worse – Minus 3 points 

Bogey – Minus 1 point 

Par – Plus 0.5 points 

Birdie – Plus 3.1 points

Eagle or Albatross – Plus 7 points 

DFS golf scoring is all about red numbers. A player’s score at the end of a round can be 71, or just -1 on a Par-72 layout. But if their scorecard includes 5 birdies in a row on the front 9, the golfer’s Fantasy GMs receive a boost of momentum. If a power-hitter makes 3 bogeys in a row and then eagles a short Par 5, his GM has scored 2 more immediate points than a DFS competitor whose golfer has scored 4 pars in a row. 

Weekend-Only DFS golf competition is more-weighted to the final leaderboard since drafted players have fewer holes in which to rack-up bonus points. On the other hand, at a major championship such as the U.S. Open, players could find themselves making so many weekend bogeys that some GMs are happy to get their leaders off of the course. 

DFS teams also receive a scoring boost when players string birdies together, bounce back with an under-par score following a bogey, finish a round without bogeys, or pepper a scorecard with red holes. GMs can also access PGA players’ average Fantasy Points Per Game, or FPPG, while perusing DFS draft boards, though golf junkies would prefer “FPPT” for “Fantasy Points Per Tournament” or “FPPR” for “Fantasy Points Per Round.”

Our fantasy golf rankings at bottom of the page also display “projected” DFS points for each golfer headed into the next round (excuse the pun) of PGA Tour battles, courtesy of the expert links handicappers at NumberFire.

FanDuel Fantasy Golf Tips and Tactics

Try to match DFS draft picks with player-course “relationships,” which will net more birdies and eagles. But remember that a course full of “birdie holes” for one set of PGA Tour golfers can be a layout full of grinding pars for another set of players. 

Take Firestone Country Club as an example. Firestone has traditionally served as a difficult PGA Tour course, among the rare settings around which single-digits under par can win a Buick Invitational-type of event. (Firestone has also hosted major championships, for which the winning scores tend to run even higher.) But the layout strongly rewards pure distance, shot integrity, and putting, qualities that Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods possessed in spades in their primes. Therefore, the Ohio links were often a birdie-fest for Tiger and Jack, while other contenders plodded. 

But meanwhile, a tiny course like Merion can suit finesse players like Jordan Spieth, while cursing even the straightest long-hitters with deception and severe slopes. The short-Par 4 10th green even appears to bat an eye at the tee box whenever the pin is placed on the left front of the putting surface. Golfers who heed the “cruel maiden” and attempt to drive Merion’s 10th green often end up waist-deep in pokeweed. 

Almost all birdies and eagles are converted with sunk putts. Look for players who are putting well to flourish when greens are flat enough to reward a smooth stroke. Rory McIlroy’s hot putter has helped him to twice-as-short betting odds as Brooks Koepka or Dustin Johnson to win 2020’s biggest golf tournaments. However, the evil greens at Augusta National or Harbour Town might level the field somewhat. When greens are difficult, it’s the best short-iron players who become more-valuable fantasy picks. After all, on a tough green (or any golf green) the best 2-foot putts are for birdies.  

It’s very important to avoid drafting players who miss the cut. The “cut-line” at a PGA Tour stop is usually “top 65 scores and ties” (down from 70-and-ties as of 2019) and if scoring is healthy, a golfer can score in the low 70s and still miss the cut. When a 72-hole DFS game becomes imbalanced, with one GM owning more golfers eligible to make birdies over the final 36 holes, the score tends to become lopsided. 

Prior to drafting a 6-player DFS team, trace over the Tour stop’s course map and take note of the yardages. If the Par 3s are all 200+ yards and the Par 4s are severe, then there is a chance an old-fashioned team of careful “target” golfers could each make the cut with room to spare, helping a GM overwhelm an opponent with consistent pars. 

But even if a shorter layout is also full of hazards, any factor that helps players make birdies will help a DFS golf GM score points en route to Sunday afternoon.

PGA Tour Fantasy Rankings: Top Performances and Projections

As of July 2020, Rory McIlroy leads all current DFS performances with a strong birdie rate and iron consistency on the PGA Tour. Rory has not won a major in the last several seasons, but Fantasy match-ups can be won at Mickey Mouse Classics and not just the U.S. Open. 

Justin Thomas is projected to score even better for Fantasy GMs despite being ranked “only” 3rd in the world. 

Jon Rahm’s long and accurate driving puts him in position for a lot of potential birdies and eagles. However, the World #2 is not projected to score nearly as well as McIlroy or Thomas in upcoming tournaments. It’s the same for Dustin Johnson, who, like Rahm, has not won an event in 2020 as of June 25th. That’s not a major crisis for The Cheetah or his DFS loyalists, as the season is just now ramping-up thanks to COVID-19’s effect on the golf calendar.