2026 FedEx St Jude Championship: Top DraftKings Showdown Plays & Live Bets Ahead of Round 2
The 2026 FedEx St Jude Championship is officially underway, with TPC Southwind offering a fair test to the field, reward great shots and penalizing misfires.
It’s a logjam at the top after one round, with five players – Michael Thorbjornsen, Kurt Kitayama, Jake Knapp, Jordan Spieth, and Michael Kim – each holding a share of the lead at 5-under-par. Pre-tournament favorites Tommy Fleetwood, Hideki Matsuyama, Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Scottie Scheffler, Ludvig Aberg, and Viktor Hovland are all lurking too, each within three strokes of the leaders.
Looking ahead, we have new data at our disposal to adjust our approach in DFS formats before Round 2 gets underway on Friday. Conditions were largely calm on Thursday, but the course will continue to get firmer as the week goes on. Ahead, we’ll look to identify the players who have shown they are most due for a Round 2 breakout.
Take a look at some of the best pillar players for the 2026 FedEx St Jude Championship DFS contests and live betting opportunities.
DraftKings Showdown Golf Strategy
DraftKings Golf Showdown Golf is a one-round Daily Fantasy format in which players aim to construct the best-scoring one-round lineup while staying within the allotted salary cap. To identify value in Golf Showdown, it’s typically best to focus on buy-low opportunities on players who’ve shown uncharacteristically poor putting in the prior round. There is also an opportunity to find leverage by identifying favorable weather splits and players who are more likely to card birdies-or-better.
Round 2 FedEx St Jude Championship Showdown Pillar Plays
As expected, ball-striking form and Bermuda putting skill have prevailed through the opening round at TPC Southwind. Much like last week at Sedgefield CC, this is a venue that can be attacked from the fairway by trending wedge players. As one of the purest positional courses on the PGA Tour, we’ve also seen a steep penalty for wayward misfires here, whether it be the ample water hazards, tight tree lines, or penal Bermuda rough. That places a heightened importance on driving accuracy and ball-striking, as the leaders have displayed in the opening round. Looking ahead, it is going to take a combination of driving accuracy, elite iron play, and a streaky putter to go low at TPC Southwind.
Identifying value players who check each of these boxes can provide valuable bonus points in the DraftKings Showdown format. The three players below will be foundational plays in my Round 2 Showdown lineups for these reasons.
Tommy Fleetwood ($10,400)
I was bullish on Fleetwood’s prospects to contend at TPC Southwind this week, as he checks every single box on paper that one would look for in a player to thrive on a positional Bermuda layout like this. Even still, it was fair to question what scar tissue would still remain after Fleetwood led for the majority of this tournament and fell just short here in 2025. An opening round of 4-under-par alleviates any of those hangover concerns for me, and his post-round comments were all the more encouraging, calling TPC Southwind one of his favorite venues on Tour.
A positional, ball-striker’s paradise did not seem like it would be the spot where Fleetwood’s momentum would halt, as he entered this week amidst a stretch of six consecutive top-15 finishes. There have been no holes in his game throughout the second half of Fleetwood’s season, and he left plenty on the table after his opening round. Ranking 1st in SG: OTT and 2nd in SG: T2G, Fleetwood can make another push tomorrow if the putts begin to fall.
Tom Kim ($8,600)
I like Tom Kim in round 2 for effectively all of the same reasons I’m bullish on Tommy Fleetwood. TPC Southwind is a short, positional course that rewards accurate driving and in-form ball-striking above all else. Those are the two strengths of Kim’s game, and naturally, we should expect his momentum to carry over from Sedgefield CC, where he finished T5 last week.
Kim ranked as the No. 1 player in terms of SG: APP over the last 36 rounds leading into this week, and has shown no signs of stopping at TPC Southwind. He ranks 10th in the category through the opening round, and top-10 in Driving Accuracy, SG: Ball Striking, SG: OTT, and SG: T2G as well. He got absolutely nothing to fall on the greens Thursday, ranking 63rd out of 69 players in SG: Putting. I expect that to flip over the course of the week given his elevated putting stats recently, and if it does, he’s positioned well to improve on his current T26 standing.
Sepp Straka ($6,200)
The data loved Sepp Straka leading into this week, but the eye test assuredly did not. Straka has a good track record at TPC Southwind, losing in a playoff here in 2022 and finishing T17 in his most recent visit in 2025. On paper, it is an ideal course for Straka, who thrives on familiar Bermuda greens, and has established himself as one of the most accurate ball-strikers on Tour.
He has not looked like that version of himself recently, however, with five consecutive finishes of T67 or worse leading in. Something seems to have clicked for Straka on this comfort course though, as he impressed with an opening round of 2-under-par. He’s gotten back to his strengths of accuracy, ranking top-10 in Driving Accuracy, SG: Ball Striking, SG: T2G, and SG: APP. Like Fleetwood and Kim, he just has not gotten putts to drop yet (58th SG: Putting), but if he does, he represents a very appealing value in Round 2 Showdown formats.
Live Bets To Consider Entering Round 2
Round 2 Matchup: Chris Gotterup over Min Woo Lee
Best Available odds: -125
On the merit of course fit and current form alone, Gotterup holds a distinct edge over Min Woo in this matchup. Gotterup has already won once this year on a positional, par-70 Bermuda setup at the Sony Open, and continues to play his best golf on courses that reward accurate ball-striking. That fit has paid off so far, as he’s currently T6 after an opening round of 4-under-par.
Min Woo has looked solid in his own right, with an opening round of 3-under-par, but he appears to be playing with fire. He ranked last in the field in Driving Accuracy, hitting just 2 of 14 fairways in his opening round. He’s been at his best on more generous driving venues, but at TPC Southwind, blow-up holes seem inevitable for anyone searching for accuracy off the tee.
Leader After Round 2: Tommy Fleetwood
Best Available odds: +1025
I picked Tommy Fleetwood to win outright prior to the start of this tournament, and I’m sticking to my guns after what I saw in the opening round at the FedEx St Jude Championship. Fleetwood may not be the most prolific closer in professional golf, but he’s no stranger to coming out the gates hot, leading this tournament at the halfway point this time last year.
Currently 4-under-par just one stroke behind the leaders, I believe Tommy has an even better round in the tank, as he ranked just 51st in SG: Putting in his opening round. With five consecutive top-15 finishes leading in, Fleetwood is playing with full confidence right now, and should have a little extra motivation to build a more cushioned lead heading into the weekend after letting this tournament slip away from him last year.
Best of luck with your Fedex St. Jude Championship DFS lineups and bets!
Photo Credit: REUTERS
