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The action has officially kicked off at the 2026 PLAYERS Championship. With Round 1 in the books, we have new data at our disposal to adjust our approach in DFS formats before Round 2 gets underway on Friday. Conditions have been all over the place thus far, with waves of rain and wind hitting TPC Sawgrass intermittently. We should expect the course to get firmer and more difficult as the week continues.
With a similar forecast in store for Friday, 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 PLAYERS DFS contests.
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 PLAYERS Showdown Pillar Plays
At the 2026 PLAYERS Championship, there is a particular focus on players who rate out well in Par-5 Scoring and Bogey Avoidance, as the Par 5s present the greatest opportunity to card birdies-or-better, and a clean, bogey-free round 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.
Min Woo Lee ($8,300)
Min Woo was a popular weeklong fantasy play heading into Thursday, but played himself into an early hole by missing three putts inside 5 feet over his first six holes. That’s highly uncharacteristic of him, as he ranked top-10 in the field in SG: Putting on the 2026 season leading in. Encouragingly, he fought his way back to Even par by the end of the first round, and is still very much in play to contend in this tournament.
Profiling as a bomber with streaky putting and crafty scrambling ability, Min Woo is capable of finding birdies where most others cannot, offering an appealing ceiling in Showdown formats. He made six birdies in Round 1, so if he can keep the bogeys off the card in Round 2, he’ll catapult himself up this leaderboard quickly.
Justin Thomas ($7,600)
The thing about rust is, it wears off more quickly for some than others. Thomas was a fade for me coming into this week on the merit of how dreadful he looked at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in his first appearance since major back surgery in November. He’s gone from the outhouse to the penthouse just one week later, however, as he’ll enter Round 2 just one stroke off the lead.
Thomas’ Showdown price at $7,600 is still factoring in concerns from the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which should be put to rest. Thomas now looks healthy enough to play to his full potential on the course he successfully slayed back in 2021. Thomas ranked top-20 in SG: T2G in the Round 1 and is a standout value at this price heading into Friday.
Chris Kirk ($6,400)
If you’re looking for a salary-saver in R2 Showdown, Chris Kirk offers the least question marks leading into Friday. A great long-term Bermuda putter, Kirk simply could not get the flatstick to cooperate in Round 1. He ranked No. 9 in the field in SG: T2G, but fell all the way to 107th in SG: Putting.
Despite the putting woes, Kirk is still in a strong position, entering Round 2 at -1. Kirk ranks top-20 in this field in SG: APP this season, and continues to look the part as a reliable ball-striker around TPC Sawgrass.
Best of luck if you choose to roster these PLAYERS DFS picks.
2026 PLAYERS ODDS
If you want to add sportsbook bets to your PLAYERS DFS picks this week, you can shop the best odds at DraftKings Sportsbook for PGA Tour sleepers and more highly touted players using the pulldown menu. Best of luck if you choose to bet on these golf DFS picks! Click to bet below.
