2026 PLAYERS Championship: Top Round 3 DraftKings Showdown Plays

By John Haslbauer | Mar 13, 2026, 7:50pm

We are on to the weekend at the 2026 PLAYERS Championship. With Round 2 in the books, 74 players have advanced through the cut at +2 or better. With 36 holes of data, at our disposal, we’ll adjust our approach in DFS formats before Round 3 gets underway on Saturday. Conditions were far more beign on Friday, resulting in a much more score-friendly version of TPC Sawgrass. We should expect the course to get firmer and more difficult as the week continues.

With a similar forecast in store for Saturday, 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 3 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 3 Showdown lineups for these reasons.

Scottie Scheffler ($14,000)

We’ve seen this play out too many times before to expect anything different at this point. It hasn’t looked pretty thus far for Scheffler, but with his worst stuff, he’s still managed to find himself a tee time on the weekend at +1. He ranks in the bottom 20 on the PGA TOUR in terms of Round 1 scoring this season, and No. 1 from rounds 2-4. Give Scheffler time, and he will correct the issues he’s battling through.

Uncharacteristically poor putting and driving have relegated him to the bottom of the leaderboard thus far, but his approach play and distance control have continued to look world-class. His form may not seem worth paying top dollar for in Showdown at the moment, but he represents a great leverage play with an early tee time and softer, scorable conditions in store.

Adam Scott ($7,500)

Scott will enter his third round either feeling incredibly frustrated or confident about his game. He’s gotten the hardest part about TPC Sawgrass down, ranking No. 2 in SG: Approach in each of his first two rounds. Unfortunately, his driving and putting have been woeful, relegating him to even par. I’m optimistic the driving will turn around by week’s end for Scott, who ranked top-15 in the field in terms of SG: OTT leading into this week.

As a former champion of this event, Scott may need to go back to basics with a more conservative driving approach. But assuming the iron play remains sharp, Scott represents a strong buy-low leverage play on moving day.

Austin Smotherman ($6,500)

A lineup core that begins with Scheffler requires a viable longshot for complementary value. Smotherman is playing the best golf amongst the options available in the $6K range leading into Round 3. He ranked top-5 in terms of SG: APP leading into this week, but was relegated to this lower price after questions emerged about his health status when withdrawing from the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Ranking 5th in the field in SG: T2G thus far, those lingering health concerns seem to be put to rest.

I won’t go as far as to say Smotherman is due to sink more putts on Saturday, as he has been reeling on the greens throughout the 2026 season. With that said, his T2 finish at the Cognizant Classic earlier this month provides an inkling of hope that better results may await on these similar Bermuda greens.

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.

John Haslbauer

John Haslbauer writes about golf betting and DFS strategy for Lineups. He is a passionate golf fan, golf writer, and (casual) golfer. A graduate of Syracuse University, John works full-time in Social Influencer Marketing Strategy and is based out of Long Island, N.Y. He created thepgatout.com at the start of 2021 and co-hosts the Preferred Lines weekly podcast.