2026 PLAYERS Championship: Top Round 4 DraftKings Showdown Plays

By John Haslbauer | Mar 16, 2026, 4:21pm

The 2026 PLAYERS Championship continues to entertain on its “Fifth Major” billing. With three rounds in the books, the championship will officially be decided tomorrow, as Ludvig Aberg sleeps on a 3-stroke lead. With three rounds of data at our disposal, we’ll adjust our approach in DFS formats before Round 4 gets underway on Sunday. Conditions were benign on Saturday, but a firmer course resulted in a more difficult test for those with afternoon tee times. We should expect the course to get even firmer and more difficult in the final round.

Take a look at some of the best pillar players for PLAYERS DFS contests ahead of the final round.

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 4 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 4 Showdown lineups for these reasons.

Tommy Fleetwood ($10,100)

As of Saturday evening, tomorrow’s forecast calls for calm conditions in the morning and a potential thunderstorm as winds pick up in the late afternoon. If that forecast holds, it offers a great opportunity for skilled players who are further down the leaderboard to make a charge before conditions make a turn for the worse. Fleetwood has continued his elite form at TPC Sawgrass this week, ranking 9th in SG: T2G, but a stagnant putter has relegated him to T26.

I’m expecting some positive regression from Fleetwood on the greens on Sunday, especially in a free-flowing, low-stakes final round where he’ll begin nine strokes off the lead. It would not surprise me to see Fleetwood backdoor himself into the top-10 by day’s end tomorrow.

Ryo Hisatsune ($7,300)

It’s been a miserable putting week thus far for Histatune, who ranks bottom-10 in the field on the greens, despite entering this week as a top-30 putter on TOUR in 2026. Everything else about his game looks to match his form leading in. Histatsune came into THE PLAYERS with three top-10 finishes over his last five starts, and now ranks 3rd in SG: T2G over the first three rounds.

As TPC Sawgrass continues to firm up, it will provide a pathway for players who are in complete control of their ball striking to separate in the final round. Histatsune is a very underrated talent on the PGA TOUR and presents great value considering his current position on the leaderboard and great tee-to-green form.

Sam Stevens ($6,800)

Birdies are available at TPC Sawgrass for players who consistently play from the fairway. Stevens ranks 3rd in the field in SG: OTT through three rounds, showing no signs of stopping leading into the final round. I’m not expecting that trend to stop on Sunday, as Stevens has gained strokes off the tee in each of his last 17 starts dating back to the 2025 U.S. Open last June.

It hasn’t just been the driver working for Stevens this week either. He ranks 13th in the field in SG: T2G as well. Standing at T51 leading into the final round, Stevens will be able to capitalize on an early tee time and will see some of the most benign conditions. Assuming the weather takes a turn for the worse later in the day, Stevens is primed to make an early charge up the leaderboard.

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.

Image Credit: Gerald Herbert for AP Images

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.