PGA DFS Core Plays: Sanderson Farms Championship
Top-ranked DFS player, Notorious, breaks down his favorite PGA DFS picks at various price ranges for this week’s tournament. Who should you be building lineups around? Find out below!
PGA DFS Picks: DraftKings & FanDuel Core Plays for the Sanderson Farms Championship
The Ryder Cup wasn’t the competitive battle that we were hoping for in the first two days, but it still provided an electric finish thanks to a huge run by Team USA in singles. Ultimately, Team Europe was able to do just enough to win in America for the first time since 2004. It’s a bummer that we won’t see another Ryder Cup until 2027.
While the Ryder Cup is in the rearview mirror, we still have plenty of PGA TOUR events remaining on the 2025 schedule. These events are considered part of the FedExCup Fall, which is an opportunity for golfers to play for points, money, and spots in big tournaments next season. We won’t have the strongest fields over the next couple of months, and most eyes will be on the NFL or the MLB playoffs, so paying close attention to golf during this stretch could pay major dividends in DFS.
Editor’s Note: For more tournament and course notes for the Sanderson Farms Championship, check out this week’s PGA DFS First Look. To get access to Noto’s PGA DFS Model Breakdown & Download link, which allows you to create your own projections, click here.
The Sanderson Farms Championship is held at the Country Club of Jackson, which is a par 72 course that measures over 7,400 yards. This has played as one of the easiest courses on TOUR in each of the last 2 years, with the winning scores of those events being -23 and -18. Prolific birdie makers have had a lot of success at this event, but golfers will also need to avoid making bogeys. I like including both Birdie or Better % and Bogey Avoidance in my key metrics this week.
Even though the fairways here are narrow (28 yards wide), this is a bomber-friendly course. Golfers hit driver on 82% of tee shots last year, which was one of the highest marks of any course in the PGA TOUR rotation. There’s not a major penalty for missing fairways, so don’t be afraid to load up on elite drivers of the ball. The greens here are average in size (6,200 square feet) and easy to hit in regulation (70%). The course features fairly difficult par 5s, so taking advantage of those will be key this week.
Let’s get to the picks!
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Core Plays
Rico Hoey
DraftKings: $9,000 / pOWN%: 14%
FanDuel: $10,800 / pOWN%: 21%
Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 2
Strokes Gained: Approach: 9
Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green: 47
Strokes Gained: Putting: 124
Birdie or Better %: 9
Bogey Avoidance: 22
After being one of the worst putters on TOUR over the last couple of years, Hoey decided to switch to the long putter before the Procore Championship. We shouldn’t put too much stock into a single event, but he only lost 0.1 strokes putting to the field. For comparison, he had lost 28 strokes in his previous 4 events. If he can become an average putter, he’s going to be a player who can win once every year or two. In this field, he’s top 10 in both Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Strokes Gained: Approach. He’s truly an elite ball striker who can hopefully show some improvement on the greens.
Mark Hubbard
DraftKings: $8,000 / pOWN%: 18%
FanDuel: $9,700 / pOWN%: 14%
Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 64
Strokes Gained: Approach: 39
Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green: 70
Strokes Gained: Putting: 36
Birdie or Better %: 28
Bogey Avoidance: 35
Hubbard is one of those golfers who doesn’t do anything truly elite, but he’s above the field average in all four Strokes Gained metrics over the last 6 months. In fields like this, he tends to make a lot of cuts with a lot of high-end finishes. He’s quietly made 8 of his last 9 cuts with 2 top-5 finishes during that stretch. He’s gained strokes putting in 10 straight events, which is encouraging given his struggles with the flatstick at times in his career. He seems to have a soft spot for this course, as he’s finished in the top 10 at this event in 2 of the last 3 years.
Conviction Plays
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