Playoffs?! We’re talking about playoffs! With the regular season over for the 2026 PGA Tour season, we head onto the FedEx Cup playoffs where the top 69 players of the 2026 season get the chance to earn their place in signature events for next year, millions of dollars, and a chance to lock up their place in history.

Don't forget, when looking to build your lineups, make sure to take advantage of our PGA DFS Projections, PGA DFS Ownership, and PGA DFS Lineup Optimizer to get every advantage you can.

Let’s dive in!

 

FedEx St. Jude Championship 2026: Daily Fantasy Golf Picks & Projections

Founded as the Westchester Classic back in 1967, this event has partnered with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital since 1980. For many years, this was a standard tour event, but since 2007 this has been the first event of the PGA Tour playoffs. This field has had multiple notable moments, from 2015 when Brian Harman made two hole-in-ones in the same round at Plainfield Country Club to Scottie Scheffler's 59 at TPC Boston. Now hosted at TPC Southwind, this field has a long history on tour as well. Let's take a peak into the venue!

 

TPC Southwind: Course Breakdown This Week

Located in Memphis, Tennessee, TPC Southwind is no stranger to the PGA Tour. This course has hosted events on tour since 1989. Playing at just under 7,300 yards and a par 70, this shorter course is no walk in the park. TPC Southwind is littered with water, tight fairways, deep rough, and nearly 75 bunkers throughout. The bermuda greens are fast, firm, and are historically the final line of defense for this venue. Scoring is still possible, but scoring chances will not come easy. 

The four par 3s at this venue play between 168 and 205 yards, the par 4s play between 395 and 530, and the par 5s play at 530 and 580 respectively. This gives us some clear brackets, while also making it clear that there are no free holes at this venue. While the two par 5s are the only two holes on the course that play under par year over year, par 5 scoring is mitigated by the presence of just two par 5s. Past that, each hole offers unique challenges and set up shots will be required more often than not. Course history is very present when breaking down this venue. TPC Southwind ranks in the top half of tour courses in-terms of predictiveness, meaning the past results of players must be considered this week, even with this now being a limited field event.

Southwind is certainly no walk in the park. It's long bermuda rough was the 2nd hardest to gain from on tour (only behind U.S. Open Venue Oakmont), and it's narrow fairways make the penalty for missing that much higher. That said, it does have plenty of areas that play well easier than tour average. The green complexes consistently rank amongst the easiest on tour, with the major difficulty of them coming from the fact that they're heavily defended by water. Eight of the greens are guarded by water, which makes the likelihood of a water ball on approach that much higher, increasing the need for players to avoid big numbers.

Playing your way around Southwind has a very clear path. Off the tee, you have to keep it in the fairway to give yourself a clean approach shot. We're going to focus heavily on Driving Accuracy, as well as Good Drives Gained to give us a clear picture of the players that fit this mold, with Distance from Edge of Fairway as an additional metric to consider. Nearly 50 percent of approach shots will come from 150-200 yards out, so this will be an area of focus as well. Approach and Putting on Bermuda are the clear separator stats this week, with the winners of the event almost exclusively near the top of the field in these numbers. Play around-the-green is extremely easy, with it not uncommon to see most of the top 10 in the field ranking well outside the top 30 in this metric. Winning scores usually end up around -15 to -18, so scoring is important, but avoiding big numbers has equal importance this week.

Leaders in key stats:

SG: Approach: Si Woo Kim, Corey Conners, Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Alex Smalley, Russell Henley, Cameron Young, Aaron Rai, Ryan Gerard, Adam Scott

SG: Putting (Bermuda): Nico Echavarria, Harry Hall, Eric Cole, Maverick McNealy, Tom Kim, Matt McCarty, Alex Noren, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sam Burns, Ben Griffin

 

FedEx St. Jude Championship 2026 Field: Golf DFS

The playoff picture was officially set at the end of the Wyndham Championship. The top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings earned their spot here, though Daniel Berger will not be in the field this week. This is removing him from the rest of the playoffs as he will not be able to reach the top 50 required to make the field next week. Sudarshan Yellamaraju is the lowest ranked player in the field at 108th, and only Patrick Rodgers joins him outside the top 100 in the world. This is one of the strongest fields we've seen outside of the majors, and it's truly anyone's event. Only two previous winners are in the field, with Justin Rose and Hideki Matsuyama appearing as previous winners at the event. Michael Brennan earned his spot with his win at the Wyndham, and the remainder of the field are looking to get into the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings to earn their spot at next week's BMW Championship

 

This Week’s PGA DFS Optimizer & Lineup Generator

To enhance your daily fantasy golf selections and secure optimal PGA DFS values, it's advisable to utilize our PGA DFS optimizer and lineup generator. This optimizer serves as a valuable resource for daily fantasy golf enthusiasts aiming to develop effective lineups!

It provides projections, updates on player injuries, and a range of analytical insights to facilitate the lineup-building process. Essentially, it functions as a strategic advantage for participants in daily fantasy golf and makes their own PGA DFS picks!

PGA Best Bets & Predictions: 2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship (20-34 Overall, +5.35 Units)

  • Tom Kim: Top 20 (+160)
  • Sam Burns: Top 10 (+220) 
 

GOLF DFS PICKS THIS WEEK: Top Tier

Xander Schauffele ($10,000 DraftKings/$12,100 FanDuel)

Xander had a relatively disappointing year, recording only three top 5 finishes and three more top 10's, but I'm going to trust the game here. He was the runner up at the Rocket Classic just a couple weeks ago, and his iron play is trending back in the right direction. He hasn't scored as well this year, but has elite bogey and double bogey avoidance numbers. He's also recorded multiple top 10 finishes at this venue, and three straight top 24 finishes at TPC Southwind. I'll take that discount here.

Matt Fitzpatrick ($9,900 DraftKings/$11,100 FanDuel)

Fitz has taken some time off after his missed cut at the Open Championship, but his form prior to that showed his upside when on American soil. He recorded 3 top 5 finishes in his 4 starts prior to the Open, and his three wins on the season show his weekly upside at this point. Given the massive discount compared to Scottie or Rory this week, you will find me much more likely to go this route. Oh, and he's got three top 6 finishes at Southwind. That'll do. 

Sam Burns ($9,500 DraftKings/$11,300 FanDuel)

Burns is going to sound a lot like the Fitzpatrick profile, only the strong play has been more recent given his 3rd place finish at the Open. He's recorded three top 5 finishes and two top 20 finishes in his last 5, and his iron play has been peaking at the exact right time. His putting is always a strength, and he's another with strong course history here at Southwind. 

 

GOLF DFS PICKS THIS WEEK: MID-TIER

Viktor Hovland ($8,400 DraftKings/$10,100 FanDuel)

Since 2021, no player has more Strokes Gained in the playoffs than Hovland. This is something that didn't even factor into my model, but might as well be brought up. Factoring in just his play, he's 4th in my model overall, and as long as he keeps his ball in the fairway, he's top 20 in every single stat that I've pulled this week. He's my favorite outright play this week as well.

Jackson Koivun ($8,200 DraftKings/$10,000 FanDuel)

Can I just copy and paste what I wrote last week here? Koivun is the only player ever to make the playoffs after joining the tour through the PGA Tour University status. He qualified by making just 6 starts! He'll need to putt better than he did last week, but his profile was strong for Sedgefield, and is equally as strong for Southwind. 

Si Woo Kim ($8,700 DraftKings/$10,400 FanDuel)

Hovland's profile is nearly identical to Si Woo's, except Si Woo falls in the top 30 in everything as opposed to top 20 for Hovland. So of course I'm going to be all over Si Woo. There's just one stat that falls outside of the top 20 for Si Woo (Double Bogey Avoidance), but he also ranks top 5 in approach from 150-200, Strokes Gained: Total over his last 24 rounds, Distance from Edge of Fairway, and he actually leads this field in Birdie or Better Percentage. 

 

 

GOLF DFS PICKS THIS WEEK: VALUE TIER

Tom Kim ($7,900 DraftKings/$9,700 FanDuel)

Tom Kim leads my model this week. Last time he did that, he won the whole event. There is no flaw in his current game besides his lack of driving distance (which has almost no impact this week) and his overall ball-striking prowess should provide him with ample chance to win yet again. He's playing some of the best golf we've seen in a long time, and there's no reason he can't continue that at a venue he's consistently played well at. 

Jordan Smith ($6,600 DraftKings/$8,200 FanDuel)

Jordan Smith kind of came out of nowhere over the last couple months. He's made a bunch of cuts this year, but his performance has been peaking at the right time. He played his way into the playoffs, largely on the heels of consistent overall play. His driver has been an absolute weapon as of late, and if that prowess continues, and his irons don't falter, he's going to be a great budget option this week. 

Michael Brennan ($7,400 DraftKings/$9,300 FanDuel)

Let's just ride the heater here. Brennan is one of the best drivers of the ball on the planet, he's just needed the rest of his game to be consistent. Considering his last three tournaments he's improved each time, and has been one of the hottest putters in the world, I think we might finally be there. We've seen Lucas Glover win the Wyndham and follow up with a win at St. Jude, and I think Brennan has more talent than Glover ever has. Let's hope this works!

 

PGA DFS Picks This Week (Cheat Sheet)

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