The Open Championship: Daily Fantasy Golf Picks

The final men's golf major kicks off this week at Royal Troon in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It's the 152nd Open Championship.

As usual, Scottie Scheffler is a big favorite, but with an elevated salary, we'll need to think about his salary's impact when building DFS lineups.

Here's all you need to know for PGA DFS on FanDuel for this week.

PGA Daily Fantasy

The Open Championship Event Info

Royal Troon Course Info

For course information and key stats, check out this week's Open Championship Best Bets, Course Info, and Key Stats piece here on FanDuel Research.

The Open Championship DFS Top Plays

These picks stand out relative to their FanDuel daily fantasy golf salary. All stats cited below originate at datagolf and reference ranks relative to the field over the past 50 rounds unless otherwise noted. All betting odds come from the golf betting odds at FanDuel Sportsbook.

The Open Championship Daily Fantasy Studs

Scottie Scheffler ($12,900 | +450)

Yes, Scottie Scheffler will eat up nearly $13,000 of your FanDuel salary cap, but it's hard to argue with what he has been doing this year. In his last 25 starts, Scheffler has 7 wins, 17 top-fives, and 23 top-25s. His only results worse than 25th were a T31 at the FedEx St. Jude last August and a T41 at the U.S. Open in an event where he ranked 10th in strokes gained: tee to green.

Scheffler's game has translated well to Open Championships, as well. He has finished T8, T21, and T23 in three career tries.

Scheffler hasn't lost strokes from his approach play since the FedEx St. Jude Championship -- in 2022! The last time he lost strokes over four ShotLink rounds in off-the-tee play was the 2022 PGA Championship.

Tommy Fleetwood ($10,800 | +2500)

Tommy Fleetwood has really excelled at Open Championships of late. Fleetwood has finished top-12 in two straight (T10 and T4) and in four of the last five (2nd in 2019 and T12 in 2018). The other finish in there was a T33 at Royal St. George's in 2021.

Fleetwood did play Royal Troon in 2016 and missed the cut, though that season predated his explosion in 2017.

Fleetwood ranks well across the board and is one of seven golfers below $11,000 to rank top-35 in strokes gained: ball striking and strokes gained: short game.

Others to Consider

• Xander Schauffele ($11,800 | +1100)
• Ludvig Aberg ($11,500 | +1600)
• Collin Morikawa ($11,300 | +1400)
• Tom Kim ($10,200 | +5000)

The Open Championship Daily Fantasy Mid-Range Plays

Sahith Theegala ($9,600 | +6500)

Theegala has a game that reminds me of Jordan Spieth's: ups-and-downs, hot putting, and some errant driving. Spieth is a great Open Championship player.

Theegala enters with much better form than Spieth and is 18th in strokes gained: putting and strokes gained: off the tee the last 50 rounds. He's 41st in iron play but is gaining nearly 0.50 strokes per round (+0.47) once adjusting for field strength. So, rankings-wise, it doesn't look amazing, but it's still a strong number.

Theegala is coming off of a T4 at the Genesis Scottish Open, and while he missed the cut at last year's Open, he finished T34 in his Open debut.

Aaron Rai ($9,500 | +7500)

Aaron Rai is a really nice mid-range option this week.

He's finishing well (five straight top-20 finishes and eight straight made cuts), and it's coming off of great ball-striking and wedge play. Coincidentally, he's coming off of a T4 at the Genesis Scottish Open while losing strokes from approach, but that's atypical for him.

Rai's putting is hot right now, sure, but he rates out as a 76th-percentile putter from within 15 feet on Tour this season (but is 8th from beyond that). Regression was inevitable for Rai, and he's riding that wave now.

Corey Conners ($9,400 | +7000)

Corey Conners has played in four Opens and has made three cuts. In those made cuts, he's finished T15, T28, and T52 while -- interestingly -- losing strokes gained: approach in the last two (the only two with ShotLink data).

Also interestingly, the 2023 Open was the last time Conners lost strokes from approach play, meaning he has 23 straight events with positive approach play.

Conners finished T10 last week at the Genesis Scottish Open for a second-straight top-20 there. His tee-to-green game is stellar, so he's a good fit most weeks. At this salary, he does stand out.

Others to Consider

• Brian Harman ($9,800 | +7000)
• Wyndham Clark ($9,300 | +6000)
• Adam Scott ($9,100 | +7000)

The Open Championship Daily Fantasy Value Plays

Byeong-Hun An ($9,000 | +15000)

An has played The Open well as of late, including a T23 last year. He also has a T26 and a T32 over the last five years. An also finished T59 at Royal Troon in 2016, for what that's worth.

An's ball-striking ranks him 24th among a stellar field over the last 50 rounds, and his putting is relatively solid (38th percentile from within 15 feet and 63rd percentile from beyond that this season). He's also quietly fifth in distance among this year's Open Championship class.

Davis Thompson ($8,100 | +11000)

Davis Thompson hasn't played an Open Championship yet in his career, but the 25-year-old played the Genesis Scottish Open last week after his John Deere Classic win. He finished T46 with weak iron play.

Thompson, though, was T9 at this year's U.S. Open with a lot of strokes gained: around the green.

There is a lack of great value plays, as is the case for a lot of majors, but Thompson's salary is so low that he jumps out a bit.

Others to Consider

• Louis Oosthuizen ($9,000 | +10000)
• Sepp Straka ($8,900 | +11000)
• Russell Henley ($8,800 | +12000)
• Alex Noren ($8,800 | +12000)
• Christiaan Bezuidenhout ($8,600 | +17000)

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.