Sometimes it can be fun to watch the best golfers in the world struggle to make birdies like last week at the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club. However, if you missed the birdie barrage, the PGA TOUR has you covered with this week’s tournament at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson in Texas. TPC Craig Ranch will be hosting the event for the sixth straight season, and the winning scores have always been at least -23, with Scottie Scheffler’s -31 last year setting a new standard. DraftKings is ready to go low again this week with some nice GPP contests with large top prizes. My top three pivot plays for this week’s GPP contests are Davis Thompson ($9,200), Mati Schmid ($7,500) and Danny Walker ($6,600).

Let’s define what we’re searching for in this post, to be sure we’re all aiming at the same target. A fantasy golf pivot play is a golfer with low expected ownership in tournament formats but high upside. These picks go against the grain and typically come with more risk compared to popular options with similar salaries. In large-field tournaments, it’s important to differentiate your lineup with low-ownership plays like these, even though they are NOT the safest options.

These are “grip it and rip it,” boom-or-bust style options that could go off or flame out. Getting players at low ownership is critical for success in GPP tournament-style events with many entries, so making yours stand out is critical. Be sure to check out my companion post to this one that highlights my picks for cash lineups if you’re looking for safer options that raise the floor.

Let’s break down why I like each of my top three pivot plays this week!

Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $700K Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]

Davis Thompson ($9,200)

The obvious top play on the board is Scottie Scheffler ($14,800) by a huge margin, and he has enough win equity to definitely be worth building around. However, if you want to go in a different direction or pair up top options, Davis Thompson brings a high ceiling and comes in a little under the radar compared to Brooks Koepka ($9,600), Jordan Spieth ($9,800) or even Pierceson Coody ($9,100).

Thompson has shown the ability to contend in birdie fests like THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, claiming his one career PGA TOUR victory at the John Deere Classic in 2024. The 26-year-old hasn’t been able to return to the winner’s circle since then, but he comes into this tournament with three straight strong finishes.

Early in the season, Thompson only had one top-40 finish, which was a solid solo-fourth at the Puerto Rico Open, another birdie-focused event with a weaker field. Since the start of April, though, he has started to gather some steam with a T14 at the Valero Texas Open, a T6 at the Zurich Classic, and a T13 at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic two weeks ago in the opposite-field event.

Thompson ranks ninth in the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green over the last six months and seventh in the field in that metric over his last 20 rounds. He also ranks fifth in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and Total Strokes Gained over his last 20 rounds, so he has some sneaky momentum.

He passed on this event last year and missed the cut in 2024, so he doesn’t have any course history to lean on. However, that should help his ownership stay low, and course history (while always nice to have) hasn’t been especially predictive at TPC Craig Ranch in the past.

Thompson has the kind of ceiling we’re looking for in GPP pivot plays, and he’s a strong sleeper to consider this week.

Matti Schmid ($7,500)

The players in the $7,000s are getting lots of attention this week since they pair well with Scottie’s hefty salary. Blades Brown ($7,800), Rico Hoey ($7,600) and Michael Brennan ($8,000) are strong plays to consider, but Matti Schmid also makes sense since even after last week’s strong showing at the PGA Championship, he isn’t getting a ton of attention.

His big week at Aronimink didn’t come out of nowhere. He has made the cut in nine of his last 10 events, with four top-10 finishes, including a T5 at the Puerto Rico Open and a T10 at the Zurich Classic, both very low-scoring events like this week’s.

Schmid was right in the mix at the PGA Championship and finished T4 with a 65-69 on the weekend. He couldn’t quite keep up with Aaron Rai, but he flashed the kind of grit and upside that make him a strong pivot play this week.

Schmid ranks seventh in the field in Total Strokes Gained over the last 30 days, and 32nd in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green over the last three months. While he’s known for his driving prowess, the 28-year-old from Germany has been playing well on approach and with his flat stick so far this season.

The main reason managers are steering clear of Schmid this week may be that he has missed the cut in each of his previous three trips to this venue. However, with his current momentum, he brings a very high ceiling. Last year after missing the cut at THE CJ CUP, he finished runner-up at the Charles Schwab Challenge on the other side of the city at Colonial Country Club.

Since he brings the necessary firepower to go low and has good recent form, he makes a great pivot play in this price range.

Danny Walker ($6,600)

The options under $7K are all high-risk, high-reward, and if you can sneak your value plays through the cut, you’ll be in good shape headed into the weekend. Scheffler’s high salary is forcing managers to explore this second thought, with players like Beau Hossler ($7,300), Trace Crowe ($7,000) and Chandler Blanchet ($6,800) getting some well-deserved hype. An even cheaper play that brings upside that I’m also high on this week is Danny Walker, who posted a top-25 finish at this event last year.

The 30-year-old from the University of Virginia finished exactly T25 last year after four rounds of 68 or lower in his TPC Craig Ranch debut. That finish was in the midst of a strong run of results for Walker, who had a down summer before getting just enough push in the FedExCup Fall to secure his full-time membership for this season.

He struggled early in 2026, missing the cut in three of his first four events, but he has made the cut in seven straight individual events as he comes back to TPC Craig Ranch.

His top finish of the year was a T18 at the Valspar Championship at the end of March, and he made the cut at both the Texas Children’s Houston Open and the Valero Texas Open in his first two tournaments in Texas this season. He didn’t have a high finish in either of those events, but he did post a nice finish of 67-69 on the weekend in Myrtle Beach to post a solid T38.

Walker ranks in the top 50 in the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and Strokes Gained: Approach over the last three months, and with his solid showing last year at this tournament, he makes sense as a bargain flier to make the cut this week. He’s high-risk like all plays under $7K, but he brings some solid upside.