PGA DFS: Top Cash Game Picks for the BMW Championship

We head to Bellerive Country Club (par 70, 7,448 yards, bentgrass greens) in St. Louis, Missouri, for the BMW Championship, which is the second of two events for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Only the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup Standings will be competing, and there will be no cut. Following the BMW Championship, the top 30 in the standings will advance to the TOUR Championship next week to conclude the playoffs. Bellerive last hosted the PGA Championship in 2018, and Brooks Koepka (-16) won the major by two strokes.

The PGA DFS Breakdown offers data-driven analysis for each week’s slate, using the FantasyLabs Tools and metrics to highlight notable golfers.

I’ll be highlighting the best cash game/single-entry plays on the DraftKings main slate, but these players are often great options in any contest.

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My analysis will frequently reference Strokes Gained, a set of proprietary metrics generated by the PGA TOUR using millions of data points to calculate how many shots, on average, it takes a player to get the ball in the hole from every distance and situation.

Strokes Gained is now available in the FantasyLabs PGA Models.

There are a variety of Strokes Gained-related metrics, but the six main categories you need to know include:

• Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (SG: Off-the-Tee)
• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: Approach)
• Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green (SG: Around-the-Green)
• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: Putting)
• Strokes Gained: Ball-Striking (SG: Ball-Striking), which is SG: Off-the-Tee + SG: Approach
• Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (SG: Tee-to-Green), which is SG: Ball-Striking + SG: Around-the-Green

Don’t forget to check out two key metrics in our models — Perfect% and SimLeverage. You can find an explainer on those metrics here.

The Cliffs Notes version is that you can use SimLeverage to quickly find leverage plays in tournaments, while Perfect% is great for finding the best price-considered plays for cash games.

And don’t forget to utilize our various PGA DFS tools like our Lineup Optimizer, Lineup Builder, PGA Correlation Dashboard, and our Trends tool.

The following players listed are based on DraftKings scoring and pricing.

PGA DFS Cash Game Thoughts

DraftKings $10,000 Range

Scottie Scheffler ($14,400)

Scheffler is an extremely tough fade this week, and building around the world No. 1 in cash games is the right call, despite his massive salary. Scheffler finally snapped his seven-month drought without a win and won the FedEx St. Jude Championship last week by a whopping eight shots. Scheffler was brilliant at TPC Southwind, leading the field in SG: Putting and ranking second in SG: Approach. The Texas product carded a tournament-low 9-under 61 in the second round, and seeing Scheffler dominate like this at TPC Southwind was very impressive, as he has finished T14 or worse in 6-of-8 starts at the par 70, including eight even-par-or-worse rounds. Scheffler has now finished inside the top five in 12-of-18 starts this season, including two wins and five runners-up. After breaking the seal last week, Scheffler winning again at the BMW Championship is very possible. The 30-year-old has won in back-to-back starts four times, and he is a tremendous fit for Bellerive. This course was designed by Robert Trent Jones, and Scheffler, by a mile, leads this field in Strokes Gained per round at Trent Jones designs. Bellerive is a long par 70 where bombers have an edge. Koepka ranked second in SG: Off-the-Tee when he won the 2018 PGA Championship here, and Scheffler has remained one of the best drivers on the PGA TOUR this season, ranking fourth in SG: Off-the-Tee.

Now available: our PGA DFS SimLabs Lineup Generator that creates advanced DFS lineups using the power of simulation.

DraftKings $8,000 Range

Patrick Cantlay ($8,500)

You can pair Scheffler with an $8,000 player this week, and Cantlay is the best option. Cantlay is playing great golf right now, coming off a T8 at the Rocket Classic and T12 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship last week. Cantlay ranked in the top eight in SG: Approach at both events, and his putter absolutely could come alive this week to complement his ascending ball striking. Bellerive features bentgrass greens, and Cantlay is by far at his best on this type of putting surface, as six of his eight PGA TOUR wins have come at courses that present bentgrass greens. Cantlay won the BMW Championship in 2021 and 2022, and both those venues featured bentgrass putting surfaces. Cantlay finished T27 at Bellerive for the 2018 PGA Championship, but he is a far better player now. Cantlay has won seven times since his last visit to Bellerive, and he should finish much higher at the track this week.

Tom Kim ($8,100)

Kim kept his foot on the gas at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, finishing T12, including a 7-under 63 in the third round at TPC Southwind. Kim has now finished inside the top 12 in four of his last seven starts, most notably with his win at the Genesis Scottish Open last month. Kim ranks in the top five in both SG: Approach and par 4 performance this season, making him a fantastic match for Bellerive. When Koepka won the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive, he led his field in par 4 performance and ranked eighth in SG: Approach.

DraftKings $7,000 Range

Rickie Fowler ($7,400)

After a rough patch earlier in the summer, Fowler has made five cuts in a row and finished T18 or better in three of these starts, with a T8 at the Rocket Classic earlier this month being the highlight. Fowler has gained strokes on approach and with his putter in four consecutive starts, and he now heads to Bellerive, where he finished T12 at the 2018 PGA Championship. Fowler opened that event with a 5-under 65, and he brings similar upside this week. In this field, Fowler ranks eighth in Strokes Gained per round at Trent Jones courses.

Adam Scott ($7,100)

Scott finished third at Bellerive for the 2018 PGA Championship, and he carded two 5-under 65s that week. The Aussie now travels back to Bellerive in great form, fresh off a T9 at The Open Championship and a T12 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Scott has racked up 10 top-25 finishes in 17 starts, and he ranks 12th in SG: Approach this season. Scott finished runner-up at last year’s BMW Championship, marking his seventh top-10 finish in 14 starts at this tournament, and this $7,100 salary is the cheapest he has ever been on DraftKings for a BMW Championship by $700.

Sungjae Im ($7,000)

Im carded a solid T42 finish at the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive, and he is playing his best golf of the season right now. Im finished T5 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship last week, which is his fourth top-15 finish in his past five starts. Outside of around the greens, Im gained strokes in every major category at TPC Southwind, and he posted two straight 4-under 66s to open the playoff event. Im has shot under par in 14 of his last 18 rounds, and he has gained strokes off-the-tee in five straight starts.

DraftKings $6,000 Range

Alex Noren ($6,900)

Noren missed the cut at the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive, but we can’t hold this against him at this low of a price. Noren is playing terrific golf right now, improving in each of his last three starts, finishing T18, T7, and T3, with that final performance coming at last week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship. At TPC Southwind, Noren gained 6.6 strokes on approach, which led the world-class field and is the third-best ball-striking showing of his career. Coming off this, Noren is a tough value play to pass up.

Gary Woodland ($6,600)

Woodland was in the mix at Bellerive for the 2018 PGA Championship, finishing T6th, including a 6-under 64 in the opening round. Woodland is an elite driver, so seeing him thrive at this long par 70 isn’t surprising and absolutely could happen again. Woodland ranks in the top seven in both SG: Off-the-Tee and driving distance this season. The former U.S. Open champion also ranks 26th in par 4 performance, and Woodland has been displaying high upside recently, finishing inside the top 10 four times in his last seven starts.

Ryan Fox ($6,200)

Fox finished just T58 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship last week, but he was strong to close out the event, posting a 3-under 67 in the final round. Fox is less than a month removed from his win at the Open Championship, and he has finished inside the top 30 in 11 of his 17 starts this season. Fox has collectively been positive in SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Approach in four of his last six starts, and he finished a rock-solid T27 at Bellerive for the 2018 PGA Championship. Since then, Fox has moved himself up 58 spots in the world golf rankings to No. 24, but he is just the 45th-most-expensive player on DraftKings for the BMW Championship.

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Pictured: Scottie Scheffler
Photo credit: Imagn