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10D AGO

DFS Dish: Is there a path to WM Phoenix Open roster that doesn’t include Scottie Scheffler?

4 Min Read

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    Written by Will Gray @GolfBet

    SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Scottie Scheffler will dominate the betting and fantasy headlines this week at WM Phoenix Open and deservedly so. A two-time champ at TPC Scottsdale, he nearly snagged three in a row last year. A hand injury delayed the start to his 2025 season, but he showed no signs of rust last week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am where he finished T9 while leading the field in Strokes Gained: Approach.

    For DFS users in this week’s DraftKings contests, Scheffler is a high-priced commodity at $12,000. Only three other players in this week’s 132-man field – Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama and Sam Burns – are priced above $10,000.

    As is often the case with Scheffler and DFS rosters, there’s a fork in the road this week in the desert: Do you roster the world No. 1 and hamstring your choices toward the back half of the roster, or do you try to get creative and find paths to victory that don’t include the reigning Player of the Year?

    Some of those choices may come down to contest type and size. If differentiating a roster is of high importance, then leaving Scheffler on the bench is a consideration. But as last week showed, fading Scheffler entirely in DFS is not without peril as he’s unlikely to have an actual poor performance.

    But this event has a ton of correlation with past performance: Matsuyama, like Scheffler, has gone back-to-back here, while Thomas has finished T17 or better each of the last seven years. The players that play well here, play well here often – especially at the top.


    Best shots from 16th hole at WM Phoenix Open

    Best shots from 16th hole at WM Phoenix Open


    Thomas and Matsuyama both also fit the trend of recent WM Phoenix Open winners playing well to start the year, as Matsuyama raced past the field at Kapalua while Thomas was a runner-up at The American Express. It’s feasible that you could anchor your roster this week around any of the three – or potentially take two of the three and cut back significantly elsewhere.

    But what are some of the notable options elsewhere in the field? Let’s take a look at the top candidates:

    Sahith Theegala ($9,500): Theegala let this one get away, finishing T3 in 2022, and he was T5 here a year ago. The course clearly suits his eye. His recent form, though, has been more spotty than some of the other top contenders – his T36 finish at The Sentry remains his best in four starts this year.

    Sepp Straka ($9,400): Straka almost became the pro-am master last week, threatening to follow his win at The American Express with a victory at Pebble Beach. He has done some great work with his irons in January, but he won’t have the course history others around his price range can lean on: three WM Phoenix Open starts yielded two missed cuts and a T66 finish.


    Sepp Straka wins The American Express

    Sepp Straka wins The American Express


    Nick Taylor ($8,400): The defending champ is back! Taylor outlasted Charley Hoffman last year in a playoff, one year after finishing runner-up to Scheffler. Now he returns to Arizona as a recent winner on TOUR, having captured the Sony Open. His form has been hard to predict over the last 12 months, but clearly something suits him in Scottsdale.

    Andrew Novak ($7,500): Novak had a brush with the spotlight at the Farmers Insurance Open, but he backed it up admirably last week at Pebble Beach while finishing T13. He was T8 here a year ago and is trending in the right direction.

    Lee Hodges ($7,100): Hodges cost himself some serious coin on Sunday, making a quadruple-bogey 9 on the 72nd hole at Pebble Beach to spoil an otherwise strong week. But like Novak, he’s gotten off to a strong start in 2025 and has rekindled the form that led him to a wire-to-wire victory two years ago in Minnesota. Can he overcome a pair of missed cuts at TPC Scottsdale?

    Jake Knapp ($6,800): It was around this time last year that Knapp found his groove, winning the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld and contending the following week at PGA National. After a dry spell to end 2024 where he battled injuries, Knapp is showing signs of form if you squint a bit: two top-35s at Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach are his best back-to-back results since that Mexico-Cognizant Classic double. Could the trend continue this week on a course where he can let it fly off the tee and where he finished T28 last year?

    Frankie Capan ($6,800): This is a bit of a homecoming for Capan, who’s playing on a sponsor invite this week as a former high school state champ in Arizona. He’s had some quality stretches early in his rookie year, highlighted by a T12 in La Quinta, and could be a value play to round out the roster.

    Roster decisions this week will ultimately come down to how you choose to utilize Scheffler. Normally I’d advocate for finding ways to work without him, but I just can’t leave him on the bench at this particular course. The floor is just too high, and his game seemed just fine at Pebble Beach following the injury. Fade him at your own peril!

    Proposed DraftKings lineup (under $50,000 salary cap)

    • Scottie Scheffler ($12,000)
    • Sam Burns ($10,000)
    • Andrew Novak ($7,500)
    • Lee Hodges ($7,100)
    • Frankie Capan ($6,800)
    • K.H. Lee ($6,600)

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