Not unlike the golfers themselves in the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the objective for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf gamers was simply to survive. For the golfers, it was the elements. For us, it was that our Sunday starters stayed on the rails.

By and large, it was fine. In fact, closing surges by Scottie Scheffler (63, T4) and Rory McIlroy (64, T14) amid the worst of the conditions for the first Signature Event of 2026 were bonuses and good signs that those two are locked in. They could be harbingers for what should be an impactful season for them and a fruitful one for us. Not that we’re surprised, but those efforts should be noted.

As gripping as it may have felt in real time, that experience was merely a soft transition into this last phase of Segment 1 because there was no cut on the Monterey Peninsula.

Only four tournaments remain, but both The Genesis Invitational this week and the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard in two weeks will have a cut of low 50 (plus ties) and all within 10 strokes of the lead after two rounds. So, despite both fielding only 72 golfers, our objectives must include a plan for the cutboth times. Fantasy scoring won’t be a game-changer across the first three rounds at either, but the FedExCup bonus points promised to starters in their finales will make a dent, so we also can’t shy away from the usual suspects.

Segment 1 concludes at THE PLAYERS Championship. It’s not a Signature Event, but the flagship stop of the PGA TOUR distributes even more FedExCup points that align it with all four majors. After the winners at The Riviera Country Club and Bay Hill Club & Lodge bank 700 points, the champion at TPC Sawgrass will earn 750.

As you build for The Genesis, map out who you want your captain to be in all three of these tournaments. I state my case for Scheffler below, but only he and McIlroy can be captains at any given time, so that role supersedes the strategy to have both in play at THE PLAYERS. That’s not a dealbreaker, but it also doesn’t maximize their aggregate potential.

Future possibilities outlined below serve as your tool for the assignment, but even its intent rides in the backseat to how indiscriminate TPC Sawgrass always is. With all gamers stretched on starts, you will find a solution (and some peace of mind) in penciling down your captain for the Segment 1 finale before you save your roster for Riviera. Not unlike a shot-maker’s track, work backward to the tee box and play on.

Captain

Scottie Scheffler … Following my own advice, I’m burning my second start for him now and likely my third at Bay Hill. This opens the door for McIlroy as my captain in his title defense at TPC Sawgrass.

Other considerations

• Hideki Matsuyama ... He was so shaken by his late demise at the WM Phoenix Open that he put four sub-70s together for a T8 at Pebble Beach. So, after going the entirety of the 2025 PGA TOUR season with only one top 10, he’s already 4-for-4 this season with two top 10s and another pair of top 15s. Oh, and he’s also the most recent winner at Riviera in 2024. All of this explains why he’s No. 2 in my Power Rankings.
• Rory McIlroy ... He is not in my lineup, but it’s incumbent on me to remind you that he and Scheffler always should be your captain every time they play. Sometimes it’s unavoidable to invest in both, but if you’re not rostering Scheffler, McIlroy is the default due to his firepower and for strategic purposes.

Rounding out the roster

Weather for Thursday’s opening round could be a significant factor but that only fortifies the approach to lean on guys who are familiar with Riviera and its tendencies in all conditions. The soft turf will widen fairways in the context of rollout and greens will be receptive, so sprinkling in consideration for alternatives like debutant Chris Gotterup and Cameron Young, both of whom can move it with enough accuracy off the tee, has merit. Like all six of my charges, both of them also are in my Power Rankings.

My starters

• Patrick Cantlay
• Tommy Fleetwood
• Viktor Hovland
• Scottie Scheffler (C)

My bench

• Collin Morikawa (1)
• Hideki Matsuyama (2)

Careful

For almost every tournament, a usually impressive subset of the field warrants avoiding, and it might be represented in my Power Rankings, which is not written in the context of any fantasy golf format. In this section, I single out who demands pause and why.

• Ludvig Åberg ... He’s the defending champion, but he didn’t prevail at Riviera. In his debut here in 2024, he finished T19, but he’s off to a rough start this season. Granted, an illness that forced him to withdraw during The American Express allows for an excuse, but he’s swallowed by other heavyweights in form and with more experience and success on this course.
• J.J. Spaun ... Not all Los Angeles natives have good stories to share about Riviera. He’s just 2-for-7 and without a top 30 here. Yes, he’s at the peak of his career form and it hasn’t even been a full year since he cracked the top 60 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time – he’s currently No. 8 – but he’s also stumbled out of the gates this season with no better than a T40 in three starts.
• Russell Henley ... After a rare appearance in a Power Rankings on the West Coast Swing, he finished T19 at Pebble Beach. It’s his 11th consecutive top 20 across the last eight months. He hasn’t been as impressive at Riviera, where he has only two top 25s among six paydays in nine appearances, but he’s likely to get you to the weekend. Just temper your expectations before you get ready to pounce on him during the Florida Swing.
• Keegan Bradley ... Whenever long and straight off the tee plays up even more than it always should, he rushes to mind, but he has not delivered a result at Riviera that aligns with the fit in a long time. In his last nine appearances, he’s missed five cuts and hasn’t logged a top 30. Opening with a bogey-free, 9-under 63 at Spyglass Hill last week was nice, but he failed to break 70 the rest of the way at Pebble Beach for a T29, which still was his best finish in three starts this season.

Future possibilities

NOTE: This section consists of notables in this week’s field for whom more than three starts may be considered in Segment 1 of PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple tournaments are listed (e.g., “1” for strongest, “2” for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change throughout Segment 1 no matter how many tournaments remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment.

• Ludvig Åberg ... Arnold Palmer (3)
• Keegan Bradley ... Arnold Palmer (1)
• Sam Burns ... Genesis (3)
• Patrick Cantlay ... Genesis (1)
• Corey Conners ... Arnold Palmer (1); PLAYERS (2)
• Matt Fitzpatrick ... Arnold Palmer (1); PLAYERS (2)
• Tommy Fleetwood ... Genesis (1); Arnold Palmer (2); PLAYERS (3)
• Ben Griffin ... Cognizant (2)
• Brian Harman ... PLAYERS (2)
• Russell Henley ... Cognizant (3); Arnold Palmer (1; defending)
• Viktor Hovland ... Genesis (1); Arnold Palmer (4); PLAYERS (3)
• Si Woo Kim ... PLAYERS (3)
• Shane Lowry ... Cognizant (1); Arnold Palmer (2); PLAYERS (3)
• Robert MacIntyre ... Arnold Palmer (3); PLAYERS (2)
• Hideki Matsuyama ... Genesis (3); Arnold Palmer (5); PLAYERS (4)
• Rory McIlroy ... Genesis (3); Arnold Palmer (1); PLAYERS (2; defending)
• Maverick McNealy ... Genesis (3)
• Collin Morikawa ... Genesis (1); Arnold Palmer (4); PLAYERS (3)
• Xander Schauffele ... Genesis (2); PLAYERS (4)
• Scottie Scheffler ... Genesis (4); Arnold Palmer (1); PLAYERS (3)
• Sepp Straka ... Cognizant (1); PLAYERS (2)
• Cameron Young ... Genesis (1); Cognizant (3); Arnold Palmer (4)

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