The conclusion of the West Coast swing always feels like it should align with the end of a segment in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Of course, that’s not how it works. Beginning with this week’s Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, three tournaments remain in Segment 1 before we can turn the page and reset starts for all golfers.

Still, the annual cross-country journey to PGA National’s Champion Course does present a couple of strategic checkpoints.

With the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and THE PLAYERS Championship following the Cognizant Classic and, therefore, putting a wrap on Segment 1, most of our usual suspects are sitting this one out. Many played both ends of the most recent fortnight of Signature Events as well as other stops on the West Coast swing immediately preceding those lucrative opportunities, so this is their lone week to take a breath. The Genesis Invitational champion Jacob Bridgeman, Ben Griffin and Adam Scott all withdrew from the Cognizant Classic on Monday – all would have appeared in my Power Rankings. They are why future possibilities below feature only two golfers.

The other significant component is how PGA National opens the parade of Bermudagrass greens in Florida. Yes, Waialae Country Club (Sony Open in Hawaii) is also equipped with non-overseeded Bermudagrass, but it’s been more than a month since the PGA TOUR launched 2026 on Oahu. Golfers from the Southeast always lick their chops when it’s the Sunshine State’s turn to take center stage. It’s a reality that contributed to a few endorsements in my Power Rankings.

So, with one of the most wide-open fantasy fields of the early season, expect some churn in the ranks. But because it’s early, try to resist the tug to retreat into conservative tendencies. This is a moment to strike. With roster management a non-starter at PGA National, build a lineup that weaves in natives of the Southeast who expect to find form on turf on which they grew up playing. We’ll get back to the familiar machinations of how to ration our remaining starts for stars next week.

Captain

Nicolai Højgaard … I’m approaching this tournament like it’s the first of the season. That allows me to adhere to my first rule of fantasy golf, which is to have fun. With the pressure of roster management building the last couple of weeks, it can stifle the kind of freedom to which we’re treated at PGA National.

At the same time, and as always, it’s important to be smart. The elder Højgaard twin is in a groove and he’s rested. Those are big reasons why he’s No. 3 in my Power Rankings, but deviation from the norm is the swing thought.

Other considerations

• Shane Lowry ... Not only is he most-owned at 72% at last check, but he’s also likely the captain for a majority of those invested, and rightfully so. The No. 2 in my Power Rankings is the play for front-runners, which I am not.
• Ryan Gerard ... No. 1 in the Power Rankings, second among saved rosters at 56% and bursting with the kind of cachet that warrants all of it, but his longer-term inconsistency isn’t strong enough to default into this role, even among league leaders. I’m compromising with a roster spot to burn, if necessary – I have one start remaining – but I prefer more sizzle in a week thirsting for something aggressive.

Rounding out the roster

The savviest among loyal readers may feel like I’ve omitted weather from the master plan outlined above. To be certain, if early forecasts demanded respect for either side of the draw, you’d already have read about it, so it’s not a headline. Still, given the location of the tournament, attention must remain on the conditions, particularly the wind, so also remain fluid with your choices. If you’re ever unsure or if stacking isn’t obvious, default into a blend.

My starters

• Daniel Berger
• Shane Lowry
• Nicolai Højgaard (C)
• Johnny Keefer

My bench

• Jordan Smith (1)
• Ryan Gerard (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 those who demand a pause and why.

• Max Homa ... Given his familiarity, it makes sense that he’s the seventh-most popular among saved rosters at 25%, but he doesn’t warrant even a fraction of a unit in, say, a top-30 betting market right now. There were flashes on his native West Coast, but nothing that resembled consistency. Finished T20 in his last trip to PGA National, but that was seven years ago.
• Tom Kim ... Although it’d be easy to measure, I don’t keep track of frequencies among golfers who have populated this section over time, but he’d contend for, if not lead, the most chosen. And he continues to scuffle relative to the expectations with which he graced us across his first three seasons on the PGA TOUR. Arrives for his second appearance at PGA National (T62, 2024) having cashed in eight straight starts, but it’s been more than a year since his last top 10, and he has only two top 25s in the interim.
• Stephan Jaeger ... Meanwhile, it’s unlikely that he’s never appeared in this section, but he’s returning at 10% among saved rosters, so that’s more juice than the expectation. Despite my narrative at the top, you don’t need to dip this deep into the field to line up a serviceable sixsome. What’s more, he’s just three-for-five with one top-45 finish at PGA National, and his T5 at the Farmers Insurance Open four weeks ago was a bonus, not the extension or the beginning of a trend. Continues to be best utilized as a complementary piece in full-season formats.
• Erik van Rooyen ... With a T2 and a T9 in the last two editions of the Cognizant Classic, it stands to reason that course-history buffs alone would comprise more than the 2.6% of rosters saved at last check, but recency bias usually tips the balance for rank-and-filers like the South African in his sixth appearance. He’s opened the season with four missed cuts in as many starts.

Returning to competition

• Nick Dunlap ... Hasn’t pegged it in earnest since an undisclosed injury knocked him out of The American Express after his second round. He can concur with what The Beatles sang to us about the road being long and winding. Now two years post-breakthrough at PGA WEST, he’s fully exempt as a winner on the PGA TOUR through 2027, but the 22-year-old has absorbed his fair share of blows as he navigates his early career.
• K.H. Lee ... This is his first start on the PGA TOUR since he withdrew before the second round of the Texas Children’s Houston Open 11 months ago with an injured back. After a 32-week break, he made a couple of starts abroad and then another two on the Korn Ferry Tour this year, all to the result of a single payday. Because he’s logged two of his 17 career top 10s on the PGA TOUR at PGA National, despite its relative challenge, the track record presents a good spot to resume his career in the big leagues. With 19 starts via a Major Medical Extension, he steps forward as a nice find in full-season formats if all others in his vicinity of the Priority Ranking have been nabbed. You’ll find it in category 36.
• Paul Waring ... The 41-year-old begins his second season on the PGA TOUR with a medical extension for the extended time missed due to a shoulder injury. He offers only nine starts. He was sidelined for 21 weeks until he got back after it in early December on the DP World Tour. Now in a combined four starts on his home circuit, he’s cashed three times. Unlike Lee, the Brit doesn’t present much long-term value, but if he catches fire, toss him into consideration in DFS.

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's commitment.

• Brooks Koepka ... Cognizant (2)
• Shane Lowry ... Cognizant (1); Arnold Palmer (2); PLAYERS (3)

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