By: @Ryan_Humphries on Twitter & LineStar Chat

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Tournament & Field 🏆

Welcome to one of the most exciting weeks in golf! It’s time for the world’s best to compete at the 2026 PLAYERS Championship hosted at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Widely regarded as golf’s unofficial “Fifth Major,” this event annually boasts what is considered to be the strongest field we’ll see all season. Unlike the traditional majors, there are no amateur invites and no “over the hill” veterans receiving grandfathered exemptions from wins decades ago. Only current PGA Tour members, along with a small group of international qualifiers and special exemptions, earn their way into the field. This year, 45 of the world’s top 50-ranked golfers (via DataGolf) will be teeing it up.

Players will be competing for the largest non-TOUR Championship purse on the PGA Tour schedule – a massive $25 million prize pool with $4.5 million going to the winner. Just like the four majors, the champion will also earn 750 FedEx Cup points.

In previous years, the field size for this event typically hovered around 144 golfers, but beginning this season it has been reduced to 123 players as part of the PGA Tour’s effort to streamline field sizes and improve pace of play and overall competition. The standard 36-hole cut rule will still apply, with the top 65 players plus ties advancing to the weekend. The PLAYERS Championship has been held at TPC Sawgrass every year since 1982, and the course was designed specifically with this event in mind.

There are some massive PGA DFS contests posted this week, including a pair of Milly Makers over on DraftKings, so here’s to a great week for the LineStar fam. Best of luck!

The Course Preview ⛳

TPC Sawgrass

Par 72 | 7,275 Yards

Greens: TifEagle Bermuda (Overseeded w/ Poa Trivialis)

Course Difficulty Last 5 Years: 13th, 15th, 18th, 16th, 23rd

Cut Line Last 5 Years: -1, -1, +2, +2, Even

Winners Last 5 Years:

2025: Rory McIlroy (-12)

2024: Scottie Scheffler (-20)

2023: Scottie Scheffler (-17)

2022: Cameron Smith (-13)

2021: Justin Thomas (-14)

TPC Sawgrass is a Par 72 set-up that checks in at a moderate length of 7,275 yards. This Pete Dye-designed stadium course was built specifically to host The PLAYERS Championship and is widely regarded as one of the most strategic layouts on the entire PGA Tour schedule. Dye’s design philosophy is on full display here, as the course intentionally attempts to bully and intimidate golfers off the tee by forcing constant “risk versus reward” decisions. Golfers must choose the correct lines and landing zones in order to set up advantageous approach shots, and errant swings can be punished quickly with hazards and awkward lies lurking around nearly every corner of the property.

The fairways at TPC Sawgrass are not necessarily the tightest on Tour, but at an averaged width of 29.5 yards, they’re about five yards narrower than PGA Tour average. Precise placement is critical as certain sides of the fairway provide significantly better angles into the greens. The course features 17 water hazards and 88 bunkers, which serve as the primary defenses alongside the often unpredictable coastal winds. The TifEagle Bermudagrass greens (overseeded with Poa Trivialis) are smaller than the PGA Tour average and should run firm and fast (12+ on the stimpmeter). These greens can be very difficult to hold and greens in regulation percentages historically fall several percentage points below the Tour average. In 2025, the field posted a 60.5% GIR% which was 6.0% below average.

TPC Sawgrass is also home to one of the most iconic holes in golf – the Par 3 No. 17 “Island Green,” designed with help from Pete Dye’s wife Alice. This hole consistently produces dramatic swings on the leaderboard and draws massive crowds and TV attention. However, the closing Par 4 No. 18 is arguably the most demanding hole on the property. Water runs the entire length of the left side and the hole requires a precise tee shot into a narrow fairway before players attempt a high-pressured approach into a well-protected green. Together, holes No. 17 and No. 18 form one of the most dramatic finishing stretches on the PGA Tour.

TPC Sawgrass is widely considered a true second-shot course, meaning success is driven more by approach play than pure driving ability. Approach shot accuracy is always important, but it becomes especially critical here. Ever since this tournament moved to March, a large percentage of approach shots have come from the 125–175 yard range, making mid-iron precision a key stat to monitor. Several of the Par 4 holes also stretch beyond 450 yards, which can create longer approach shots throughout the round.

Traditionally, nearly 50% of all birdies at TPC Sawgrass are recorded on the four Par 5 holes, so golfers must take advantage of those scoring opportunities in order to remain competitive. Meanwhile, players who can navigate the Par 4s at even par or better will usually find themselves rapidly climbing the leaderboard. Because the greens are small and feature significant slope and runoff areas, around-the-green play is also important since every golfer will inevitably miss their share of greens in regulation.

TPC Sawgrass is a grinder’s course where patience and mental composure are essential. Players who avoid big numbers and limit mistakes will typically outperform more aggressive styles of play. With that in mind, golfers who excel in bogey avoidance should receive extra attention in DFS builds.

Course experience can also be extremely valuable at TPC Sawgrass. In recent years, roughly half of all players making their first appearance here have gone on to miss the cut. A balanced lineup approach makes plenty of sense for cash games this week, and I would be cautious about digging too deeply into the punt range even in large-field GPP builds. One punt play is reasonable, but loading up on long shots feels unnecessary – though that’s just one man’s opinion.

Good luck this week! Let’s get it.

Weather & Tee Times ⛅

Click the images above to view the most up-to-date forecasts.

⚖️Weather Verdict: Weather looks to play a role early in the tournament. Thursday starts breezy with sustained winds around 10 mph and gusts pushing near 30 mph late in the morning before a line of storms moves through the area in the afternoon, which has a real chance to halt play. Friday morning looks breezy again with winds around 15 mph sustained and gusts over 20 mph before calming into the afternoon. The weekend forecast looks far more manageable with lighter winds and less intense gusts expected both days, though a stray shower can’t be ruled out.

If the current forecast holds, I could see the AM/PM wave drawing the more favorable overall conditions, mostly based on the calmer Friday afternoon conditions. However, it’s worth noting, if a Thursday afternoon stoppage comes into play and lasts a while, that could throw Friday tee times off quite a bit.

Right now, I wouldn’t factor in tee times into decision making too much, but if you’re stuck deciding between two golfers who are in different waves, perhaps give the edge to the AM/PM player.

The PLAYERS Championship Tee Times

Key Stats to Consider 📊

Each key stat is paired with a weighted percentage (based on stat importance) for DFS model purposes.

1. Strokes Gained: Approach | 30%

2. Par 4 Average | 20%

3. Strokes Gained: Short Game | 20%

4. Bogey Avoidance | 10%

5. Par 5 Birdie or Better Percentage | 10%

6. Mid-Iron Accuracy (Proximity: 125-175 Yards) | 10%

PGA Tour Stats Page

The PLAYERS DFS Model Standouts 🏅

Below are the top 25 ranked golfers in both my overall model and my key stats model. Below that are the top 25 leaders in average finishing position over the last five and last ten starts. The players ranked on these lists do not necessarily mean they are the top golfers I’m targeting for this week's event, but many of these guys should no doubt be favorable DFS options.

Overall Model Rank: A golfer’s ranking (within the current field) in my personal DFS model, which weighs all of the key stats listed above in this newsletter, as well as factors like course history, recent form, recent average fantasy scoring results, and odds to win.

Course Fit / Key Stats Rank: Provides a golfer’s overall rank (within the current field) in my "key stats only" model, which considers only the key stats listed in the section above with the specified percentage weights allocated towards each statistic.

The PLAYERS DFS Cheat Sheet📑

Click the Cheat Sheet above for the higher-quality direct image link

Alternative Cheat Sheet Direct Image Link

That will do it for our PGA preview! Best of luck this week and, once again, feel free to hit me up in the LineStar chat or on Twitter/X @Ryan_Humphries with any questions.