We’ve arrived at the final major of the season — The 153rd Open Championship, better known to some as The British Open. This year’s venue is Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland, a potentially punishing layout that last hosted this event in 2019. With a field of 158 players and unpredictable weather looming as always, this week sets up to be a true test of skill, patience and adaptability. Let’s break down the course and dig into my PGA DFS picks and core plays for the British Open.
Course Preview
Royal Portrush is a pure links test carved along the Northern Atlantic coast. Playing as a Par 71 at 7,381 yards, it ditches modern “bomb-and-gouge” setups in favor of creativity and control.
Fairways are tight, greens are small and elevated, and the terrain is anything but flat – with natural dunes, wild runoffs, and some of the nastiest rough you’ll find all season.
The real defense, though, is the weather. If the wind picks up – and it usually does – shotmaking and scrambling will separate contenders from the cut line. Precision off the tee and smart iron play will go a long way, but once players are around the green, they’ll need touch and creativity to navigate slow, bumpy surfaces and massive runoff areas. The key stats I’m focusing on this week are Driving Accuracy, Strokes Gained: Off The Tee, Approach, Around the Green, and Putting – along with Bogey Avoidance and overall Scrambling ability.
I ran everything through Stokastic’s PGA Sims Tool, which models each hole and builds thousands of DFS lineups using our in-house projections. It surfaces which golfers are popping in top-finishing lineups – helping you lock in trustworthy anchors while identifying low-owned value that could shine in windy conditions.
Let’s dive into my British Open picks that I’ll be building lineups around this week on DraftKings.
PGA DFS Picks: The British Open DFS Picks & Core Plays
PGA DFS Picks: The British Open DFS Picks & Core Plays: Scottie Scheffler – $14,200
The man is simply incredible and there’s no scenario where the world’s No. 1 golfer isn’t in a majority of my builds. Our PGA Sims agree, with Scheffler showing up in 38% of top lineups, which is 3% higher than the projected field ownership.
I don’t need to sell you too hard on Scheffler, but just for good measure, here’s how he’s graded out over his last 32 rounds:
- SG: TOT (1st)
- SG: APP (1st)
- SG: PUTT (20th)
- SG: ARG (21st)
- Driving Accuracy (32nd)
Oh, and for the season? He’s 1st in Bogey Avoidance and 2nd in Scrambling. Don’t overthink it – just find creative ways to get Scottie in your lineups.
Collin Morikawa – $8,700
It was a disappointing outing for Morikawa at the Scottish Open, where he missed the cut after finishing +4. And truthfully, his major performances this season have all been underwhelming: T-14 at The Masters, T-50 at the PGA Championship, and T-23 at the U.S. Open.
For most players, those finishes wouldn’t raise any alarms. But Morikawa isn’t most players – his bar is set much higher, and it’s time he starts living up to it.
What makes him stand out this week isn’t just the bounce-back narrative – it’s the value. Our PGA Sims show him with the second-highest exposure at 33%, which is 13% higher than the projected field, and he’s priced at just $8,700. That salary reflects his underperformance, and it’s a discount that we should look to capitalize on.
Over his last 32 rounds, Morikawa ranks 4th in Driving Accuracy and 11th in SG: Approach. The putter is the glaring issue – he’s 107th in SG: Putting – but if he can get even remotely hot with the flat stick, he has the upside to contend at the top, where he belongs.
PGA DFS Picks: The British Open DFS Picks & Core Plays: Corey Conners – $7,200
Back to the well with good ole Corey Conners. I just can’t quit this guy.
He was one of the four golfers I highlighted last week, and yeah – the result was underwhelming: a T-47 finish at the Scottish Open (-2). But I’m going right back to the Canadian.
Zoom out, and Conners has quietly had a strong season: five Top-10s and 10 finishes inside the Top 25. Outside of a missed cut at the Sony Open back in January and a WD at the U.S. Open due to injury, he’s been steady all year.
Our PGA Sims expect that to continue at Royal Portrush, where he’s showing up in 28.3% of top lineups, a mark that’s 11% higher than his projected ownership.
Why the optimism? Over his last 32 rounds, Conners ranks 8th in Driving Accuracy, 16th in SG: Off the Tee, 21st in SG: Approach, and 35th in SG: Putting. His skillset fits this type of links setup well – we just need him to capitalize.
GPP Flier: Harris English – $6,400
I thought we were getting a solid bargain with Morikawa at his price, but Harris English might end up being the best bang-for-your-buck on the board.
Over his last 32 rounds, English ranks 21st in SG: Total, 30th in SG: Approach, 33rd in Driving Accuracy, and 39th in SG: Putting. He’s also been solid all season in Bogey Avoidance (41st) and Scrambling (47th).
Plus, he’s carrying some momentum into Northern Ireland. English finished T-22 at the Scottish Open last week and posted a T-4 at the Travelers Championship before that. His major results this year have been sneaky good: T-12 at The Masters, T-2 at the PGA Championship, and T-59 at the U.S. Open.
Our PGA Sims have him showing up in just 6.3% of top lineups with a projection of 55.08 fantasy points, but this is one of those weeks where I’m giving him a personal bump.
