Ben Griffin, Matthew Fitzpatrick Among Top Fantasy Golf Picks at the American Express

The PGA Tour is back for the 2026 season and we will take a look at the first big event of the year — the American Express. This event comes to PGA West in La Quinta, California, otherwise known as the Coachella Valley. We have some metrics to look at and with numbers crunched, I am confident that we can find you some winning fantasy golf picks.

Fantasy Golf Key Metrics

This course is going to play firm and fast. It will also play very wide open. They get minimal rain in La Quinta and that puts the rough down and the golf balls rolling. Despite some distance to this course, we should see increased distance from everyone's tee shots. There will be many birdie opportunities and eagles to be seen on the Par 5's. Here is what we heavily value this week:

Strokes Gained: Approach (<150 Yards)
Putting (Focus on all-around elite putters, nothing subjective or trending in particular)
Tee-to-Green

To be quite honest, this tournament is more of a dartboard. It is all about approach and putting. However, we have no weather working against us. Whoever gets hot may just finish highly, or even win the tournament.

Tournament Winners

Nothing shows to be a trend when it comes to historical winners. Here is the past five years at the event:

2025: Sepp Straka
2024: Nick Dunlap (a)
2023: Jon Rahm (2)
2022: Hudson Swafford
2021: Si Woo Kim

As we can see, there are zero trends. We had Straka, from Austria and recently, Georgia. Dunlap is an Alabam product, who won as an amateur. Rahm is familiar with desert golf, but also elite. Swafford is random, and Kim is good, but just another guy, to be frank.

If this is a dartboard, we shall shoot. We will favor some top-dogs and some deeper nuggets that give us confidence to finish highly.

Best FanDuel/DraftKings DFS Picks

Scottie Scheffler — $14,600 (FanDuel) | $14,200 (DraftKings)

Yeah Scottie by a million this week
pic.twitter.com/cJH90ED26w
— SCHEFFLER FANS (@SchefflerFans) January 21, 2026

I know, I know, this is nothing special. Scheffler will be owned in a heavy amount of lineups. However, in a tournament so difficult to handicap, he will always be reliable. Scheffler is basically a lock to make the cut. He won (6) events last year and has not finished outside the Top-10 since the PLAYERS Championship.

Ben Griffin — $11,900 (FanDuel) | $10,200 (DraftKings)

The salary disparity is definitely noticeable. In this case, we obviously prefer Griffin on DraftKings. Nonetheless, he was one of the best players on the PGA Tour in 2025. Griffin is up #8 in the OWGR and #5 in the DataGolf Rankings. He is +1.5 in Strokes Gained: Approach and +1.7 in Strokes Gained: Putting. Griffin has also finished with no worse than +1.5 Strokes Gained: Total in 12 of his last 16 events.

Matt Fitzpatrick — $10,900 (FanDuel) | $9,500 (DraftKings)

Fitzpatrick is hot, but under-the-radar hot. He won the DP World Tour Championship back in November and he has finished Top-10 in 8 of his last 12 events. Fitzpatrick was also one of the best Europeans at the Ryder Cup, for what its worth. Fitzpatrick is +1.1 in Strokes Gained: Approach and +1.7 in Strokes Gained: Putting.

Rickie Fowler — $10,000 (FanDuel) | $8,400 (DraftKings)

As I had said, putting will win, and I want to trust guys that are known as being long-term elite putters. Fowler is just that. He also finished 2025 in elite fashion with Top-7 finishes at the BMW Championship and the FedEx St. Jude Championship. If Fowler is still that hot, his putter can follow suit.

Sam Burns — $11,600 (FanDuel) — $9,800 (DraftKings)

Certain players are known for being groundbreaking when their putters get hot. What I mean is that, certain players have 59-watch potential more often than others. Again, that is due to their putters. Elite putters that have shot 59's include Jake Knapp, Brandt Snedeker, and Adam Hadwin. Burns nearly did it last year. Why not try and do it again? Burns also finished 2025 in hot fashion, with four-straight Top 11 finishes.