Hideki Matsuyama, Ryan Gerard Top Elite Fantasy Golf Picks at Farmers Insurance Open

The PGA Tour will be hosting their first elevated event of the season, coming to Torrey Pines for the Farmers Insurance Open. This will be a 72-hole hole event, with alternating courses between Torrey Pines North and South for the pre-cut rounds. The weekend will then be played on the notoriously difficult South Course, making for three total rounds played on it. As always, there are course trends and angles that bring us to find some great Fantasy Golf picks.

Fantasy Golf Key Metrics

Per Ron Klos of Betsperts, there tend to be multiple trends that often times find us winners. This includes:

Approach: 200+ Yards
Strokes Gained: Around the Green
Bogey Avoidance
North Course Average Scoring

The last metric is one to not be overlooked. The North Course is considered much easier than the South course. That means that birdie chances come at a premium. If you can fire a low round at the North Course, you gain a very nice advantage on the field.

Some other course trends I find are:

Length and Accuracy off the tee
Lag Putting (3-Putt Avoidance)

Tournament History

Every week, I run my own personal model to project the final winning score. Between the course trends, tournament history, and weather forecast, I project a winner around -15. This tends to be around torunament average. Here are some past winners:

2025: Harris English (-8)
2024: Matthieu Pavon (-13)
2023: Max Homa (-13)
2022: Luke List (-15)
2021: Patrick Reed (-14)

I take note of knowing these golfers to be well-rounded. They are good putters, and good scramblers. They are pure, solid golfers. I do not expect any longshots to win, but mid-priced guys surely have a chance.

Best FanDuel/DraftKings DFS Picks

Hideki Matsuyama — $10,700 (FanDuel) | $9,300 (DraftKings)

Matsuyama has been above-average in his last six rounds at Torrey Pines in Strokes Gained: Approach. He only has one career round in 13 where he was below-average in Strokes Gained: Scrambling. On top of that, Matsuyama is one of the longer and sharper drivers of the golf ball on the PGA Tour. If I had to pick three golfers to win the event, Matusyama would be one of them.

Ryan Gerard — $10,300 (FanDuel) | $8,600 (DraftKings)

Gerard is especially valuable to use on DraftKings, as we see above. Nonetheless, we do like him this week. In Gerard's last three events played, he has finished in 2nd all three times. This is at the American Express, Sony Open, and the AfrAsia Mauritius Open (DPWT). Historically, Gerard only has one tournament played at Torrey Pines. It is as good as you can do, finishing 15th and above-average in every key Strokes Gained metric.

Will Zalatoris — $10,000 (FanDuel) | $8,800 (DraftKings)

Zalatoris has endured a rough go of it with his back injury. However, he is now been and he appears to be playing great golf. Zalatoris made his return from an eight-month absence at the American Express. In that event last week, Zalatoris finished T-18, being +1.20 in Strokes Gained:Approach and +0.47 in Strokes Gained: Scrambling. Zalatoris has also been fantastic at Torrey Pines, finishing 2nd, 7th, 13th, and 24th in seven events.

Keegan Bradley — $10,800 (FanDuel) | $9,200 (DraftKings)

Few golfers have been as consistent as Bradley in recent times. Bradley had seven top 10 finishes in 2025, including victory at the Travelers Championship. In 15 appearances at Torrey Pines, Bradley has finished Top-5 three times. He has missed the cut twice, but not since 2016. He is perhaps best in his Around-the-Green game, averaging +1.6 Strokes Gained per event. That is elite status.