The Cheat Sheet provides DraftKings fantasy golf players with course info, player history and the most noteworthy trends of the week to help them with their roster selections.

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THE FIELD

The field for the Sentry this season will go off around 60 players. The qualification has grown in size as the PGA now allows all winners from the previous season to enter this event, along with any player who finished inside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings last year.

However, even with the bigger field, some notable names are absent from this season’s running.

Scottie Scheffler is out with a hand injury, and all three of Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy, and Tommy Fleetwood have decided to skip this event.

With those four players absent the favorite is now Xander Schauffele who is as short as +500 on DraftKings Sportsbook. Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa sit next in odds at +1000.

The field has been expanded but this remains a no-cut event, with all 60 players getting to play the weekend. Below we’ll break down the course, who to target for DFS, and some strategy for the week, including my favorite picks.

Let’s dive into the 2025 Sentry and welcome back PGA DFS lineup building into our lives!

THE COURSE

Kapalua (Plantation Course), Maui, Hawaii

7,596 yards, Par 73

Greens: Bermuda

Fairway: Bermuda

Rough: Bermuda

Architect: Coore & Crenshaw (built in 1991)

Alterations: 2019 saw a massive overhaul. Greens, fairways and bunkers all were redone, new tournament tees also added which lengthed many holes.

The Plantation course can best be described as a mix of big vast holes that require some thought and patience to navigate and shorter score-able holes that will provide great birdie chances for those whose tee-to-green game and driving prowess is not lacking in confidence. 

There are some Par 4’s here that allow players to drive either near the green—leaving less than full wedge or a mere chip for a second-shot—or directly onto it but with the recent changes we’ve also seen many of these holes become tougher. 

There are also now two Par 4’s that measure over 500 yards in length and the venue also features a tough opening stretch. 

The last two holes stretch over a massive amount of property too as the Par 4-17th (the hardest hole on the course now) plays over 550-yards as a Par 4, while the 18th has been stretched to 675 yards. Downhill drives assist players in both these spots but these are far tougher holes than they used to be for the pros, with the Par 5 now being a tough birdie hole for anyone looking to close out a win on Sunday. 

The Bermuda greens can also be tricky. They’re bigger than average for a Tour event and have undulations that sometimes mirror the rest of the course. Green speeds here are generally tame by Tour standards at an average of 10-10.5 on the stimpmeter although the big undulations and green side runoffs do make scrambling tough and the field here generally gets up and down at a lower rate than the Tour average (which is around 57%). 

Players need to be able to navigate these bigger greens. They’re a huge feature of the course and the last three winners (Rahm, Smith, and Kirk) have all gained over 7.0 strokes combined putting + ATG.  As a note, last year’s winner Chris Kirk gained 3.5 strokes Around the Green (ATG), while the 2023 winner Jon Rahm gained 2.9 strokes ATG and actually lost strokes on approach for the week. 

The course is big and hilly and located in a hot climate too which is perhaps why younger players in their twenties have now won four of the last six iterations of this event. 

Either way, with Cameron Smith, English, and Kirk grabbing wins at two of the last four runnings, it’s quite clear that you don’t have to be a supreme driver of the ball to compete at this venue. Yes, there are a couple of big hazards you have to avoid but accomplish that and you can make up a lot of strokes on the field on approach, ATG, and with the putter.

Approach stats still rule the day in terms of strokes gained on the field by players finishing in the top 10 of this event, but past winners have gained the most on the field via the putter (SG: Putting). Emphasizing recent approach stats while also looking at players who have had success on wider, slower Bermuda greens isn’t a terrible idea here. Here are the top five players in the last 24 rounds in SG: Approach and Putting (emphasis on Slower Bermuda Greens) combined:

1. Xander Schauffele
2. Harry Hall
3. Brian Harmon
4. Billy Horschel
5. Eric Cole

2024 weather outlook: The winds on the first day look like they’ll be on the higher side with gusts getting up to 15-20mph. There doesn’t appear to be any precipitation in the forecast and highs will be in the 75-80F range, so it’s relatively comfortable for the players. Friday will still be windy but the gusts will be a little lighter. Winds are expected to die down throughout the weekend with Sunday looking like the best day for scoring as we could get a rare calm day on the island with winds under 10mph. The worst of the wind on Day One looks to hit around 1-3 pm local time so if you can avoid players in that cluster it would be ideal. However, with this being a no-cut event and the smaller field that may be hard to achieve.

LAST FIVE WINNERS

2024—Chris Kirk -29 (over Sahith Theegala -28)

2023—Jon Rahm -27 (over Collin Morikawa -25)

2022—Cameron Smith -34 (Over Jon Rahm -33)

2021—Harris English -25 (playoff over Joaquin Niemann)

2020—Justin Thomas -14 (over Xander Schauffele and Patrick Reed)

Winners Stats and Course Highlights

Chris Kirk (2024 winner, 29-under-par)

2024 lead-in form (T28-MC-T29-T16-MC)

SG: OTT—+0.8

SG: APP—+2.5

SG: TTG—+6.9

SG: ATG—+3.5

SG: PUTT—+3.6

• The last three winners of this event (Smith, Rahm, and Kirk) have all gained over 7.0 strokes ATG and Putting combined.
• Winners at this venue have gained the most strokes via the putter and that’s generally how they’ve separated themselves from other players in the top 10
• Approach metric is key, but as the last three winners have proven, if you’re not able to pick up off the green or via sinking medium and short-length putts you won’t be able to separate

FINDING VALUES

This section is going to detail a few of the players who have the best fantasy value comparative to their DraftKings Sportsbook odds of winning this week.

Comparable:

Patrick Cantlay +1800 and $9,900

Ludvig Aberg +1800 and $9,800

Comparable:

Wyndham Clark +4000 and $8,800

Akshay Bhatia +3500 and $8,900

All odds are provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds are subject to change.

HORSES FOR COURSES

(These players have had a lot of success at this event over their career.)

1. Collin Morikawa ($10,100; best finishes: 2nd-2022, T5-2023/21): Morikawa has had a ton of high finishes at this event throughout his career (but never won). He’ll go looking for win number one this week off the back of a fall that saw him few competitive starts.

2. Xander Schauffele ($11,100; best finishes: win-2019, T2-2020): Schauffele won this event in 2019 and lost in a playoff in 2020, missing a short putt that would have won him the title. Coming off a massive season, it would shock no one if he broke through for win number two this year.

3. SungJae Im ($9,500; best finishes: T5-2023, T5-2021): Im’s played very well at this venue over the past four seasons. The South Korean has never finished outside the top 15 in four appearances and gained his second top-five finish last year at this event.

4. JT Poston ($7,600; best finishes: T5-2023, T11-2020): Poston has played this event three times but the results have been solid. The American finished T11 on his debut back in 2020 and was T5 last season. He was heating up right before the break so don’t be shocked if gets in the running this week once again.

5. Brian Harman ($7,400; best finishes: win-2017): Harman has only played this event four times before, but two of those starts have yielded top-five finishes, including a T3 from way back in 2018. He was playing more consistently to finish 2024 and is another veteran who could surprise in this spot.

RECENT FORM

1. Nicolas Echavarria ($6,500, Recent finishes: T2-T29): On top of winning at the Zozo this fall, Echavarria added two more top-six finishes, including a T2 at the RSM. He looks very underpriced for his recent form.

2. JT Poston ($7,600, Recent finishes: T47-win-T10): Poston had a great fall punctuated by a win at the Shriners. He also had a T5 at the RSM and is a player who can get insanely hot on the greens.

3. Maverick McNealy ($7,500, Recent finishes: T16-T2-T2): McNealy broke through for his first win at the RSM in November. Overall, he’s finished top 20 in four of his last five starts.

4. Max Greyserman ($8,000, Recent finishes: T7-T42-T3): Greyserman has been all over leaderboards for the past four to five months. The American finished T4 and T2 in his last two fall starts.

5. Austin Eckrout ($7,100, Recent finishes: T23-2nd): Eckrout notched his second career win this fall in Mexico and finished T17 his last start of the fall at the RSM. He’s making his first start at this event but is a player to watch in these bigger events in 2025.

DFS STRATEGY

Cash Games: Thomas great value

I do think Justin Thomas ($9,700) will be a popular play this week but for cash games that’s not necessarily something to worry about. Thomas is looking extremely fit after a couple of solid starts in the fall (2nd – Zozo and 3rd – Hero) and has a great history at this event, which he also won in 2020. Below Thomas, Corey Conners’ consistent ball-striking makes him a target in the mid-8k range. The Canadian is playing this event for the third time in his career and is coming off a big Presidents Cup appearance. Below Conners, Alex Noren ($7,400) stands out as a potential contrarian play in this spot as well. He doesn’t have much course history but that should keep his ownership lower in this spot. Noren’s a great scrambler and putter, who should benefit from this week’s setup.

Tournaments: Bhatia could surprise

I like this week’s setup for Akshay Bhatia ($8,900), who should be able to get creative with his driver on these huge fairways and loves himself a lower-scoring event. The American had a solid couple of starts to end his fall (4th Hero, 2nd Japan) and was T14 at this event last season. Below Bhatia, JT Poston is another name who has the firepower in his putter to stay up with the leaders this week. He’s coming off a great fall where he notched another win at the Shriners. Other potential 7k names to look to here include Harry Hall ($6,900), Sepp Straka ($6,800), and Eric Cole ($6,800 – see below).

MY PICK: Ludvig Aberg ($9,800)

While some DFS players may potentially be taking a wait-and-see approach to Aberg this Winter, I think this week makes a fine time to dive back in on the Swede. Aberg had to take a small amount of time off after the regular season to fix an ailing knee but he’s 100% healthy now and managed to get in two starts under his belt in the fall at the RSM (T17) and the Hero World Challenge (6th).

Now, with a bigger block of preparation under his belt, he’ll get to take on the Plantation Course, which rewards both power and precision. Aberg’s win on the PGA came right around this time last season at the RSM, which is also played on larger Bermuda Greens, and while his first go around the Kapalua didn’t bear much fruit (T47) it’s the kind of result that doesn’t warrant reading much into give he was fresh off his first win.

Now a year later and hungry to get back on the course, I think we’ll see a more concerted effort from Aberg who gets the luxury of not having to stare down the world’s two best players in his first start. On top of being a potentially under-owned play in DFS, he also looks like a decent value at +1800 on the DraftKings Sportsbook where he’s currently nearly double the odds of Justin Thomas, who hasn’t won in over two seasons.

MY SLEEPER: Eric Cole ($6,900)

It’s hard not to like this setup for Cole, who comes into this week off a strong fall series that saw him finish T6 and T15 in his last two starts. The 36-year-old finished T14 at the Plantation Course last season, his first time playing the course, gaining 4.2 strokes putting on these big Bermuda greens. From a model perspective, Cole also stands out as a player who should benefit from the switch to these larger, slower, Bermuda greens as he’s got much better putting splits on these kinds of surfaces over his career.

Add in the fact that he’s also fifth in strokes gained approach stats over the last 24 rounds, and the fact he’ll be playing the Plantation Course with a lot more knowledge than he did last season, and you can see him potentially improving on that result from 2024.

This event has given us a couple of longer-shot, veteran winners over the last four seasons, and Cole certainly fits the sort of Kirk/English mold, as a player who benefits from a venue that places more emphasis on approaches and putting. Given his record over the past couple of seasons at other lower-scoring events, I don’t see any reason why he can’t get in the mix and start off with a big week.

At $6,900, Cole (along with Hall and Straka) remains one of my favorite sub-7k plays for the week.

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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is wavegoodbye) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.