2026 Presidents Cup Fantasy Guide: Scottie Scheffler Leads DFS-Style Picks at Medinah

Scottie Scheffler is going to play a boatload of golf this week at Medinah, and in a format where points, not strokes, decide everything, that workload makes him the DFS chalk you can’t fade.

Quick take:

• Top play: Scottie Scheffler (+340 top points scorer)
• Why: World No. 1 gets max reps across all five sessions and pairs with the deepest team ever assembled
• The number to watch: Team USA is -600 to lift the trophy, a signal the board expects Scheffler and company to play deep into Sunday with points still on the line

The Presidents Cup doesn’t fit neatly into a stroke-play salary cap, but the same lineup-construction instincts apply: you’re picking players who accumulate points across the most opportunities, and Medinah Country Club’s Course No. 3 rewards exactly the players Team USA is stacked with. At 7,548 yards and a par of 70, this is a long-iron battering ram of a golf course — length and elite ball-striking matter more than anything finesse-related, and that plays directly into the hands of the bombers on both rosters.

Format matters here for anyone building around points, not just outright winners. Thursday brings five Four-ball matches, Friday flips to five Foursomes, Saturday splits into four Foursomes in the morning and four Four-ball in the afternoon, and Sunday closes with all 12 Singles. That’s up to five sessions of opportunity for the players captains lean on most — and Brandt Snedeker has a roster deep enough to spread the load rather than overplay his stars into fatigue by Sunday.

Chalk vs. Contrarian: Who the Field Will Be On

Nobody’s getting cute with Scheffler at +340 to lead all players in points — he’s the shortest number on the board by a wide margin, and deservedly so given he’s the game’s best player teeing it up on a course that fits his length. The field will also be heavy on Xander Schauffele (+830), who carries a 10-4-0 record across three Presidents Cup appearances and is unbeaten in singles. That’s the kind of match-play resume that makes him a near-lock for maximum session usage.

Where this gets interesting for value-seekers is everywhere behind those two names. Patrick Cantlay sits at +1000 as part of the same veteran trio Snedeker leaned on with his captain’s picks, and Sam Burns (+1150) and Russell Henley (+1225) both qualified automatically off red-hot FedExCup point totals, meaning they’re locks for early session reps rather than bench candidates.

Sleepers and Value Plays

The real DFS-style leverage on the USA side lives a tier below the obvious names — players who’ll see plenty of sessions but aren’t getting bet like it.

Cameron Young (+1325) is one of the longer hitters in the entire field, a real asset on a 7,548-yard course built to punish short knockers, and he qualified automatically, so he’s not a captain’s-pick afterthought. Chris Gotterup (+1425) is even more interesting: he’s the betting favorite for best Presidents Cup debutant at +210, which tells you oddsmakers expect him to see real minutes and perform in them, not just fill a roster spot. And if you want a true long shot with sneaky-real upside, 21-year-old Jackson Koivun (+2050 for top scorer, +305 for best debutant) is a fresh face Snedeker specifically picked to inject energy into the lineup — rookies with nothing to lose have a way of overperforming in team match play.

Why the Course Setup Favors Stacking Length

Medinah No. 3 is a long-iron test from start to finish, and that reshuffles the value calculus compared to a standard stroke-play board. Players who rely on precision wedge play and scrambling artistry lose some of their edge here; players who can consistently find greens from 200+ yards gain it. That’s exactly why Scheffler, Young and the USA’s longer hitters carry outsized value beyond just their name recognition — the course setup is genuinely tilted toward their skill set.

Team USA is -600 to lift the trophy and enters with a 13-1-1 all-time record in this event, including 10 consecutive wins.

That kind of dominance changes lineup math. When a team is this heavily favored to control the week, its top guys are more likely to play deep into Saturday and Sunday with something still riding on the outcome, which means more sessions, more points opportunities, and more DFS-relevant production. It also means the International side’s few realistic value plays — namely Si Woo Kim (+1475), the highest-odds International name and the team’s most likely top scorer at +445 on that side, along with Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama — will need to punch well above their roster’s overall depth just to keep pace.

Si Woo Kim is worth a mention on any contrarian build. He’s the International side’s best bet to lead all non-USA scorers, and if you’re looking to differentiate from a field that will be stacked exclusively with American names, he’s the one International player with a real path to heavy point totals.

This Week’s Lineup Picks

Build around the players who are both live for max sessions and playing a golf course suited to their game.

1. Top play: Scottie Scheffler
2. Value play: Chris Gotterup
3. Sleeper: Jackson Koivun

Lean into the length-favors-length setup at Medinah, trust that the deepest team ever assembled will spread points across multiple stars, and don’t be afraid to squeeze in one true rookie sleeper for differentiation. If you’re tracking how the odds move throughout the week, live golf odds are worth checking before your final lineup lock.