GPP Data Review: Sony Open

The first event of 2026 is in the books, and it just feels so good to be back! This offseason really felt like a true break, so getting to see golf played in beautiful Hawaii really warmed my soul. For those new to the ETR Golf subscription, almost every Monday, our content team rotates coverage on a GPP Review, looking back at different angles from the previous slate to help us add nuggets to our future lineup-building process. We are exploring doing it in a show format as well, as the NFL-style one has been a massive hit, so please feel free to hit us with ideas! And if you’re looking for a cash-game review, Sam Brott will be posting this once again every Monday as he grinds those games as hard as anyone in the golf streets.

But back to the Sony Open now, where we owe a massive congrats to young stud Chris Gotterup for picking up his third PGA Tour victory. This one is arguably the most impressive, as it was at a course that did not fit his power off the tee like his breakthrough win at the Renaissance Club. This one was much more about finesse in the wind. Gotterup can control his ball at an extremely low flight, which can be a unique skill for even the best in the world, and when elements kicked up, it was his go-to off-the-tee shot, as he used driver less than 60% of the time. It actually felt like there was some correlation to The Open Championship, where both Gotterup and Robert MacIntyre have had massive results. Ryan Gerard and his elite ball striking kicked off his year with a runner-up finish, while ETR favorite Patrick Rodgers was solo third on the week. A very interesting leaderboard for sure, which was filled with a few of our best ball favorites from December.

For the article this week, I am going to focus on two players’ portfolios, who each won one of DraftKings’ flagship contests this week and are both on the Mount Rushmore of DFS players. First up is NerdyTenor, who was first and third in the Season Tee Off for a cool $125K between those two lineups. Nerdy is also fresh off winning $1,000,000 on MNF, too, so it was an incredibly hot week for him! Here’s his winning lineup below:

To win a large-field contest, you have to be on the nuts, and getting the 1-2-3 on the leaderboard while they combine for under 20% ownership is the perfect way to do it. Neither of his other three golfers finished inside the top 10 either, but steady top 20s with a lot of birdies did the trick. What I find most interesting, though, is not a specific lineup breakdown; when a player of this high volume is a big winner, I enjoy deep-diving their portfolio from the week. Nerdy maxed the $25, $555, and $3,180, the three contests with $100K top prizes, and below are his top-owned golfers.