Value Report: The Players Championship

Bay Hill was battle-tested, and it wasn’t just the golfers who had to endure the difficulties. DFS players went through the ringer with Jake Knapp withdrawing after lock on Thursday morning, followed by Rory McIlroy hanging them up after tweaking his back prior to Round 3. A rare double whammy that hit nearly 50% of the field, and if you were able to survive that with a non-Scottie Scheffler 6/6, you were in rare air. The best lineups were positioned with the duo of Daniel Berger and Akshay Bhatia, who separated from the field on the back nine Sunday that brought some life to the tournament. An incredible performance by Akshay got him that first signature event victory, which is a massive feather in his cap at this stage of his career. It was a fun week all around, as the ETR community got to cheer on our guy Dolesy, who took down first place in the Driver by 40 points for a cool $50K!

Sadly, it was the worst week of 2026 for the Value Report, with not a single top 30 in DraftKings scoring or finishing position. Sam Stevens hurt the most, as his ownership stayed in check with a decently strong projection. Joel Dahmen will be revisited later in this piece, but his missed cut was all based on short game, which is known to let him down at times. Austin Smotherman was an odd one, as he made the cut and then had to withdraw mid-Round 3 with a back issue. He has a skill set that should translate very well to TPC Sawgrass, too, so we will need some clarity on how he’s feeling. Of the two made cuts, Corey Conners piled in ownership-wise well above where I thought he was going to land before projections came out. The long-term form at a place where he’s had strong course history was a recipe that made him more obvious in hindsight, but it was nice to see an uptick back to his approach game. Then lastly, Matt McCarty did minimal, never sniffing the leaderboard despite making the cut with ease. It was an easily forgettable week for the group after a really strong February, so time to right the ship!