Smylie Kaufman chose Scottie Scheffler as his one-and-done play, noting Scheffler has been "trending" and is poised to "get back in the major circle." Listed at +425, Scheffler is the betting favorite, and Kaufman expects the elite tee-to-green form that produced top-5s in four of his last five starts to translate into a Quail Hollow shootout with Rory. Kaufman is willing to hold Xander Schauffele for the U.S. Open, believing Scheffler’s ceiling is highest right now.

Smylie Kaufman flagged Keith Mitchell as a must-have salary-saver at only $6,200 on DraftKings. Kaufman rattled off that Mitchell owns a 66.0 first-round scoring average this season, putting him on the first-page of leaderboards almost every Thursday. He added that Quail Hollow (host course for the most recent Wells Fargo era) is a perfect fit, citing Mitchell’s fourth-lowest career scoring average there—bettered only by Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Max Homa, all of whom have won on the track. Kaufman believes the early-lead tendency plus the proven Quail performance gives Mitchell legitimate win equity in a week where most sub-$6.5K plays are simply hoping to make the cut.