US PGA Championship – Fantasy DP World Tour ones to watch 

The world’s elite head to Oak Hill Country Club this week for the 105th US PGA Championship as the second Major Championship of the year takes place in New York state.

World Number One Jon Rahm heads the European charge alongside two-time winner Rory McIlroy and reigning U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, as Justin Thomas defends his title at a venue which last staged the event in 2013.

If you haven’t already, you can sign up to play the official 2023 DP World Tour Fantasy game and submit your six-man team before round one gets under way on Thursday to be in with a chance of winning some prizes exclusive to this week: https://fantasy.dpworldtour.com/

The 2023 season-long winner will win a trip to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next year, enjoy a lesson with a DP World Tour professional and a round of golf on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates. For more information on this amazing prize and others, read here.

Favourite – Jon Rahm

The Spaniard arrives at Oak Hill atop both the Official World Ranking and the FedExCup standings after four wins in 2023, including the Masters Tournament. His excellent early-season form had taken a slight dip before the first Major Championship of the year as he finished 39th in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, withdrew from the Players Championship due to a stomach virus and failed to reach the knockout stages in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. But he bounced back in style to make history as the first European to win both the U.S. Open and Masters. Victory this week at the US PGA Championship would see him become the first player from the continent to achieve that triumvirate of Major titles. Since winning the Green Jacket on the 40th anniversary of Seve Ballesteros’ second Masters win, he has shown no signs of slowing down. After finishing in a tie for 15th at the RBC Heritage, just days after his triumph at Augusta National, he then made an excellent defence of his Mexico Open title, finishing second. He has two top tens in six US PGA appearances with a best of tied fourth at Bellerive in 2018. He is currently the most popular pick among players, featuring in just over 88 per cent of teams.

Form horse – Max Homa

Coming off a top ten – his sixth so far this year – on his most recent start at the Wells Fargo Championship, the American is riding high at a career-high sixth on the Official World Golf Ranking. A winner for the sixth time on the PGA TOUR in January at the Farmers Insurance Open, the 32-year-old recorded his best finish at a Major in last year’s US PGA Championship at Southern Hills. The 2022 Presidents Cup star is well placed to make his Ryder Cup debut this September, sitting second on the U.S. Team Rankings in partnership with Rolex. He was last week announced as the fourth player in the world’s top ten playing in this summer’s Genesis Scottish Open but could be a sleeper in this week's Fantasy game, featuring in less than 14 per cent of teams so far. With three Majors to come over the next two months, could he capitalise on his form and lift the Wanamaker Trophy this week?

Wild card - Thorbjørn Olesen

Confidence will be sky high for the Dane ahead of his first appearance at the US PGA Championship since 2019. A closing bogey-free 66 in the final round of the Soudal Open on Sunday lifted him to third as he registered his sixth top 20 in seven starts on the DP World Tour this year. Among those excellent results was his seventh Tour success at the Thailand Classic. Ranked seventh on both the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex and the European Ryder Cup Points List, another good week in Rochester would boost his hopes of a second career appearance against the United States when Marco Simone Golf & Country Club plays host in September. In his seven appearances at the US PGA, he has made the cut on six occasions, but his best result was a tie for 27th on his event debut in 2012. He is the 15th top scorer in Fantasy so far this season and his consistency is shown by being the eighth highest average scorer having played seven events, at least three more than any of the players above him on that metric. So it may be a surprise that he is currently in less than two per cent of teams.

Looking back – Soudal Open

Simon Forsström became the fourth wire-to-wire victor on the DP World Tour this season as he claimed his maiden title in his rookie season in Belgium. With just under two per cent of Fantasy players having selected the Swede and captained by just 0.01 per cent, his victory could have had a big impact on the look of your mini league. Home hope and our Favourite Thomas Detry was the most picked player with 37.86 per cent of users and he finished in a tie for seventh, while there was also success to be had for readers of this column with our Wild Card Aaron Cockerill, as the Canadian finished tenth at Rinkven International Golf Club. Form Horse Jorge Campillo was unable to extend his brilliant recent run of top tens as the Spaniard missed his first cut since Singapore.

2023 DP World Tour Fantasy player rankings