2026 The CJ Cup Byron Nelson: PGA Tour model and fantasy golf rankings
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2026 The CJ Cup Byron Nelson: PGA Tour model and fantasy golf rankings

A photo of golfer Jordan Spieth


Welcome to my weekly fantasy golf model for the 2026 The CJ Cup Byron Nelson!

Since March 2020, I've shared a weekly model which offers a clear-cut ranking system based on data points weighted in a formula. It's been a tremendous success. Winners typically rank inside the top 15 of our model, though, like any model, sometimes there are outlier champions.

Let me walk you through this week's results and how I get to them. You'll see our top 10 for free, and the rest of the model, including potential sleepers and value picks, is available for GNN members.

SAVE ON GNN MEMBERSHIP: Join now, and get 2 years for $70 OR 3 years for $100! (One year is $40.) Access all our winning tools and analysis!

How the rubric works

The biggest chunk of my rubric relies on strokes gained, as well our derivative, Quality Strokes Gained, which weights a player's strokes gained against the depth of field they face. The rubric looks at this data over the longer term and medium term to derive a player's quality across the tour and across different fields. I include specific weighting of strokes gained and Quality Strokes Gained against the field strength that week, creating a range of comparison to see how players do against particular competition.

Next, the rubric accounts for two factors I look at every week: current form in the last 10 PGA Tour events played and their average strokes gained on the host course in the last three years.

All told, the model is designed to point out quality players and boost those middling players who have good current form or good course history.

While I think a long-term view of a player's performance is the best way to measure their potential, there's no doubt that short-term heaters happen. To that end, for GNN members, I also have a short-term model that compares a player's performance to his peers over the last 10 PGA Tour events.

2026 The CJ Cup Byron Nelson rankings: Top 10

POS PLAYER PTS DK PRICE ODDS
1 Scheffler, Scottie 3.269 14800 175
2 Spieth, Jordan 0.95 9800 2000
3 Kim, Si Woo 0.943 9900 1400
4 Bezuidenhout, Christiaan 0.755 8300 7000
5 Putnam, Andrew 0.754 7400 8400
6 Koepka, Brooks 0.738 9600 2700
7 Roy, Kevin 0.606 7600 11000
8 Olesen, Thorbjorn 0.588 7900 6600
9 Thompson, Davis 0.577 9200 4900
10 Mitchell, Keith 0.565 9400 4000

To see our hidden picks and weekly model, join GNN!

For just $40 for 12 months, GNN members get access to our winning weekly PGA Tour event model, in-depth DraftKings picks, searchable database of PGA Tour results from 2011-present and top-15 PGA Tour trends, as well exclusive members-only content.

You'll also have access to our course fit modeling, Quality Stokes Gained data, course demand insights, as well individual access to fantasy expert Ryan Ballengee for your unique questions.

You'll be charged $40 for one year of access from your start date. After signing up below, you'll get an email from us to complete sign-up and account creation.

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About the author

Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is founder and editor of Golf News Net. He has been writing and broadcasting about golf for nearly 20 years. Ballengee lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family. He is currently a +2.6 USGA handicap, and he talks about golf on various social platforms:

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YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ryanballengeegolf

Ballengee can be reached by email at ryan[at]thegolfnewsnet.com

Ryan occasionally links to merchants of his choosing, and GNN may earn a commission from sales generated by those links. See more in GNN's affiliate disclosure.