Draftkings Arnold Palmer Invitational First Round Picks 3/6/25

This Thursday morning, Draftkings golf fans will be presented with the first round of the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational. Let’s take a look at the first round of this tournament from a DFS perspective.

Before I discuss my Draftkings player selections for this week’s PGA Tour event let’s review where the first round of the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational will be played.

The 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational will be played at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida. The golf course is a par 72 that measures 7,466 yards.

*Scottie Scheffler won the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational with a cumulative four round score of 15 under par.

I wanted to emphasize that the purpose of this article is not to provide an exact DFS lineup.

Having stated that, this article will provide multiple player options in an effort to assist the reader in generating a unique lineup that will hopefully have the potential to win a DraftKings GPP (guaranteed prize pool) contest! Keep that in mind as you construct your lineups for this DFS slate.

For those readers that are not aware, the rules and scoring for DraftKings single round showdown contests are vastly different than the traditional classic contests offered by the platform.

If you need to review the specific rules for the single round showdown contests feel free to check out the DraftKings website.

Here are my DraftKings player selections for the first round of the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational First Round Picks

Daniel Berger $8,300

Daniel Berger arrives at this week’s PGA Tour event on the heels of three consecutive top 25 finishes on the PGA Tour, including an impressive second-place result at the 2025 Waste Management Phoenix Open last month.

Due to Berger’s quality result at the Waste Management Phoenix Open I decided to take a hard look at the player data from the event to see how Berger fared relative to the field.

Upon the completion of four rounds of competitive play at the 2025 Waste Management Phoenix Open, relative to the field, Daniel Berger ranked third in driving accuracy (69.6%), sixth in overall putting average (1.673), eighth in total birdies made (20) and 19th in bogey avoidance (7).

Berger has posted a quality result at the Bay Hill Club in the past. Berger finished 13th at the 2015 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Min Woo Lee $7,600

Min Woo Lee has tallied four top 17 finishes in his last five tournaments played on the PGA Tour, including an 11th place result at the 2025 Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches last week.

Ben Griffin $7,600

The talented American has accumulated three top seven finishes in his last seven tournaments played on the PGA Tour, including a fourth-place result at the 2025 Mexico Open at Vidanta two weeks ago. In my view, Ben Griffin’s low Draftkings price of only $7,600 presents the best fantasy value of any golfer on this slate.

Brian Harman $7,100

The 2023 Open champion has compiled three top 25 finishes in his last six events played on the PGA Tour, including a 17th-place result at the 2025 Genesis Invitational three weeks ago.

Harman is currently ranked 21st in GIR (greens in regulation-73.46%), 14th in sand save percentage (75%), and 16th in bogey avoidance (11.11%) on the PGA Tour.

Additionally, Brian Harman finished 12th at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Additional golfers I like to perform well in the first round (Draftkings price noted): Shane Lowry $8,700: Rory McIlroy $10,800: Justin Thomas $9,800: Tony Finau $8,800: Will Zalatoris $8,600: Denny McCarthy $7,400: Jacob Bridgeman $6,100.