The Players Championship was a big success and our energy was unmatched all week from all our shows and in the discord where we chop it up with subscribers. Across all of our shows, we had incredible DFS shoutouts, outright picks on Cam Young, and nailed how the course was going to play with the winning score prop over 269.5 strokes.

Here is a content recap video from our Ball Knowers After Dark Show on some of our best DFS plays:

Usually long iron play goes hand in hand with distance and is only tested on extremely long golf courses! The Larry Packard design is not a traditional Florida course either, and it fits far more of a Carolina aesthetic. The last three Florida courses we have seen all feature a tremendous amount of water and all rank top-10 in penalty strokes per round. On the contrary, Innisbrook is far more in the vein of a strategic, death by 1,000 paper cuts course a la East Lake, or a longer version of Sedgefield.

Outside of two easy years in 2021 and 2022, Innisbrook has played as one of the 12 hardest golf courses on Tour in five out of the last seven years, and while I do think it will play a bit easier this year, Innisbrook is a still a pretty challenging golf course that doesn’t really get talked about as one of the hardest courses on Tour, but generally is.

It always ranks top-5 in the toughest golf courses to gain strokes off the tee at, although that doesn’t necessarily mean that driving is important. It actually makes it extremely difficult to separate off the tee and players really cluster together in this category. Innisbrook generally ranks around 10th in SG: APP difficulty, 23rd in SG: ARG difficulty and SG: 18th in SG: Putting difficulty. It is much more of a more difficult ball-striking course than it is around the green and short game, and those are typically the categories that we’ve seen scores separate at more easily compared to Tour average.

Over the last five years, the slope has ranged between +0.8 and +1. Tour average is 1, so as far as elite players ability to separate here, it only ranks slightly below average despite the difficult scoring conditions. It’s a weird golf course that devalues off-the-tee play and fairly strongly emphasizes around the green play, so despite the challenge, we are not immune to some very strange leaderboards at this golf course.  

To read the rest of Andy’s Valspar preview, click here.

Here is a clip from Andy’s podcast talking about the importance of putting at Innisbrook:

The DPWT begins the Asian swing with the Hainan Classic at the Mission Hills Resort Haikou in China. The Blackstone Course hosted this event last year (and the 2011 world cup of golf won by Gary Woodland and Matt Kuchar), but this year there is a change to a Pro-am format. The first 36 holes are split over the Blackstone and Vintage courses at Mission Hills before staying on the Blackstone for the weekend.

The Blackstone course is a very lengthy 7,637 par 72 despite being down 74 yards since last year with forward tees listed for the 15th and 17th. Last year had a scoring average of +0.1 with Marco Penge taking a 3-shot victory at -17. The vintage course is shorter than Blackstone but is still long enough as a 7,331 yard par 72 with a quirky par 38 (three par 5’s) front nine and par 34 (three par 3’s) back nine.

Both the Blackstone and Vintage courses use Paspalum grass and are wide courses off the tee before reaching the narrow greens. There is plenty of undulation throughout the property, and if players happen to miss the wide corridors they are punished by thick jungle or wetland native areas.

In addition to the jungle, the Blackstone course also features plenty of black lava formations (think Black desert in Utah), although for the most part they serve more of a decorative purpose lining the areas between the tees and the fairway or being well off line rather than being directly in play. With three of the four rounds on the Blackstone, I’ll focus on that course, before touching on the abomination that is the Vintage course.

To read the rest of Bexico’s preview article, click here.

The Players Championship is one of the most important tournaments in the OAD year because it’s the biggest purse of the year. Xander Schauffele at 2.5% came through for me, earning me $1,725,000. His clutch birdie putt on 18 cemented his solo third finish, which was huge for how much money Xander made.

We move on to the Valspar Championship, which is not an elevated event, with a purse size of $9.10 million, with first taking home $1.7 million. Even though this isn’t an elevated event, there’s still an opportunity to move up the leaderboard.

My OAD pick for the Valspar Championship: Justin Thomas

After shooting back to back 79s at the API, Justin Thomas followed that abysmal performance up with an impressive T8 finish at the Players Championship. It was a great sign last week that JT gained 5.5 strokes on approach. One aspect of his game that was very interesting is that JT gained a little more than 4 strokes with the putter, which is usually his kryptonite.

JT lost in heartbreaking fashion last year to Viktor Hovland. BK has probably already declared JT dead since he blew the tournament last year, but the course fit is too hard to ignore. You want to play JT on club down golf courses that devalue off-the-tee play and emphasize elite iron play. You have to be sneaky good around-the-green and JT has one of the best short games in the world.

I don’t feel like I have a good sense of the OAD ownership projections this week. I have been seeing a lot of Jacob Bridgeman talk so I expect him to be the most owned golfer. I am sure JT will carry some steam because he contended last year and had a great showing at the Players, but I am not saving JT for a signature event. If you are going to play JT, play him at a course like Innisbrook.

Three Thoughts From The Players Championship

The Players Championship is truly one of the best weeks of the year in professional golf. TPC Sawgrass played firm and fast, which was a nice challenge for players. Players week created a lot of storylines on and off the golf course. Here are some of my thoughts and takeaways from the 2026 Players:

Brian Rolapp’s Vision

I could do a whole newsletter breaking down Rolapp’s press conference last Wednesday, but I rather wanted to provide some of my quick reactions to it. His press conference was quite impressive, and this is why the PGA Tour brought someone in like Rolapp to reshape the future of the organization, one of which clearly was headed in the wrong direction with Jay Monohan at the helm. 

Here are some quick notes from the press conference that my friend Jeff Eisenband laid out on Twitter:

There have been many rumors and speculations about what the new schedule would look like, and Rolapp gave us some confirmation. He wants to start the season on the west coast, so the Hawaii swing is likely to get eliminated. He also wants to go to more of the major markets, which I have been pounding at the table for since the inception of this newsletter last year. 

I love his idea of more elevated events with a full field and cut. I know the fans (and sports bettors) have been begging to bring back full field events. 

The promotion/relegation system is really intriguing, and I’m looking forward to getting more details on what that looks like in a given year. Does the promotion/relegation happen after the season? If a player wins a secondary field event, does he get promoted mid-season? Those questions are still to come. Rolapp emphasized the word “meritocracy” to reward players for their stellar play and a way for players to earn their spot in the elevated events 

Finally, it is looking like we are getting some sort of a match play FedEx Cup playoffs. Again, fans have been craving match play again. It’s such a fun way to determine the season-long winner of each season. It’s easy to follow and fans can relate because most times when your weekend golfers are playing, we are playing match play.

The Players Should NOT Be A Major

The PGA Tour introduced a new slogan, “March is Major”, for the Players Championship. There has been much debate online about if the Players Championship should be a major. Brandel Chamblee has not been shy to voice his opinion that this tournament should be a major. 

The Players Championship is the Players Championship. It is by far the best event the PGA Tour has to offer, and continues to produce exhilarating finishes for fans to consume. 

Many PGA Tour events lack an identity and the Players Championship has one: it’s the best field on the PGA Tour with an exciting finishing stretch of holes, including one of the most recognizable holes in golf in the island green 17th, and there is a ton of water on the course. 

Even the non-casual golf fans get up for this event and are excited to watch the Players Championship. This tournament has its own allure and glamour to it that I believe could love its luster making it a major championship. 

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The Players Championship is perfect as it is. It’s not a major championship, it’s the Players!

Cam Young Gutsy Performance

Cam Young finally broke through and captured his second win of his young career, adding a Players Championship gold man trophy into his case at home. After his impressive Ryder Cup performance at Bethpage Black, Cam Young was one of the most popular breakout picks for the 2026 season.

Cam Young doesn’t show much emotion when he plays golf and is very even-keeled on and off the course. He was down a stroke to Matt Fitzpatrick walking to the 17th tee box. Instead of playing the safe shot like Fitzpatrick, Cam threw a dart into the tight tucked far-right pin location on the island green to make birdie and send the tournament into a tie going into the 72nd hole. 

Cam Young blasted one 375 yards right down the pipe on 18th, the longest drive on the hole in the ShotLink era (2004). You also must remember that the day before in round 3, Cam hit his tee shot on the 18th into the water. However, after that round, he really liked the drive after hitting it. Come Sunday, he truly showed that he wasn’t scared of the daunting 18th tee shot that historically causes players issues.

The final two holes for Cam Young will be remembered for years to come. That tee shot is up there with the best drives of all time at TPC Sawgrass, similar to the likes of Justin Thomas’s 5 wood stinger in the 2021 Players Championship which led him to his victory. His pressure-packed 17th island green shot will be up there with Rickie Fowler’s dart in the 2015 playoff on the hole.

I don’t believe this will be Cam’s only win in 2026. He showed guts to win that golf tournament. 

He told himself over his 18th drive that, “I’m going to hit the best shot of my life here”.

He will have quite the confidence heading into Augusta next month and for the rest of the major championship season.

Justin Segal

March Madness Preview

I’m Justin, Josh’s younger brother and known college basketball savant. I want to turn the page in this newsletter from the links to the hardwood. I’d love to give the ISN subscribers a brief breakdown of how I see the bracket this year. Pick some sleepers, upsets, and who I believe will make it out of each region.

East Region

The East has some of the biggest programs and brands in the sport: Duke, UConn, Michigan St, Kansas, UCLA, etc. I should throw in Louisville and St Johns for the Rick Pitino ties too. 

I believe this region does not fare too bad for Duke. They should at least make the Elite 8, but a potential St John’s/Kansas matchup in the Sweet 16 might get dicey. 

I’m rolling mostly chalk here, the only double digit seed I have winning the first round is USF, and I have Duke over Michigan State heading to the Final Four.

South Region

Florida lost its SEC semifinal matchup to Vanderbilt last week, which has led some off the Gators train. An upset I like here is Troy over Nebraska. Nebraska has never won a tournament game, EVER. Troy head coach Scott Cross is in the mix for some high major jobs next season.

Josh and I have always been Kelvin Sampson guys, and I like Houston over Florida to head to Indianapolis in April.

West Region

Arizona, behind Duke, is the second most popular champion selection on ESPN. Many have said this is the weakest region, and I would tend to agree as Purdue and Gonzaga might be the weakest on the 2 and 3 seed lines.

I think this is the region of favorites, and we will see a 1-2-3-4 Sweet 16 here, but if we see a Wisconsin/Arkansas Round of 32 game that will be amazing. Give me Arizona over Purdue going into the Final Four.

Midwest Region

Now this is the upset region in my opinion. I love Akron over Texas Tech. The Red Raiders lost star player JT Toppin to a torn ACL a few weeks ago, and the Zips can shoot the lights out while taking advantage of the weak Texas Tech rotation. I have them in my Sweet 16.

I also love Virginia here, they have a well-rounded rotation with one of the best coaches in the sport in Ryan Odom. They gave Duke a good run for their money in the ACC title game, but I would have them losing to Michigan in the Elite 8.

Final Four

Duke vs Houston

I would honestly be somewhat surprised if Duke did not make the Final Four, which is crazy to say. I understand Caleb Foster is done for the season, and Patrick Ngongba is banged up, but Jon Scheyer and Cameron Boozer are probably the best coach-player duo in the country. I’ll take the Blue Devils to make the championship.

Arizona vs Michigan

I locked in a +600 Michigan to win the Big Ten regular season bet before Thanksgiving, which has me biased to Michigan. Even with a loss to Purdue in the Big Ten title game, I have them making the championship. The brilliant rotation the Wolverines have is tough to go up against, and Aday Mara is one of the most unstoppable forces down low, on both ends. Arizona is great too, but I’m rolling Blue.

Championship: MICHIGAN over Duke

Congrats to all of the Day 1 Cam Young sickos and the people that had outright tickets on him to win the Players Championship. It was a crazy Sunday finish with Ludvig Aberg crumbling and the duel between Cam Young and Fitzpatrick.

ISN staff members Andy, Kyle, and Josh (myself) all had Cam Young tickets, along with many of our subscribers. Can’t wait for Cam Young to win the Masters now!