Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge

2022 Charles Schwab Challenge Fantasy Sleeper Report

If we hadn’t pointed out enough times, it bears repeating: winning golf tournaments is hard.

Hoisting the trophy in your standard PGA TOUR event is difficult enough, but to overcome the nerves and pressure of winning a major something else entirely.

So should we be surprised that maidens Mito Pereira, Cameron Young, Matt Fitzpatrick and Will Zalatoris missed the chance to land their maiden victory in the PGA Championship on Sunday?

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That quartet was well placed at one time or another in another manic final round, and yet it was the cool hand of a proven champion that accelerated to the finishing line while the rest of the traffic had slipped into reverse.

Justin Thomas took advantage of Pereira’s pitfall on the 72nd hole to book his spot in a playoff against Zalatoris, and while the youngster did little wrong during the three extra holes he found no answer to Thomas’ error-free, rock solid golf.

And so it was the slightly elder statesman that bagged the second PGA Championship title of his career, and you wonder how many more majors will follow for a (still) young man who is ice cold under the hottest pressure.

Fans of majors will already be licking their lips in anticipation of the U.S. Open, which is now around a month or so away, but in the meantime there’s still PGA TOUR business to be taken care of – next up is the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

This is one of the weeks that the purists most look forward to. Despite being the best part of a century old, Colonial has stood the test of time – even by today’s standards, it cannot be overpowered thanks to a combination of doglegging, tree-lined fairways, thick rough and smaller-than-average Bentgrass greens.

Kisner, Na, Kirk, Zach Johnson, Steve Stricker….you’ll already be able to build a sort of profile of player that we are looking for this week, and for the most part that trope of accurate fairway and green-finding is a yearly phenomenon at Colonial.

You wouldn’t necessarily put defending champion Jason Kokrak in that camp, but he drove the ball sublimely well last year – averaging 73% of fairways found from a length of 321 yards, so he very much ticked the accuracy box.

Kokrak will have to hold off some of the best in the business if he wants to successfully defend his crown. Justin Thomas is scheduled to play – we’ll have to see if he withdraws following his Sunday drama, but even if he does the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland and hometown boy Jordan Spieth help to keep the quality quota high.

Intriguingly, the last three winners of this event have set off at sportsbook odds of 60/1, 66/1 and 70/1 respectively, and that is music to the ears of long odds and sleeper pick lovers.

So who has earned the call up to our squad of sleepers for the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge?

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Sebastian Munoz – 50/1 – Although it feels like a lot of time has passed since, you perhaps haven’t forgotten that Sebastian Munoz threatened to join the 59 Club in the opening round of the AT&T Byron Nelson.

He ended up T3 there following a superb show of ball-striking, and the Colombian really does seem to love playing in Texas and the neighboring states.

An excellent driver of the ball with quality through his irons and wedges, Munoz has the basic tools to thrive at Colonial – a T3 return here 12 months ago offers further evidence of that.

Justin Rose – 50/1 – After a long period in the doldrums, there have been more encouraging signs for Justin Rose of late – none more so than at the PGA Championship.

He ranked ninth and thirteenth for SG: Approach and Putting respectively at Southern Hills, and those really are the basic foundation of winning golf tournaments.

Rose is reliably accurate off the tee, for the most part, and so he will be throbbing with confidence given that Colonial – where he has gone 20-3-58-1 in four visits – is a layout that he favors.

Chris Kirk – 55/1 – We didn’t necessarily expect Chris Kirk’s excellent form to continue in the PGA Championship, given that he’s not the longest hitter in the world.

But an outstanding T3 finish was powered by ranking third for SG: Tee-to-Green, ad so he comes away from Southern Hills with renewed vigor.

That was Kirk’s third top-10 since the Honda Classic, and given how accurate a ball-striker he is you won’t be surprised to learn that the 37-year-old has a particularly soft spot for Colonial – he won here in 2015, and hasn’t missed a cut at the venue in nine trips.

Kevin Na – 55/1 – When you look at his stats at Southern Hills, it’s pretty obvious that Kevin Na was straining for extra distance off the tee – he added 12 yards to his seasonal average, but found just 55% of fairways as a consequence.

Back in a shorter, tighter environment, Na should be back to his best off the tee, and that bodes well given that he ranked inside the top-30 at the PGA for the Approach, Around-the-Green and Putting strokes gained metrics.

A sublime iron player and birdie maker, Na has tied the course record of 61 at Colonial….he simply loves it here.

J.J. Spaun – 110/1 – As mentioned before in this column, sometimes a sportsbook’s price on a player is too good to miss.

They are dismissing J.J. Spaun as an also-ran here, but this is an accurate fairway-and-green hitter who goes on hot streaks with the flat stick – he’s Colonial ready, that’s for sure.

We’re not devastated by a missed cut on the number at the PGA, because in the rear view mirror you’ve got that win in the Texas Open a few weeks ago and a rock solid T23 in The Masters thereafter.

At 125/1, why wouldn’t you take a punt?

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the Charles Schwab Challenge here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2021-2022)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”2.76%” bar_text=”4 out of 145 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “15.86%” bar_text=”23 out of 145 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”20.00%” bar_text=”29 out of 145 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”3.45%” bar_text=”1 out of 29 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”3.45%” bar_text=”1 out of 29 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”55.17%” bar_text=”80 out of 145 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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