Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2023 Zurich Classic

2023 Zurich Classic Fantasy Sleeper Report

It’s the sort of contest you can expect to see at the Ryder Cup for the next decade or more.

The conclusion of the RBC Heritage saw Jordan Spieth, the American vocally-supported by his home crowd on Hilton Head Island, take on Matt Fitzpatrick in a playoff.

Spieth had the first two chances to settle matters but shovelled his birdie putts wide, and it was on the third extra hole that Fitzpatrick silenced the partisan patrons around the green.

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The Brit hit a sublime approach into the eighteenth that was in tap-in range, which forced immense pressure on Spieth to come up with a birdie. 

He could not, and the trophy, Tartan Jacket and bragging rights went to Fitzpatrick, who later admitted that he’s always wanted to win the RBC Heritage as an ode to happy childhood holidays there. Good for him, and an early blow for Team Europe in a Ryder Cup year.

Speaking of….we’ll get a rare glimpse of four-ball and foursomes golf this week, with the unique Zurich Classic home to the PGA TOUR’s sole foray into the pairs format.

It’s likely that Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, plus Max Homa and Collin Morikawa, will compete alongside one another at the Ryder Cup, so it will be interesting to see how they gel this week. We know that the former pairing works – they are the defending champions at the Zurich, and picked up plenty of points at the Ryder and President Cups in the past few years.

Homa and Morikawa should be fun to watch, while Sam Burns and Billy Horschel have also teamed up to some success in this event. Fitzpatrick, meanwhile, will enjoy a victory lap with his younger brother Alex – an up-and-coming pro on the DP World Tour – at his side.

This event has had a history of delivering high-class winners – Cantlay & Schauffele succeeded Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman from the year prior, and perhaps the identity of the architect of TPC Louisiana, our host course, is the reason for that.

Pete Dye was in more forgiving mood here than his normal devil and detail, but there’s still plenty of sand and water on the real estate.

However, with wide fairways and the rough down anyway, plus non-rapid Bermuda greens, the emphasis is on low-scoring – especially in the best ball element of the event, which holds sway in rounds one and three (alternate shot is the order of the day in rounds two and four).

So it’s all about making birdies this week, and given the unique format both players in the pairing will need to come to the party on that front. But who’s made the grade in our 2023 Zurich Classic sleeper shortlist?

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Aaron Rai & David Lipsky – 60/1 – Aaron Rai has been crushing it of late, gaining strokes on the field off the tee and on approach with regularity.

But he’s only got a top-20 at THE PLAYERS Championship to show for it, which confirms he would benefit from a playing partner with a stronger short game.

Whether David Lipsky is the man for the job remains to be seen, but at least he is reliable around the greens – no bad thing at a windy Pete Dye layout.

Neither brings much in the way of form on the greens, but any improvement there will surely be backed by tee-to-green excellence from this pair.

Thomas Detry & Victor Perez – 66/1 –One of the best graduates of the DP World Tour in recent years, Thomas Detry is starting to show his best on the PGA TOUR too.

T24 at the classy Arnold Palmer Invitational followed with a top-10 at the Corales Puntacana, Detry has been in good form of late and even a missed cut at the RBC Heritage does little to dampen expectations.

He and partner Victor Perez are outside contenders for the Ryder Cup later this year, and both will be looking to showcase their skills as a pairing here. Perez won on the DP World Tour in January, and was solid enough in rare starts on American soil at the Valspar and WGC Match Play thereafter.

Brandon Wu & Joseph Bramlett – 66/1 – Backing a pair of up-and-coming talents seems a fair way to play this event, so Brandon Wu and Joseph Bramlett make for an appealing team.

Wu is the high-quality amateur who has already started to make waves in the professional ranks, with a solid rookie season that includes T2 at Pebble Beach and T19 at the PLAYERS Championship to his credit.

Bramlett has been around the block a bit more but is still a relative novice at the age of 35, so he – like Wu – will see this tournament as an opportunity rather than an annoying obligation on his schedule. 

With two top-10s and a T12 to his name this season, Bramlett – like Wu – is capable of elite-level performances.

Trey Mullinax & Scott Stallings – 70/1 – A top-30 at The Masters, followed by rounds of 66 and 68 at the RBC heritage, confirm that Scott Stallings is one to watch this week.

You’ll need more persuasion to back the out-of-form Trey Mullinax, although it’s worth noting he gained a whopping +1.82 strokes on approach in his 36 holes at Harbour Town.

T13 here a couple of years ago, this Mullinax and Stallings combination could give backers a good run for their money.

Tyler Duncan & Hank Lebioda – 90/1 – Here’s two players that can perform better than their results would suggest.

Duncan, the 2019 RSM Classic winner, is a quality driver of the ball who has served up some of his best paydays in golf in recent months – third-place finishes at the Honda Classic and Corales Puntacana in recent times indicative of his best work.

Lebioda, meanwhile, is a curate’s egg of a golfer. He is well above-average when it comes to his iron and wedge play, but perhaps lacks the all-round class that can take him to the next level.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the Zurich Classic here.

Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2023-2023)

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