Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2023 PGA Championship

2023 PGA Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

Although it’s not the favorite Major for the traditionalists, we’ve a feeling that the 2023 PGA Championship is going to be a goodie.

The field is stacked – Tiger and (possibly) Jordan Spieth – the only absentees, with that fun undercurrent of the PGA TOUR vs LIV Golf, as it was at The Masters, again in full force.

But aside from such tribal allegiances, there’s a major golf tournament to win – and what a venue to do it at.

Oak Hill Country Club is as storied as golfing establishments get; you’ve probably already heard about its historic position as the only layout to host Majors in the professional, amateur and senior ranks, as well as the Ryder Cup.

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And for good reason. The East Course is a doozie: it’s long, it’s got tough to find and hold fairways, it’s got sand and watery creeks roaming throughout and it’s got some of the tiniest greens you are ever likely to see. All told, it’s the perfect test of golf.

We don’t know how tough it will play exactly because it hasn’t been seen as a major host since 2013, when Jason Dufner outlasted the field to win the PGA Championship. But talks of renovation work restoring the layout back to Donald Ross’ original designs are welcome; he is one of the most vaunted architects in the history of golf.

We do know that the East Course will play to around 7,400 yards for its Par 70, and we know that the contoured Bentgrass greens are going to take some finding. Early social media posts suggest the rough is up, too.

But with some trees removed, there might be an opportunity for risk-and-reward by cutting corners, while some Par 4 holes – notably the 12th and 14th – are, with a fair wind, drivable.

So it’s likely that there will be birdies to be made, but on other holes the mindset will be about escaping with par – not least the 245-yard Par 3 eleventh.

In short, Oak Hill’s East Course *should* play long and tough, which obviously will appeal to some more than others in the field. Hopefully our five sleeper picks for the 2023 PGA Championship will be up for the battle….

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Shane Lowry – 55/1 – When the going gets tough, Shane Lowry often gets going.

He’s got seven major top-10s to his name, including a win at the 2019 British Open, and plenty of class to boot – DP World Tour fans will remember how he took out Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy at the BMW PGA Championship in September.

Long off the tee, Lowry is generally very good on approach and has the short game befitting a British Open champion – all the tools are there for a decent turn at Oak Hill, and T16 at The Masters in April was a timely reminder of those talents. 

Tommy Fleetwood – 60/1 – Although he’s yet to truly show his best form on the PGA TOUR and land that long-awaited title, Tommy Fleetwood has got game.

He’s banked five top-five finishes in majors since 2017, with three of those coming on American soil. The reason? Fleetwood is strong in all departments, with long-enough straight hitting and a solid short game honed on courses all over the world, such is the nature of the globe-trotting DP World Tour.

Finishing T5 at the Wells Fargo Championship and T15 at the RBC Heritage, there’s enough recent form in the locker to suggest that Fleetwood can make a decent fist of contending for the PGA Championship.

Patrick Reed – 66/1 – One of the difficulties facing golf bettors ahead of the majors is trying to establish where the LIV Golf players are at with their game.

There’s very few meaningful stats coming out of that tour, so all we have to go on is finishing positions – as crazy as it sounds, those don’t always tell the full story in golf.

But in recent weeks we’ve had the advantage of watching The Masters, and it was there that Patrick Reed – as well as Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson – proved that they’ve well and truly still got it.

When playing on the PGA TOUR, Reed had a fantastic record on the East Coast – twice winning the St. Jude Championship, for example, and he’s another whose short game will stand up to scrutiny at Oak Hill. 

T4 at The Masters, you suspect Reed would love nothing more than to win the PGA Championship – the clue is in the name.

Rickie Fowler – 80/1 – Although bettors are yet to get full value from Rickie Fowler’s full return to form, a classic golf course like that of Oak Hill may just be the venue where he cashes in for his backers.

At his best, every department of Fowler’s game was bullet-proof, and while he hasn’t quite reached those heights yet a form line of seven top-20 finishes in his last eight strokeplay starts reveals just how close he is to a breakthrough.

Expect Fowler’s renaissance to continue on the East Course, and at juicy odds too.

Corey Conners – 90/1 – We expect that quality ball-strikers will get the most reward out of the East Course – ‘straight length’, for want of a better phrase, will give those players a huge edge on those that are shorter or wayward off the tee.

So that’s two boxes checked for Corey Conners, whose ball-striking is typically outstanding, and improvements in his short game are such that he can be considered a live contender for the PGA Championship.

Although the two layouts only bare a passing resemblance, remember that Augusta National plays long and is carpeted with slick, contoured Bentgrass greens – as is the East Course at Oak Hill. With three top-10s in his last four starts at The Masters, hopefully Conners will feel right at home.

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

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