Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2024 Zurich Classic

2024 Zurich Classic Fantasy Sleeper Report

Scottie Scheffler wasn’t supposed to win the RBC Heritage.

He was supposed to have a ‘hangover’ from winning The Masters. 

He was supposed to be tired from jetting back to Dallas to spend time with his heavily pregnant wife. 

He was supposed to struggle after playing just nine practice holes at Harbour Town. 

He was supposed to be hampered by a less-than-driver golf course that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to his natural game.

But, of course, we’re dealing with a generational talent here. A player who one day we’ll tell our golf mad grandchildren about, in the same way generations passed have spoken about Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and co.

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If he hadn’t bogeyed the last hole after cantering into an unsurmountable lead, Scheffler would have racked up his third win by four shots or more this season, and his fourth in all in his last starts. This is dominance of the sport we’ve only seen a handful of times over the past century.

It’s all bad news for bettors, of course, because it’s very difficult to weigh in with a wager on any players that’s single digit odds – even one of Scheffler’s all-time class.

But here’s some good news: he ain’t playing at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans this week.

This unique pairs event seems to have tickled the fancy of some top PGA TOUR stars nonetheless, with Rory McIlroy amongst those tempted to head to Louisiana and make a debut in the tournament.

He will team up with fellow Irishman Shane Lowry, while Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay will renew their on-course bromance that has carried them through Ryder Cups and to this title in 2022.

Sahith Theegala – who won the QBE Shootout with Tom Hoge in 2022 – partners Will Zalatoris, while the in-form Collin Morikawa teams up with Kurt Kitayama.

Many other alliances will form to try and wrestle the title away from Nick Hardy and Davis Riley, who surprised everyone – other than themselves, perhaps – when they won this title 12 months ago with a record low score of -30.

They played well in both formats, which ultimately proved vital. Rounds one and three are better ball, which basically means that both players play their ball as normal, with the best score put forward for each hole.

Rounds two and four are alternate shot, and it’s this format which is perhaps the most interesting for us – it enables quality ball-strikers to be paired with expert putters, which can create a Frankenstein’s monster of a winning golfer.

TPC Louisiana, the host venue, is a Pete Dye design, but it’s not quintessential Dye by any means. There’s wide open fairways, water in play on just eight holes, and greens that, while smallish, are easy to find and hold.

There’s no strokes gained data available from this event, so our betting strategy is to try and unearth those pairings that will benefit the most from the alternate shot format – i.e. those who will team up with a player who can mask their weaknesses, while allowing their own strengths to shine.

With that in mind, here’s our sleeper shortlist for the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans….

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Austin Eckroat & Chris Gotterup – 50/1 – Here we have one of the longest drivers around in Chris Gotterup paired with a fairway finding, approach play machine in Austin Eckroat.

Eckroat will have to do most of the heavy lifting in the better ball format, but in alternate shot he will find himself with approach shots dozens of yards closer to the pin than he’s used to – that will surely be of help.

Whether Gotterup’s game is good enough to support Eckroat to the title remains to be seen, but this is definitely one of the more intriguing partnerships in the tournament.

Doug Ghim & Chan Kim – 55/1 – Just picking two in-form guys is as strong a strategy as any this week.

Doug Ghim has been excellent in 2024, and while his form has dropped off in the last couple of weeks, perhaps the change of format will help him rediscover the form that saw him net five straight top-20 finishes earlier this year.

Chan Kim’s T6 finish at the Colares Puntacana last week was the best PGA TOUR outing of his fledgling career, but comes on the back of T8 at the Mexico Open and T14 at the Texas Open. too. His extra length will aid Ghim in the alternate shot stakes too.

Andrew Putnam & Joe Highsmith – 66/1 – Andrew Putnam has been able to build a PGA TOUR career despite being monumentally short off the tee – his approach play and short game are so good he can thrive at certain layouts.

What he needs each week is somebody to hit his drives for him – and he’ll get it this week courtesy of Joe Highsmith, who while not huge off the tee himself will still add around 20 yards to Putnam’s usual distance.

That will provide an excellent platform for Putnam’s majestic iron and wedge game in the alternate shot format, so maybe this marriage of convenience will serve both Putnam and Highsmith nicely.

K.H. Lee & Michael Kim – 80/1 – This is one of those pairings where each player can improve the game of the other.

Michael Kim is long off the tee and, at his best, is a quality approach player, while K.H. Lee has a magic chipping game around the greens.

Crucially, both can pop with flat stick in hand – if they both do it this week, they will very much be on board the birdie train.

Luke List & Henrik Norlander – 80/1 – If Luke List could call on a replacement to take his putts with him, you wonder how many PGA TOUR titles he would have won by now.

Whether Henrik Norlander is the missing link or not remains to be seen, but the Swede is a solid operator on the greens who can take advantage of List’s ball-striking brilliance.

A couple of top-20s on the PGA TOUR this term showcase Norlander’s upside, while List has been gaining strokes on the field at will off the tee and on approach. T2 at the high class Genesis Invitational confirms how strong his game can be.

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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 (2023-2024)

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