Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2024 RBC Canadian Open

2024 RBC Canadian Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

It’s rare for a PGA TOUR event to be won so serenely – especially with the leader playing alongside a fast-charging Scottie Scheffler.

But Davis Riley made light work of his relative inexperience in such rarefied air, galloping into a seven-shot lead at the Charles Schwab Challenge at one point, before outfoxing Scheffler on Sunday.

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It was a weekend of overwhelming sadness on the PGA TOUR – Grayson Murray’s death sending shockwaves through anyone associated with golf in any way. A reminder, perhaps, of the fragility of life, and of trying your best to take care of those around you.

Riley was experiencing emotional strife of his own – his sister having undergone emergency surgery to remove a brain tumour in midweek, and his tears during his post-round interview on Sunday were an outpouring of sadness and pride, no doubt.

TOUR life goes on, with Canada the next stop-off. The Hamilton Golf and Country Club will welcome the RBC Canadian Open for the first time since 2019, when Rory McIlroy outgunned the field to win by a stratospheric seven-shot margin.

It’s interesting, because Hamilton is not necessarily a track you would associate with success for the Irishman – it’s short (around 7,000 yards for its Par 70), fiddly, and rewards those finding the right parts of already thin fairways….a bomber’s paradise, it ain’t.

There’s a challenge to the second half of many of the layout’s holes, even if McIlroy’s winning mark of five years ago was a sprightly -22. The Bentgrass/Poa greens are small in size, have stark runoffs, and are well protected by strategic bunkering, so there’s obstacles to be avoided off the tee and on approach, too.

There has been renovation work on Harry Colt’s original design since that 2019 edition, but the reports coming out of Hamilton suggest that while the layout will play somewhat harder, the same sort of vibe as five years ago is to be expected.

All of which will certainly turn bettors on to Rory, although odds of around 4/1 are unlikely to attract the interest of many. McIlroy’s closest contenders in 2019 were major winners in Shane Lowry and Webb Simpson, and given the technical nature of the test, we would expect the thoroughbreds to come to the fore this week.

But that’s not to say there isn’t any interest in longer odds selections – here’s our 2024 RBC Canadian Open sleeper shortlist.

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Aaron Rai – 50/1 – If Aaron Rai is to claim a maiden PGA TOUR title, it will surely come at a venue like Hamilton.

His fairway-finding nous will get plenty of reward here, as will the consistent reliability through the back on approach too.

Sure handed around the greens, it’s only a weak week with the putter that is likely to stop Rai from a decent showing in Canada, but as a DP World Tour graduate, it’s no surprise that he has fared better, typically, on slower surfaces like the ones expected at Hamilton.

An excellent tee-to-green operator with previous on another Colt layout, Wentworth, can the Brit get over the line on Canadian soil?

Daniel Berger – 80/1 – After his lengthy injury layoff, there’s signs that Daniel Berger is approaching much better form with his tee-to-green game.

This is a player who won four times on the PGA TOUR before turning 30, so he has to be treated with respect – especially now that he’s bettering fields with his ball-striking.

A winner at the correlating Colonial, Berger also has a solo second at PGA National, T3 at Harbour Town, and T9 at TPC Sawgrass – all hallmarks of his accuracy off the tee.

Putting remains a problem, but a switch to slower greens may provide a solution for a player that has fared well on Poa Annua before.

Matt Wallace – 80/1 – A lover of Bay Hill and with a T18 turn at Harbour Town in his repertoire, Matt Wallace should enjoy the surroundings at Hamilton this week.

A less-than-driver track won’t inhibit a player who can be rash off the tee, and while he is inconsistent, the Brit can fire in all departments – he finished T4 at the CJ CUP Byron Nelson recently while losing strokes to the field putting, which is a remarkable effort.

There’s risk, but tremendous upside, to players like Wallace, whose short game is strong enough to take advantage of any opportunities that come along – vital in low-scoring shootouts like this.

Mac Meissner – 150/1 – Two excellent performances in a row leave us scratching our heads at why Mac Meissner is available at 150/1 this week.

No matter: we’ll take the great value on offer, because not only has he finished T5 at the Charles Schwab Challenge and T13 at the Myrtle Beach Classic, he’s produced excellence in all departments at them.

A former winner on the PGA TOUR Canada, Meissner will be looking forward to a return to a country that has given him some of his best memories in golf so far.

Pierceson Coody – 250/1 – It’s interesting that the best performances of Pierceson Coody’s career, PGA TOUR wise, have both come at correlating courses to Hamilton: solo fifth at Colonial last week, and T14 at the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

This is a young guy who knows what it takes to win, having done so three times on the Korn Ferry Tour – including twice in 2023, so in some ways these odds of 250/1 are bordering on the disrespectful.

Coody was outstanding at the Charles Schwab last week, gaining strokes on the field in every department except off the tee – where he went for a ‘bombs away’ approach. If he can rein that in at Hamilton, hitting shorter clubs off the tee, then the rest of his game can fire once more.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the RBC Canadian Open here.

Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2024)

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