Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2025 Hero World Challenge

Hero World Challenge Fantasy Sleeper Report

We may have waved goodbye to the 2025 season, but there’s still a couple of interesti9ng betting heats to sink our teeth into on the PGA TOUR.

The first is the Hero World Challenge, an event hosted by Tiger Woods and for the benefit of his charitable foundation. Sadly, the Big Cat won’t be teeing it up at the Albany Golf Club, but his presence will surely be felt on New Providence Island in the Bahamas.

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Albany Golf Club looks and plays like the quintessential coastal track; not a shock really, when you consider that Ernie Els – former British Open champion and Links aficionado – was on design duty.

So expect completely exposed conditions, with zero trees on the premises, although the fairways and greens are easy enough to find outside of a strong breeze – more on that shortly.

There’s plenty of sand on the premises, with Els speaking of Australian sandbelt courses as inspiration, so you’ll see plenty of bunkers and even sand dunes on the broadcast, which mostly take the place of rough grass.

The Bermuda greens run firm and fast, but all told this is an easy place to score – winning marks of between -16 and -25 have been recorded here in the past three years.

Two of those were notched by Scottie Scheffler, who has been a one-man wrecking crew at Albany GC. Runner up in his first two trips to the island, Scheffler has since won both the 2023 and 2024 editions of this event – and it’s not even been close.

In fact, only two players got within ten shots of the world number one here 12 months ago, so wrestling this trophy out of Scheffler’s hands is going to take some work.

Tasked with doing so is a 20-strong field headed, from a betting perspective, by Scheffler (2/1), Robert MacIntyre (10/1), and Cameron Young (11/1).

MacIntyre is a much-admired wind player who franked his form in exposed conditions by winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship earlier this year. He is a live contender this week.

As is Cam Young, who opened with a round of 64 here last year. His game has reached new heights in the second half of 2025, to the point that he now looks a genuine contender more often than not – his T2 at the British Open confirming his fondness for these types of conditions.

The British Open and The Masters have both been excellent primers of success in this tournament. The former is no surprise, given the need for comfort in a breeze and a solid ground game, although the latter is more of a shock – mind you, Albany GC is a long old stretch at 7,480 yards for its Par 72, with five scorable Par 5s and a pair of drivable Par 4s.

Normally in this column, we concern ourselves with longshots priced at 50/1 or longer. We don’t get those players in 20-man fields, of course, so we’ll have to be creative in securing wagering value this week.

Here’s a tip: if you’ve never tried each way betting before, now’s the time. Most North American sportsbooks offer the each way function now, which secures a payout if your player wins the event or finishes within a set number of places on the leaderboard.

Albany GC is Scottie’s playground… it will take something special to get him beaten this week. So each way betting provides a profit should any of our three picks finish in the places.

With that in mind, here’s our sleeper shortlist for the 2025 Hero World Challenge:

Alex Noren (22/1)

Perhaps one of the more interesting betting propositions this week is Alex Noren.

He’s accurate off the tee, he can flight his ball down in a breeze, his iron play has been excellent, for the most part, in 2025, and he has a reliable short game, too.

Noren reinvigorated his career with two wins on the DP World Tour in the summer, and while it’s in Europe that his best work has come, don’t sleep on the Swede: he’s playing some of the best golf of his career right now at the age of 43.

Harris English (25/1)

Alex Noren has reinvigorated his career in 2025, and Harris English has done likewise to some tune.

He burst back to prominence with victory at the Farmers Insurance Open at the start of the season, but has parlayed that into strong form throughout the year.

English has finished in second place in two majors this year – including the British Open, for fans of correlations – as well as T12 at The Masters.

With a stack of top-20 finishes to his name, English played his way into the Ryder Cup team – a nod to his career renaissance in 2025.

A winner at Torrey Pines, Kapalua, and Mayakoba, there’s no doubt that squally coastal conditions suit Harris English.

Jordan Spieth (28/1)

His peers, guys like Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler, have shown that you can bounce back from a period in the doldrums in this sport.

It’s a message that Jordan Spieth will need to take to heart as he looks to rebuild his career.

It’s not as if he’s doomed either, with T14 and T23 finishes at The Masters and U.S. Open backed by other PGA TOUR top tens in 2025.

Every element of Spieth’s game has fired at some point this year, just often not at the same time together – but the former Masters and British Open champion has the skillset and birdie-making ability to seize his renaissance moment this week.

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

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