Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2015 WGC-Cadillac Championship

The Sleeper Report: Fantasy Golf Sleepers, Long Shots, and Undervalued Picks for the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Championship

Event Preview

The Second of four World Golf Championship events will be held this week as the top players from the PGA and other tours around the world converge on South Florida for the Cadillac Championship.  The top-50 players from the Official World Golf Rankings as well as golfers who are heading the European Tour, Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA Tour of Australia, and Sunshine Tour (as well as the top-30 from the FedEx Cup standings) will all be invited to participate.  In total, this event encompasses around 70 players annually and has been regularly hosted by Trump National Doral in Miami, FL.

In the past Doral has allowed for some heavy scoring as the victors in each of the first seven trips to this venue put up scores that were at least 10-under par, but last year the newly renovated track wasn’t giving up nearly as many birdies as Patrick Reed became the youngest WGC winner at the age of 23 with a four round score of  just four-under par.  He had sole position or a tie for first place at the end of each round as the tourney ended with a mere three players—the others being Bubba Watson and Jamie Donaldson—finishing better than par.

The par-72, 7,481-yard course has hosted the WGC-Cadillac Championship for the past eight seasons and has seen just one repeat winner in Tiger Woods over that time.  Traditionally, the end result tends to be close with only one of the first-place finishers winning by more than two strokes (Ernie Els 2010).  In total, Woods was able to win in this event seven times out of the 15 years that it has been held, with Els being the only other player who has managed to grab the trophy more than once.

Now let’s take a look at a few golfers who could really put forth a big performance this week despite being lower in the odds.

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The Fantasy Sleeper Report

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The Fantasy Sleeper Report

In an effort to continually provide our Premium Members with the best fantasy content anywhere on the web, this week we’ve added a bonus “Sleeper Report” to help you identify the undervalued, long-shots that can help you score some bonus fantasy points this weekend.  Mix and match these players with your usual rosters (or play them separately) to get the most out of your picks this week.

• Charl Schwartzl – 66/1:  With just four events under his belt Schwartzl hasn’t done too much in terms of golf on U.S. soil this year.  He’s also failed to crack the top-15 in any of them; including finishing in 64th at 12-over par at the last WGC event.  But Charl has been playing solid across the pond of late, and has been in at least the top-26 at four of his past five events, which included a runner-up finish at the South African Open Championship.  He ranks sixth on that tour in driving distance with an average of 308.6 yards per drive, a mark that would put him in the top-five on the PGA TOUR where he currently ranks 14th with 302.6 yards per drive in his few outings.  The South African has also played very well at Doral in the past with a top-25 placing in each of his past five visits there.  Schwartzl is coming off a ninth-place finish here last year and also has a runner-up performance in his bag from 2010.  With 10 wins between the PGA and European Tours, and the ability to win on the big stage—as evidenced by his 2011 Masters victory—Charl getting these odds is a big advantage.
• Jason Dufner – 66/1: Dufner has improved his standing in this event in each of the past three years, going from 29th in 2012, to 12th in 2013, and finally having his best finish last season when he cracked the top-10, coming in at ninth behind a six-under score on par-5’s.  This year hasn’t really gone the way he would have liked so far with missed cuts in each of his last two showings, but he was able to tie for 10th at the most recent WGC event and has been at the top of the field in four of the past five WGC tournaments.  His driving accuracy (75.7%, second on PGA TOUR) should put him in great position to attack the pin this week and improve on his already solid mark of 0.97 strokes gained from tee-to-green (20th on PGA TOUR).  His recent poor play may have some fantasy playersrunning away, but it would be wise to grab him when possible.
• Gary Woodland – 80/1: Woodland has been one of the quieter top golfers in the world as he has just two career PGA victories and has never finished better than 12th at any of the major championships.  With that said, he did manage to put up a solid effort last year at this event, finishing in 16th-place, and would have been right near the top of the leaderboard if not for firing a 78 on Friday.  He has one of the longest drives currently on tour, cranking the ball for an average of 304.9 yards per drive (7th on PGA TOUR) and he hits 71.1% of greens in regulation (24th on PGA TOUR).  Woodland showed that he is still at the top of the game towards the beginning of this season with second and third-place showings, but at 80/1 odds he’ll still be a gamble, especially given his missed cuts in two of his past three outings.
• Louis Oosthuizen – 80/1: Oosthuizen has been on an absolute tear overseas in his recent events and has finished no worse than 15th over his last six times out.  He still hasn’t had a victory though, with his best showing being a runner-up performance at the Alfred Dunhill Championship back in mid-December.  Louis performed quite well in his last WGC event, finishing with a score of four-under par, good enough for 14th-place.  He hit 68.5% of GIR at that tournament and should be able to continue to hit greens behind his 309.5 yard average drive (3rd on European Tour).  Oosthuizen hasn’t played for a few months and will most likely fly under the radar, but his talent is too great to pass up with these odds.
• Stephen Gallacher – 100/1: Gallacher has made a name for himself with two European Tour victories in the past couple of seasons but he also failed to win in two playoffs over that time.  Last year he really showed up at this tourney with a sixth-place finish that ended with a score of three-under par over the weekend.  He is hitting 74.3% of greens in regulation on the European Tour this year and looks poised to perform well after strong finishes at the Masters (34th) and Open Championship (15th) last year.  Look for the 40-year-old to put up a strong effort this week and prove why he sits at No. 32 in the world rankings.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions?  Check out our full fantasy preview for this week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship here.

Cover photo by Cameron Flanders on Flickr