Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2015 Shell Houston Open

The Sleeper Report: Fantasy Golf Sleepers, Long Shots, and Undervalued Picks for the 2015 Shell Houston Open from GC of Houston

Event Preview

A large portion of the world’s top golfers will head to Houston this week for the Shell Houston Open as they gear up for the biggest event of the season; the Masters.  The field will be strong on on this week’s Tournament Course that attempts to replicate some of the conditions expected at Augusta as 12 of the top-25 golfers from the Official World Golf Rankings will be in attendance.

The top name from the group is No. 2 Henrik Stenson who will be joined by Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia, and Jimmy Walker, all from the top-10.  A strong European presence will be felt as well with Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer, and Victor Dubuisson all coming out of the top-25 from overseas to compete this week.

Players will have a tough time living up to the tournament from last season when Aussie Matt Jones tore up the track with a 66 on Sunday and stormed from six shots behind to force a playoff against Matt Kuchar with a very long birdie putt on the 72nd hole.  Jones then went on to break Kuchar’s heart with another amazing birdie on the same hole, chipping in to win on the first playoff hole and ultimately finishing with a score of 15-under-par.  Low scoring has been common here in the past with the victor hitting double-digits under par in each installment since 1999.

There has not been a repeat victor here in Houston since Stuart Appleby did so back in 2006 and there will certainly be some sleeper names making waves this week as those sitting on the fringe look to grab a win and earn a spot at the Masters.

Last week, Texan Jimmy Walker seemed to have homecourt advantage in San Antonio as he dominated at a course just 30 minutes from his home.  He won by four strokes over fellow Texas native Jordan Spieth holding on to his top spot in the FedExCup standings with the win.  In the process, he also became the first player to have multiple victories on the season and as well as being the first leader going into Sunday to actually earn the win in over two months.

With all the pre-Masters buzz going around, let’s take a moment to scour over the field for this week to find a few fantasy sleeper selections set to perform well at the Shell Houston Open even off longer odds.

[membership level=”0″]

The Fantasy Sleeper Report

You must be a Premium Member to view our exclusive fantasy golf picks.

Already a member?  Sign in Here.

[/membership]

[membership level=”1,2,3″]

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.

• Cameron Tringale – 66/1: Tringale may not be having a tremendous season, but he comes into this event with made cuts in each of his last six events and improved in each successive round last week in San Antonio.  Where he really peaks interest is with his past performances in Houston as he’s posted three straight top-16 showings here and was impressive with a 12-under, solo fourth-place finish last year.  Tringale accumulated a score of 33-under-par in that time and hit 70.8% of GIR last year as he carded four strokes under par on the short holes.  Cameron has been a consistent performer on tour since turning pro in 2009 and is due for his first career victory.
• Danny Willett – 80/1: Willett has seldom played in the U.S. with just ten events under his belt since 2010 but in those appearances he made 7-of-10 cuts with two top-25s.  He has also performed well in his two events this year, coming in with a 12th place finish among the tough field at the Cadillac Championship and finishing with a 29th at Bay Hill a few weeks ago.  It is only a matter of time before Willett starts getting noticed on the PGA and his presence is strongly felt overseas where he is first in the Race for Dubai on the European tour behind two wins this season.  Danny has been nothing short of amazing over there, posting a scoring average of 69.75 and hitting 75.4% of GIR in the process.  He should be able to use his big drive (296 yards per) to perform well on in Houston this week.
• Carlos Ortiz – 80/1: Ortiz is among a tremendous crop of rookies making names for themselves this year and he enters the week ranked 61st in the FedExCup standings behind six top-25 finishes in his 13 starts.  Unlike many of the youngsters who are high on the FedExCup standings, Ortiz has begun playing better in the middle part of the season rather than just early on and has been in 21st or better at four of his last six tourneys.  He has the ability to perform in all facets of the game as he is long off the tee (297.0 yards per, 33rd on tour) and is in the top-35 in strokes gained putting (0.441, 34th on tour).  Last week, he overcame an opening round 79 to finish 15th in San Antonio, showing that he has the ability to score in bunches and is not far off from earning his first PGA win.
• Danny Lee – 150/1: Lee had to withdrawal from last week’s event citing that he was dealing with vertigo, but had put previously up two big performances in the last two tournaments with a seventh at the Valspar Championship and a 17th at Bay Hill.  He dominated the par-3s in both of those tournaments, gaining five strokes on the short holes, and was very accurate at the Arnold Palmer Invitational with 75% of fairways hit.  He made the cut and placed 36th in his one visit to Houson (2012) but is a wildcard each week with just 9-of-16 cuts made on the year.  His short game is what keeps him towards the top half of the leaderboard as he ranks 26th in strokes gained putting (0.494), has a 64% sand save percentage (16th on tour), and is a decent scrambler (60.8%, 69th on tour).  Although Lee has been on the tour since 2009, he is a mere 24-years-old and is constantly improving.
• Scott Pinckney – 150/1: It’s Pinckney’s recent performances that have really opened some eyes as he’s been in the top-eight at two of his past three tournaments jumping him up into the top-100 of the FedExCup rankings.  Last week he was able to work his way up to eighth in the tough conditions at San Antonio as he saved 75% of his attempts out of the sand and hit 61% of GIR.  The rookie is on a nice hot streak and while he is still a long shot, he has shown the ability to play some great golf and we expect that trend to continue in the second straight Texas event.

[/membership]

Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions?  Check out our full fantasy preview for this week’s Shell Houston Open Here.

Cover photo by Ron Kikuchi on Flickr