Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2015 Wells Fargo Championship

The Sleeper Report: Fantasy Golf Sleepers, Long Shots, and Undervalued Picks for the 2015 Wells Fargo Championship from Quail Hollow

Event Preview

The Wells Fargo Championship will take place as the PGA TOUR heads to beautiful Quail Hollow Country Club in Charlotte, NC.

Last week’s THE PLAYERS Championship will certainly be a tough act to follow.  The three-player, three-hole aggregate playoff that ensued ended with the newly anointed “Most Overrated” player in golf, Rickie Fowler, taking home the title and $1.8 million on the famous 17th green.

The Wells Fargo Championship is fairly new to the PGA TOUR schedule, being established in 2003 and always taking place in the confines of the par-72, 7,562-yard Quail Hollow course which will also play host to both the PGA Championship in 2017 and the Presidents Cup in 2021.

There has never been a multiple time winner at this event even though some big names such as Woods, McIlroy, Furyk, Fowler, and Holmes have topped the leaderboard come Sunday in the past.

There always seems to be excitement as well, with half (6) of the events needing a playoff to decide the victor and another two victories coming by a single stroke.  Such was the case last season when J.B. Holmes hoisted the trophy for the first time since returning from brain surgery, overcoming a 65 by Jim Furyk on the final day with a final score of 14-under-par.

What nearly did him in was the treacherous “Green Mile,” which is comprised of the final three holes on the course and often ranks as one of the toughest stretches on tour.  Attempting to tame this beast will be 11 of the top-25 players from the Official World Golf Rankings who will be led by world No. 1, and former champ here, Rory McIlroy.  Also joining him from the top-five will be No. 3 Henrik Stenson and No. 5 Jim Furyk as well as eight of the past 12 champions at this venue.

There have been plenty of opportunities for different golfers to get into the winners circle this year as Jordan Spieth and Jimmy Walker remain the only two players with multiple wins on the season and without either of those two men in the field, it could be wide open for one of the sleepers below to get a victory.

That said, let’s take a look at five fantasy sleepers and long shots to help you round out your DraftKings and other salary cap leagues this week.

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The Fantasy Sleeper Report

Mix and match these players with your usual rosters (or play them separately) to get the most out of your picks this week.

• Pat Perez – 80/1: Perez is in the midst of another solid season, and while he would never be considered in the top echelon of golfers, he has made over $16 million in his career and owns a PGA TOUR victory.  He already has five top-25s over 15 events this year and has consistently made the cut with visits to the weekend in 12 of those outings.  Perez is also riding high at the moment with a streak of four made cuts in which he has done no worse than 26th and although he only finished in a tie for 17th at THE PLAYERS last week, he was able to lead the field in both GIR (79.17%) and fairways hit (82.14%).  Perez made the cut at Quail Hollow in three of the last four years and showed the propensity to dominate when he led the field with 26 birdies and ranked sixth overall in 2011.  The Arizona State alum may not be one of the elite players this week, but he’s still playing great golf at the moment and should have no issues playing all four days competitively.
• George McNeill – 80/1: McNeill has also been picking up some steam lately, making the cut in each of the last five events with three top-20 showings in his last four outings.  He’s hit better than 67% of fairways in five of his last six tourneys and nailed 73.6% of GIR last week at THE PLAYERS.  While his odds are the same as Perez, there is plenty more risk, but also more reward, when selecting McNeill, as he has failed to play on the weekend in three of the past five visits to this course, but also owns two top-16 showings here in 2012 and 2013.  The 39-year-old has two career PGA TOUR victories to his name and could surprise many with his third this week.
• Lucas Glover – 100/1: Glover is a former champion at this event back when he was able to fend off Jonathan Byrd in a playoff after posting a 15-under behind four straight days of 69 or better golf.  Since then, his best showing was a 27th in 2013 which was sandwiched between two missed cuts.  He should be able to bounce back this year though, as he comes in with seven of his last eight rounds going under par and a total of five top-25 finishes on the season.  It is surprising that he is not performing much better as he ranks in the top-50 in plenty of important categories; GIR (72%, 4th on tour), strokes gained from tee-to-green (1.116, 15th on tour), total driving (131, 24th on tour), and proximity to hole (33’0”, 5th on tour).  At some point, if Glover continues to hit greens with this amount of accuracy, he’ll have a big week and it very well could be at the course where he earned his most recent of three PGA victories.
• Jonathan Byrd – 150/1: Facing Glover in the 2011 playoff was Jonathan Byrd who folded on the final day with a round of 72 and lost in the first playoff hole.  The difference is that he has continued to play strong golf here since then, making the cut in each of the last three seasons while posting two top-15s.  He hasn’t been able to get the ball rolling in 2015 though, and has now missed three of the past four cuts while making it past Friday in a mere 6-of-11 attempts overall.  Despite his ranking of 62nd at his last outing in New Orleans, Byrd showed some promise with a score of nine-under-par over the first three days before throwing up a 74 on Sunday.  He’s an established winner on tour, winning five PGA events in his career, and should be ready to turn it around at Quail Hollow this week.
• Jason Bohn – 200/1: Although Bohn has missed the cut in each of his last two tournaments, he had rattled off four straight visits to the weekend prior to that which included two 17th place showings.  He’s the eighth-most accurate driver (71.7%) on tour this year and as a result has hit 69.9% of GIR (13th on tour).  Obviously, these two stats don’t always mean a great outcome for a player, but he also has some excellent past experiences at this course with his best performance coming last year as he was just three shots off the lead at the conclusion of play, going 14-under on the par-fives and putting 1.492 strokes better than the field.  Bohn has the right fit for this course and should have one of his best showings of the year when all is said-and-done.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions?  Check out our full fantasy golf preview for the 2015 Wells Fargo Championship here.

Cover photo by Ed McDonald on flickr.