Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – Valspar Championship

The Sleeper Report: Fantasy Golf Sleepers, Long Shots, and Undervalued Picks for the 2016 Valspar Championship

The Valspar Championship Fantasy Sleeper Preview

Following back-to-back weeks with Aussie Adam Scott claiming the top spot, the PGA TOUR now heads to the next event of the “Florida Swing” with the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor.  The Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort features 7,340 yards of par-71 golf and has been the host site for this full field event since its inception in 2000.

The field will be led by current OWGR No. 1 golfer, Jordan Spieth, who is not only the clear favorite this week, but is also the defending champion.  The youngster was able to jump into a playoff with Patrick Reed and Sean O’Hair last year, escaping with an amazing short game performance which was topped off by a 12-foot putt for the win.  He will once again be joined by Patrick Reed from the OWGR top-10 along with No. 6 Henrik Stenson.  The field is rounded out with another three players from the top-20, all of which hail from outside of the United States with No. 11 Danny Willett, No. 12 Branden Grace, and No. 18 Louis Oosthuizen in attendance this week.

With the success that others have had here in the past it comes as no surprise that a few of the better players from other countries are making the trek to Florida this week.  Three of the last seven seasons have resulted in a foreign player taking home the trophy at this tourney with the most recent being Australian John Senden in 2014.  This course will also bring plenty of challenges as the average score for the winner since 2008 is 10-under with three of those players finishing in single digits.  With the minimal scoring, the final is usually a close one, and in the past seven years, Kevin Streelman’s two-shot win in 2013 marks the only multiple shot victory.

This season has featured plenty of exciting events and has seen many of the top names showing their best talents, so it should be fun to see if this is the week that one of the underdogs comes out and brings home the big check.  Below are some of our favorite “sleepers” to watch out for as they attempt to do just that in sunny Florida.

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The 2016 Valspar Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

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The Valspar Championship 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.

Kevin Streelman – Vegas Odds 55/1: Streelman has been an all-or-nothing type of golfer this year, making cuts in 6-of-9 opportunities while getting into the top-25 four times.  Three such finishes have come over his last four outings as he was able to follow up his CareerBuilder Challenge tie for 11th with a solo third at the Farmers Insurance Open and most recently a tie for 17th at the AT&T Pro-Am.  He has hit better than 70% of GIR in all but one of his nine events and currently ranks second on TOUR in the category (75.19%).  To make it work this week Streelman will need to continue hitting a ton of greens as his short game has some flaws, but he knows the Copperhead course well as evidenced by two top-10s, including a victory (2013) in the last four years.

Sung-Hoon Kang – Vegas Odds 80/1: Kang showed little in his first stint on the PGA TOUR, going 18-for-50 (36%) in cuts made over the 2011-2012 seasons before playing 58 events on the Web.Com TOUR.  He’s come back a much matured player, though, making 6-of-9 cuts (67%) this season and has really found his groove of late.  The 28-year-old, Korean-born professional has torched the last three courses visited, finishing at 17th or better each time with a total score of 19-under-par at the AT&T Pro-Am, Northern Trust Open, and Honda Classic.  Kang isn’t terribly impressive off the tee, but ranks 50th in strokes-gained from tee-to-green and currently holds the 37th best scoring average (70.405) among PGA TOUR players.  Despite his recent play, Kang has not garnered much fantasy attention (yet) and could be a dark horse this week.

Chez Reavie – Vegas Odds 100/1: Reavie has the ability to put together big weeks a few times a year as seen by his single career victory and runner-up finisheds.  But between 2014 and 2015, the Arizona State University graduate had played in a mere 21 events with just nine visits to the weekend (43%).  However, he seems to have gotten back on track this season, and is a very solid 8-for-10 in cuts made while jumping into the top-25 on three occasions.  The 34-year-old is also coming off his best performance of the year, grabbing a solid 7th place finish at the Northern Trust Open thanks to three rounds of sub-70 golf.  He currently ranks in the top-50 in plenty of important stats, including driving accuracy (68.39%, 17th on TOUR), total strokes gained (0.742, 37th on TOUR), and scrambling (69.34%, 3rd on TOUR).  With this being his most consistent year to date, look for Reavie to have a few more nice weeks coming up.

Colt Knost – Vegas Odds 175/1: Knost has not blown anyone out of the water with his play this year, but he is a perfect 10-for-10 at making it to the weekend, and when you get to play so much golf you are due for a big performance.  Of those 10 weekend visits, Knost has turned in three top-25s with his best outing coming at the Farmers Insurance Open where he managed a tie for 16th.  His last few visits here have not been pretty though, sandwiching a 70th between two missed cuts.  But the 30-year-old has hit 73.45% of fairways (2nd on TOUR) and is putting at an elite level (0.712 strokes-gained putting, 11th on TOUR), showing that if he can get on the greens in regulation more often, he could really pull off a big week.  His short game and accuracy will certainly be there, so look for Knost to once again see Sunday with a chance at another top-25 or better in Palm Harbor.

Vaughn Taylor – Vegas Odds 200/1: Taylor has not played much this year, hitting the links just four times on the PGA TOUR thus far, but he has put up some nice numbers in that time.  He is 2-for-4 in cuts made, and really made his two visits to the weekend count with a tie for 20th at the Sanderson Farms Championship and posting his third career victory when he shot 17-under-par at the AT&T Pro-Am in mid-February.  The veteran does not have the firepower to shock and awe the crowd, but he has hit fairways at a 71.26% clip (good for 7th on TOUR) and gets on the green in regulation 73.15% of the time (9th on TOUR).  His sample size is limited compared to others with a mere four tournaments under his belt for this season, but those stats have led him to having the 14th-best scoring average (70.100) among his peers.  It is another big long shot to expect Taylor to win here this week, but the 40-year-old should be able to outperform his huge odds and do well enough to earn you some coin.

Need a few more options to fill up your roster?  Remember to check out our new fantasy predictions stats page for Golficity Predicted Fantasy Points, Price Per Fantasy Point, and more info on every player in this week’s field!

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions?  Check out our full fantasy preview for the 2016 Valspar Championship here.

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