Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2016 Safeway Open

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

The 2016 Safeway Open Fantasy Sleeper Preview

A quick turnaround comes as the 2016-17 PGA TOUR season begins this week in beautiful Napa, California at the Safeway Open.

The new campaign starts up following an exciting year in which we were able to get a glimpse of the future while watching a come-from-behind victory from Rory McIlroy to win the FedExCup. He was followed by a slew of top names in Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Adam Scott, and Paul Casey.

While each year the elite with continue to dominate, there will always be those that have an unexpected huge year and the likes of Kevin Chappell, Russell Knox, Emiliano Grillo, and Si Woo Kim all finished the season in the top-17 of the FedExCup. This week the field will test Silverado Country Club; a par-72, 7,203-yard course which has hosted this tourney since 2015 and will be ripe for scoring as plenty of new golfers test the professional circuit.

This tournament was first established in 2007 and has been the kickoff to the season since the adjustment to the schedule in 2013. It seems that this is always a close week, having no winners taking home the trophy with more than a two stroke difference between them and the runners-up. Last year, rookie Emiliano Grillo kicked of what was to be a tremendous first year with a victory behind a score of 15 shots under par. He was able to defeat Kevin Na during a second playoff hole after hitting a huge putt on the eighteenth hole. It was the fourth time in this event’s history that a winner was decided in extra holes as Grillo became the second straight non-American to win here; joining Sang-Moon Bae from 2015.

The winning score has not differed much of the years, and in nine outings, the man at the top of the leaderboard when everything was said-and-done had a score between 14-under and 18-under with a handful of players (Cameron Beckman, Kevin Sutherland, Troy Matteson, Rickie Fowler, and Jamie Lovemark) holding that 18-under, 262 aggregate score record.

With the 2016-17 inaugural event being held after all of the big tournaments during the FedExCup playoffs and Ryder Cup, there is typically a lack of well known names who make an appearance. This week was supposed to mark the return of arguably the most dominant golfer of all-time, Tiger Woods, but it seems his head is ready before his body as he has withdrawn and will target the Hero World Challenge in early December as his first outing.

With Woods out of the picture, we can now focus on some big time talent heading to Napa attempting to get a head start in the FedExCup standings. Paul Casey will lead the way after finishing fifth in the final rankings and climbing to 12^th in the Official World Golf Rankings last season. He is followed by veteran Matt Kuchar and Phil Mickelson as well as a trio of youngsters in 2016 champion, Emiliano Grillo, Justin Thomas, and Jon Rahm.

When watching this event this week, there will be plenty of golfers out there who are just getting their first taste of the PGA TOUR as 38 players in the field are graduates of either Web.Com Tour or finals.

A new season brings new surprises and it will be interesting to see what the new wave of youngsters has in store for us while waiting for the next big thing like we’ve had the privilege of witnessing from the likes of Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, and Dustin Johnson who broke out into the top-tier over the last few years. With that said, here are a few fantasy “sleeper” names to watch out for this week that aren’t at the top of the oddsmakers lists.

[membership level=”0″]

The 2016 Safeway Open 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 Safeway Open 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.

Smylie Kaufman – Vegas Odds 66/1 – Kaufman had a nice first year as a professional, finishing 43^rd in the FedExCup standings while making it into the top-25 ten times over 28 events; including a victory at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He shined early on with a trip to the weekend at each of his first eight events and tends to feast when the field is slightly weaker, doing well in this tournament as well with a tie for 10^th after going 12-under on the par fives. He continued to maintain solid length off of the tee (299 yards per, 30^th on TOUR) and is great out of the sand with a 52.87% sand save percentage (60^th on TOUR) behind an average proximity to the hole from the beach of 8’2” (16^th on TOUR). Once the fields became deeper, Kaufman failed to impress, but he now has the opportunity to gain some confidence once again and show off his skills this week.

Grayson Murray – Vegas Odds 66/1 – Murray made his way to the PGA TOUR after an impressive campaign on the Web.Com TOUR, coming in second in the money list rankings with just over $400,000 in earnings after finishing in the top-10 at 47% (8-of-17) of the events. He finished strong with his first victory at the Children’s Hospital Championship, carding four rounds of 69 or better while coming into this event with seven such rounds; including two 64s at the Boise Open where he finished in third less than a month ago. His massive drive (319.4 yards per, 4^th on Web.Com Tour) and 1.719 putting average (5^th on Web.Com Tour) should allow him to compete with the best in the world right out of the gate and it would not come as a surprise if the 23-year-old who likes to get things done in his own way comes away from Napa the top rookie with the opportunity at much more.

Hudson Swafford – Vegas Odds 70/1 – Swafford seems to do well in early season events and has a nice track record at this course with a 17^th last season and an eighth in the first visit here during the 2014-15 campaign. There was some worry about the 29-year-old in the middle of the season last year as he went on a rough streak of six missed cuts over nine events; placing no better than 36^th in his three visits to the weekend during that stretch. Things turned around as the year came to a close, though, with Swafford earning a check in each of his last 13 tournaments including finishing with three top-25s. Similar to the first two men on this list, Swafford is strong off the tee, averaging 306.9 yards per drive (7^th on TOUR), and was able to convert those big drives into 68.80% GIR (22^nd on TOUR). Those stats alone should get him to the weekend as he looks to earn his first career top-three finish.

Chez Reavie – Vegas Odds 125/1 – Reavie is a very streaky player and is someone who week-to-week can finish either dead last or in the top-10. We think in an early season event such as this one, he will be in the latter. The 2015-16 season saw the 34-year-old get back into the FedExCup top-100 for the first time since coming in 10^th back in 2011 as he earned seven top-25s, two being in the top-10, over the course of 27 events played. He did some of his best work over the first few months, earning a tie for 17^th here after a Sunday 66 and proceeded to make the next five cuts. Over the rest of the year, he dotted the schedule with some nice outings at the Northern Trust Open (7^th), Shell Houston Open (7^th), Byron Nelson Classic (18^th), Canadian Open (14^th), and at the Barclays (31^st). He did fail to make it to the third FedExCup event, but proved that he is once again ready to be someone who can win on any given week. His accuracy both off of the tee (68.22%, 10^th on TOUR) and from the fairway (68.09%, 37^th on TOUR) will give him the floor to outperform much of the field and get a solid showing this week.

Tyrone Van Aswegen – Vegas Odds 125/1 – The results were impressive for Van Aswegen in his third full season on the PGA TOUR, posting a career-best 98^th in the FedExCup standings while earning his first two top-10s. One of those happened to be here where he nearly came away with a win after shooting 14-under and tying for third; just a shot behind Grillo and Na at the top. Over the four days he flip-flopped between scores of 69 and 68 behind 76.39% of greens hit in regulation and 1.273 strokes gained on the putting surface. The flat iron is not typically his best weapon, so his comfort with these greens should allow him to put up nicer numbers than we are typically used to as he goes for his third straight made cut at Silverado Country Club.

[/membership]

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

Cover photo via Instagram