Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – OHL Classic at Mayakoba

The Sleeper Report: Fantasy Golf Sleepers, Long Shots, and Undervalued Picks for the 2016 OHL Classic at Mayakoba

The 2016 Shriners Hospitals for OHL Classic at Mayakoba Sleeper Preview

The PGA TOUR heads “South of the Border” thsis week for the next tournament of the season; the OHL Classic in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.  The El Camaleon Golf Club has been the host to this event since 2009, with only two other years being played elsewhere as the tourney was first established in 2007.  The club features 7,039 yards of par 71 golf and will cross over numerous different landscapes along the coast.

The first handful of tournaments in this 2016-17 season have seen a few well known names in Justin Thomas, Brendan Steele, and Hideki Matsuyama taking home the trophy while also watching 26-year old rookie Cody Gribble win at the Sanderson Farms Championship and 47-year-old Rod Pampling come away victorious just last week.

There has been a mixed bag of well known players, journeymen, and youngsters who have laid claim to the trophy at the OHL Classic in the past, and last year Graeme McDowell became the first golfer from outside of the United States to do so.  It was not easy for the now 13-time winner between the PGA and European Tours as it took a playoff for the third time since 2011.  He had not been competitive since 2014, so the playoff between himself, Russell Knox, and Jason Bohn was a great surprise and he took advantage of the opportunity with a birdie on the first playoff hole.

McDowell will return once again this week in an attempt to become the first player to win in back-to-back years.  His final score of 18-under is right around the lines of what the victor here is able to post, and over the past five years, four of the five men to top the leaderboard had a score of 17-under or better with Harris English’s 21 shots under par in the 2014 season being the tournament record.

Joining McDowell in the field this week will be a weak group that lacks any real fire power from the best players in the world.  Topping the odds will be last year’s runner-up, Russell Knox, while youngsters Emiliano Grillo and Jon Rahm look to add to their already impressive resumes.  Jim Furyk is the most well known name hitting the links this week as he begins his 2016-17 campaign at the age of 46.  A few other household names in Keegan Bradley, Harris English, and Billy Horschel are expected to perform well based on their Vegas odds.

There could be another rather unusual name finishing on top again this week as the door is open for nearly anyone in this field to go home with a trophy.  Sleeper selections will play a huge roll in your DFS success this week so let’s review some golfers that may not have the best of odds, but have a great chance to do some real damage in Mexico.

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The OHL Classic at Mayakoba Fantasy Sleeper Report

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The OHL Classic at Mayakoba 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.

Cameron Smith – Vegas Odds 60/1 – Smith has been impressive during the early going of this season and through the first three tournaments has made each cut with an 11^th and 10^th in his last two after finishing the 2015-16 year with a runner-up in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship on the Web.Com Tour.  He has shot a 70 or better in all but one of his first 12 rounds and is already much improved over last year when he placed no better than 37^th in his first five events.  The Australian-born professional has gained strokes on the field putting in each of his first three tournaments and had a season-best 1.656 strokes gained with the flat iron last week in the Shriners Open.  At a mere 23-years-old, we could be seeing a big improvement out of Smith this year as we look for him to continue his early season run in the coming week.

Kyle Stanley – Vegas Odds 66/1 – Stanley comes into the OHL Classic in great form, following up his tie for 22^nd at the Safeway Open with a tie for seventh in the Shriners Open.  He carded double-digit under par numbers in each event and shot a 68 or better in each of his rounds last week.  Last year, Stanley was one of the more accurate players on Tour, hitting 64.54% of fairways (38^th on Tour) and 67.17% of GIR (54^th on Tour) while showing off that accuracy in the Safeway Open; pinpointing 80.56% of the greens in regulation.  He does have some experience here in the past with his best showing being a 13^th back in 2009, and he should have the opportunity to improve on that standing using his impressive accuracy at La Camaleon Golf Course.

Shawn Stefani – Vegas Odds 80/1 – Over his 97 career PGA events, Stefani has yet to tally a victory, but does have a pair of runner-ups to his name; both coming during the first half of the year.  One of those came at this course back in 2015 when he was able to shoot a 69 or better in each of his four rounds while nailing 72.22% of greens in regulation.  He is coming off a very poor 2015-16 season in which he finished 123^rd in the FedExCup standings, but has already matched his one top-10 from a year ago thanks to a tie for 10^th at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open just last week.  He once again had no trouble with getting on the dance floor (76.39% GIR) and will look to carry that momentum over to Playa del Carmen.  Last season, his short game earned him the most strokes over the field, ranking 49^th in scrambling (60.57%) and 73^rd in sand save percentage (51.49%).  His experience here should allow him an advantage over the weak entrants list and give him a chance at back-to-back impressive showings.

Jason Bohn – Vegas Odds 80/1 – Bohn is always a risky choice on any given week, and although he has not won a PGA sanctioned event since 2010, he has racked up seven runner-ups since and finished in the top-100 of the FedExCup each of the last three years.  Now, after missing the cut in three of his last six tournaments, Bohn has the opportunity to come back to this course which he has absolutely dominated in his last four attempts.  His first start here back in 2009 earned him a tie for 13^th which he followed up with a top-seven in each start from 2011-2013; including a third in 2011 and second in 2013.  He may not have played in this tourney over the last two years, but is prepared to come back to a venue where he is quite obviously comfortable and where he can shake of his recent woes.  The key to his success will be continuing to drive plenty of fairways (67.56% last year, 14^th on Tour) and convert those into scoring with his tremendous average proximity to hole (34’6” last year, 36^th on Tour).  Bohn has a ton of positive experiences here and should perform well once again.

Billy Hurley III – Vegas Odds 100/1 – Hurley broke through for his first career PGA TOUR win last year at the Quicken Loans National in a season in which he made 13-of-20 (65%) cuts and finished a career-best 55^th in the FedExCup standings.  With 114 PGA starts under his belt, Hurley has plenty of experience heading into this tournament against a less than stellar field and is currently riding a stretch of golf in which he has made it to the weekend in nine of his last 10 events; an eighth at the Deutsche Bank Championship being the best in that time.  He is one of the premier short game players on Tour, earning 0.433 stokes on the field with his putting last year (21^st on Tour) while ranking 32^nd in scrambling (61.63%).  Hurley has the tools to make the cut and could be a nice surprise towards the top of the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the 2016 OHL Classic at Mayakoba here.

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