Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – RBC Canadian Open

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

The RBC Canadian Open Fantasy Sleeper Preview

After the majesty of yet another exhilarating Open Championship, the RBC Canadian Open once again has its work cut out in emulating the heroics of Jordan Spieth and co.

If you didn’t manage to catch the 23-year-old’s masterclass in a) how to mess up a three-hole lead heading into the final nine holes of a major, and b) how to regain it with the most breath-taking display of golf under pressure you are ever likely to see, then do have a scout around online and try and find it. We are unlikely to see a streak of holes as mind-blowing as Spieth’s from 14-17 in quite some time.

So he waltzes off home to Texas with the Claret Jug under his arm and the notion that he could complete the major Grand Slam as soon as early August, when the PGA Championship rolls into Quail Hollow.

Matt Kuchar, gallant runner-up to Spieth’s pyrotechnics, will be gutted that he didn’t manage to claim his first major title, but in truth he did very little wrong at Royal Birkdale. He has an immediate opportunity to cash in on his recent good form at this week’s event in Canada, where he joins the likes of Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Charley Hoffman, and Ian Poulter in making the trip from Liverpool to Ontario.

There they will be joined by many of the players who participated in the Barbasol Championship last week; the PGA TOUR’s very own Sideshow Bob trailing in the wake of the British Open. Grayson Murray won’t mind as he clinched his maiden tour win there, and he is making the trip to Canada along with many of his combatants there.

When they check their bags into Glen Abbey, Oakfield, they will be greeted by golf course that offers a stern test of credentials. Yes, scores have been pretty low here in recent years, but if the small greens firm up – as they are likely too given the hot weather currently governing the area – it’s a real task getting your ball in close proximity to the flag.

There are a few different ways to tame this stretch: lay up from the tee and give yourself every chance with an iron, or give it a whack and hopefully have a wedge in from the short stuff to give yourself every chance of staying in control. Defending champion Jhonattan Vegas chose the latter option, and it worked a treat as he saw off competition from a high-quality trio in Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, and Martin Laird by a single stroke.

Vegas joins an eclectic list of former champions of this event, which includes RBC ambassadors Jason Day and Brandt Snedeker, the occasionally excellent Scott Piercy and then a host of largely unfancied picks: Tim Clark, Carl Pettersson, and Nathan Green, among others.

So, the good news for sportsbook punters is that this event has every chance of serving up a long odds winner. But who? Let’s have a look!

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The RBC Canadian Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

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The RBC Canadian 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.

Keegan Bradley – Vegas Odds 60/1 – With his exceptional talent off the tee, Keegan is the kind of player who really should be winning tournaments. He is a three-time PGA TOUR champion, but hasn’t finished inside the top-three of an event since 2014.

If that sounds like a burn on Bradley then it is, kinda. For a player ranking first on tour for Total Driving, 30th for Greens in Regulation, 40th for SG: T2G and 4th for Par 4: Birdie or Better Leaders, there really is no reason why he doesn’t win.

Perhaps it’s a psychological thing? Apart from a lobotomy there’s not much can be done about that, but we’re willing to keep faith in a player who has a pair of top-ten finishes to his name in his last three starts (T8 at the Travelers, T5 at the Quicken Loans) and for whom seven of his last nine rounds have been 70 or lower.

Patrick Rodgers – Vegas Odds 60/1 – What a curate’s egg Patrick Rodgers is. He’s missed more cuts than he’s made this season (10/23), and yet when he’s on song the 25-year-old is a live threat in any tournament.

That’s proven by the fact that of the ten cuts he has made, six have resulted in top-25 finishes ad three top-10s. He was T4 in our correlating event, the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, and then last time out he finished second outright at the John Deere Classic.

There’s risk attached to backing him, but Rodgers has rewarded his followers already this season.

Ricky Barnes – Vegas Odds 75/1 – Whether Barnes’ recent upturn in form leads to anything spectacular remains to be seen, but ahead of a trip to Glen Abbey – where he has finished T5 and T11 in the past two years – that upswing must be respected.

A run of 15-55-MC-17-35-MC-22-18 shows a certain level of consistency, and at courses he enjoys Barnes has thrived of late.

His raw stats are, to look at, terrifying for any prospective backer, but the story lies within the numbers. He ranked sixth for SG: T2G at the Quicken Loans recently, and at the Barbasol he ranked 16th and 11th for Driving Accuracy and Greens in Regulation respectively.

Sung Kang – Vegas Odds 110/1 – The young Korean has enjoyed a pretty good campaign on the PGA TOUR by anybody’s standards, and while compatriot Si-Woo Kim has left him in the shade somewhat Kang can make a breakthrough of sorts this week.

He has made 12 of his last 14 cuts, a run which features top-10s at the Houston Open (2nd), Texas Open (T6), and Quicken Loans (T5), and a near as damn it at the RBC Heritage event (T11), and his weekend efforts at the Open Championship yielded a fine return on T44 and a final round of 66 – only bettered on the day by five other players.

Long and straight enough off the tee, Kang ranks 13th on tour for Par 5: Birdie or Better Leads, and if he can cut out the majority of those silly mistakes he will expect another high finish in Canada.

Steve Wheatcroft – Vegas Odds 175/1 – For reasons known only to him, Steve Wheatcroft seems to love playing at Glen Abbey.

He finished T5 here last year, and his third round of 64 was the best by two clear strokes. The 39-year-old was only repeating a similar effort 12 months earlier, when his opening salvo of 66 was again the best of the day.

The stats and the form are absolutely nothing to shout about in truth, but a T15 at Barbasol last time out is a handy angle in to a tournament he clearly enjoys.

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

Cover photo via Instagram