Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2018 CareerBuilder Challenge

The 2018 CareerBuilder Fantasy Sleeper Preview

Well, what a week that was. Missile launches, cameramen on strike and five-hole playoffs….Hawaii aloha!

The Sony Open is always an early season highlight, and this year’s edition did not disappoint. With numerous different players jockeying for position, at least fifteen players headed into Sunday with dreams of winning the title.

In the end, it came down to a showdown between Patton Kizzire, the OHL Classic champion who was in the mix all week, and James Hahn, who’s final round of 62 catapulted him up the leaderboard.

Patton Kizzire hits a bunker shot on the 18th hole during the final…

Patton Kizzire hits a bunker shot on the 18th hole during the final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club on January 14, 2018 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

Their playoff went one, two, three, four and then five holes of action, and ultimately it was Hahn who cracked after he missed a par putt on the seventeenth. After years of drought, Kizzire has now won two PGA TOUR titles in the space of three months!

The Hawaii jaunt is much loved by the players, but it’s back to mainland America this week: California to be precise, La Quinta to be even preciser (is that a word!?) as we enjoy the CareerBuilder Challenge.

This pro-am event is the first of the Californian Swing, and it is one of those tournaments where you sense almost anything can happen. The opening three rounds are played on rotation across three courses – the Stadium, the Nicklaus and La Quinta itself – before Sunday unfolds at the Stadium stretch. The amateurs try their best not to disrupt their pro partners from Thursday to Saturday, before those who make the cut battle it out for honors on the Sunday.

Those courses are similar in some ways – all Par 72 and ranging from 7,300 yards (Stadium) to 7,204 yards (Nicklaus) and 7,060 yards (La Quinta), and all Bermudagrass in construction. But the actual nature changes across the board: the Stadium course rates as the fourth hardest in the US, according to Golf Digest, but then La Quinta is considerably easier: Adam Hadwin recorded a round of 59 here 12 months ago.

And the Nicklaus? It’s a tree-lined affair with stunning rolling fairways, and while the landing zones off the tee are huge, the number of hazards lurking around the greens add a degree of complexity.

Nevertheless, we’re expecting a low score to win this week, so who are the sleepers to back at the CareerBuilder Challenge?

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2018 CareerBuilder Challenge Fantasy Sleeper Report

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The 2018 CareerBuilder Challenge 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.

Russell Knox – Vegas Odds 50/1 – The two-time PGA TOUR winner is starting to pick up form nicely, and having shown a penchant for Pete Dye layouts in the past there’s no reason why that upward trend can’t continue here.

T9 at the OHL Classic towards the end of 2017, the Scot has returned in fine fettle after the break to record T10 at the Sony Open, which was capped by a middle 36 holes of 64-65.

You can tell how confident Knox is by checking his stats with iron or wedge in hand, and he really shone in these two areas in Hawaii. His chipping in particular was impressive, and that should serve him well around this trio of tracks.

The 32-year-old has performed well at another Pete Dye layout, Harbour Town, on a couple of occasions, and that coupled with his current high spirits are reason enough to have him on side this week.

James Hahn – Vegas Odds 55/1 – “If I’m not coming out of the room with the trophy, it really feels like I was defeated out there. I’d rather lose by 100 than lose by 1. I’d rather miss the cut than lose in a playoff. It just doesn’t sit well with me. I feel really defeated right now.”

Those were the words of James Hahn in the immediate aftermath of his play-off defeat to Patton Kizzire last week, and while those are the disconsolate sentiments of the recently vanquished we do believe that, once the dust has settled, he will reflect on a fine weekend.

Four rounds in the 60s, capped by Sunday’s exceptional 62, are signs that the 36-year-old’s game is in fine working order, and that is confirmed by his tee-to-green and approach stats at Waialae, which were exceptional.

With tournament form of 20-38-4, the Berkeley graduate can go well once again.

Lucas Glover – Vegas Odds 75/1 – Another player who showed signs of life towards the end of 2017 was former US Open champion Lucas Glover.

He played well enough in the FedExCup events to make it through to the BMW Championship, where he finished T12, and in the wraparound campaign he recorded handy T7 and T15 finishes at the CIMB Classic and CJ Cup.

Glover should be even happier now he’s back on US soil, and with eight cuts made in nine starts in this tournament – a run which includes five top-20s – he has every reason to be bullish about his chances.

He’s bagged top-10s at other Pete Dye tracks too, including T6 at Sawgrass last year, plus a T11 finish in a pro-am outing at the AT&T in 2016.

Scott Piercy – Vegas Odds 80/1 – Flicking through the strokes gained stats from the Sony Open it was pleasing to see Scott Piercy seemingly finding his form.

The three-time PGA TOUR winner recorded +2.34 from tee-to-green and +1.32 on approach a Waialae, and if his irons are similarly dialed in this week he should compete well in what could be something of a birdie fest.

There’s little to write about in his current form, or in his stats, given that 2017 was hardly a vintage year for Piercy. But at his best this is a player with 27 top-ten finishes to his name, and last week he showed some signs of his premier play.

Vaughn Taylor – Vegas Odds 200/1 – The winner of the 2016 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is something of a moon shot this week, but there is enough evidence to suggest he can have a good run in California.

The fact he has recorded three top-10s in this event, albeit way back in the day, is a nice start, as is an eye-catching formline: the 41-year-old finished T10 at the Sanderson Farms Championship, T8 at the RSM Classic and opened up with a round of 64 at the Sony Open only to fall away from there.

He’s a former pro-am winner, a champion in California and at this kind of price he has to be worth a shot.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the 2018 CareerBuilder Challenge here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2017-2018)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”2.22%” bar_text=”1 out of 45 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent=”11.11%” bar_text=”5 out of 45 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”37.78%” bar_text=”17 out of 45 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 9 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”11.11%” bar_text=”1 out of 9 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”60.00″ bar_text=”27 out of 45 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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