Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2018 Genesis Open

Thomas Pieters – Vegas Odds 50/1 – History dictates that form at Riviera is key to predicting strong performances here, and that is evident from the number of repeat winners at this stretch as well as the number of champions that had recorded at least one top-20 at the track prior to lifting the trophy: DJ, Mickelson, Bubba, Aaron Baddeley and Bill Haas all ticking that box.

So we can be relatively bullish about the chances of Thomas Pieters this week. The Belgian won the 2012 NCAA Championship here, and in his first senior-level appearance at Riviera finished T2 behind Johnson; a performance pepped up by a final round of 63.

Pieters has been playing reasonably well of late with T5 and T11 in the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship and Turkish Airlines Open respectively, and anybody who finishes inside the top-five of two WGC events and The Masters as part of their debut season in the US deserves huge credit.

Pat Perez – Vegas Odds 55/1 – Perez has a long history at Riviera having played this event for the past 12 consecutive years, so it is clearly a layout he enjoys.

And the fruits of his labor were nearly clear for all to see 12 months ago as he sat T2 after 36 holes and T5 after 54, before eventually slumping to a T22 finish.

The basic mechanics of Perez’s game are in place to challenge at this set-up – he ranks third for Driving Accuracy, sixth for Greens in Regulation, and when we back sleepers we want to be putting our hard-earned cash behind guys who can get the job done when in the mix: Perez has won twice on Tour in little over a year.

Charl Schwartzel – Vegas Odds 66/1 – The Kikuyu grass that bedecks Riviera is an interesting one. It hasn’t necessarily handed an advantage to the South Africans, where the grass is native to, even if Ernie Els and Rory Sabbatini have enjoyed plenty of success here.

But playing in familiar conditions should suit Schwartzel and co, and the fact that this former Masters winner has a pair of top-fives to his name at Riviera is tough to ignore.

Last season was a rarity for the 33-year-old in that he didn’t lift a trophy anywhere worldwide – the first year in quite some time he hasn’t got his hands on some silverware, and given that he is content with life on his farm in South Africa when he does travel you can rest assured that Schwartzel is motivated for the task in hand.

Finished third at Augusta in just his fourth strokeplay event on mainland USA in 2017, so a lack of recent form is not a concern.

Martin Laird – Vegas Odds 66/1 – The Scot is your classic horses-for-courses type player, who typically shows his best form at roughly this time of the year.

Back to back top-10s at the Phoenix Open have followed a pair of top-10 finishes in three starts in the Farmers Insurance Open, and this is a trend that has informed the three-time PGA TOUR winner’s career so far. So, with a formline of 8-11 at Riviera in the past two years, we have every confidence that another strong showing is imminent.

The recent trend has been for former PGA TOUR champions to get back into the winner’s circle after a lengthy absence, with Gary Woodland and Ted Potter Jr both ending long droughts of late. Perhaps Laird can make it a hat-trick at a layout he knows well.

James Hahn – Vegas Odds 90/1 – Hahn picked up his maiden PGA TOUR title here in 2015 (the Northern Trust Open as it was known back then), and so Riviera is a venue that will clearly be close to his heart.

The 36-year-old spent his college years at Berkeley and is still affiliated to the Metropolitan GC in Oakland, so we shouldn’t be surprised that Hahn often saves his best golf for California.

He played some decent golf at Pebble Beach last week, and indeed his stats suggest somebody who is striking the ball better than his T26 finish: +2.10 from tee-to-green and +1.08 with putter in hand indicates a decent performance – an opening round of 74 at Spyglass Hill derailing a good effort from there-on-in (68-70-68).