Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – THE PLAYERS Championship

2018 PLAYERS Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

There are various landmark points in the PGA TOUR season, and with its May time slot THE PLAYERS Championship is one of the season’s early highlights.

A fantastically prestigious event in its own right, which at awarded more prize money than any other to the winner, THE PLAYERS now marks the start of summertime and offers a tantalizing glimpse of the schedule ahead which includes three majors in the space of four months.

A former PLAYERS Championship winner, Jason Day, will head to the legendary TPC Sawgrass in high spirits after claiming a resounding triumph in last week’s Wells Fargo Championship. The Australian surged ahead on Saturday and never really looked like relinquishing his grasp on the trophy despite a bit of a wobble on the back nine on Sunday.

Jason Day of Australia reacts following his par putt on the 18th…

Jason Day of Australia reacts following his par putt on the 18th green during the final round to win the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club on May 6, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

He and the rest of the 150-man or so field will be looking to tame Sawgrass, the famous Pete Dye design, that features the renowned island green on the seventeenth. But there is much more to this golf course than a hole that has been copied countless times but never bettered.

Most of the world’s best will tee it up at Ponte Vedra, and a rollcall of winners that features Day, Rickie Fowler, Martin Kaymer, Tiger Woods and Matt Kuchar doesn’t necessarily indicate that a longshot sleeper will get the job done.

But then there’s the case of Si-Woo Kim, the 250/1 jolly who the bookmakers – and many pundits, for that matter – simply did not see winning.

So perhaps we can have confidence that a sleeper could take care of business at THE PLAYERS Championship. Here’s five to follow:

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THE PLAYERS Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

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THE PLAYERS Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

Francesco Molinari – Vegas Odds 66/1 – It’s something of an ‘obvious’ play given that the Italian has notched four top-10s at Sawgrass but the sings from Molinari were so encouraging at the Wells Fargo Championship.

Three rounds under par is no mean feat at the tough Quail Hollow, and Molinari showed no sign of a recurrence of the wrist injury which has derailed him of late.

Most pleasing was the fact he ranked first for Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green at the Wells Fargo; a sure sign that somebody is striking the ball nicely.

That, plus a decent hand at Sawgrass in the past, gives Molinari’s supporters plenty to be excited about this week.

Ian Poulter – Vegas Odds 66/1 – ‘Poults’ has got his mojo back, and at a course that suits his short and steady game we’re more than happy to get involved.

A winner at the Houston Open, he followed up with T7 at our correlating Harbour Town layout and a steady turn in The Masters, so all is well in the Englishman’s camp.

Twice a runner-up at Sawgrass, you sense that will put the bit between Poulter’s teeth this week; he will be looking to right those wrongs.

Emiliano Grillo – Vegas Odds 80/1 – The Argentine’s good form is travelling quite nicely at the moment. He contended at the European Tour’s Indian Open, before returning to US soil to finish T3 at the Houston Open, T16 at the RBC Heritage and T9 at Quail Hollow.

Excellent off the tee (ranking 12th for Total Driving), Grillo naturally finds plenty of greens as a consequence, but unlike many tee-to-green merchants he can actually putt quite well on his day too.

He was T11 here 12 months ago, and it’s not hard to see why: the precision play required to succeed at this stretch suits him down to the ground.

Billy Horschel – Vegas Odds 90/1 – The Florida native has sort of ‘middling’ form at Sawgrass (MC-28-13-26-MC), but at least he heads home full of confidence this time around.

The former FedExCup champion has really found something lately, with T5 at the RBC Heritage and T11 at the Texas Open backed by a fifth PGA TOUR title last time out at the Zurich Classic.

Yes, that was a team event, but it’s fair to say he did the lion’s share of the work alongside Scott Piercy; especially on the greens, where he seems to have recaptured his best form lately.

Zach Johnson – Vegas Odds 90/1 – The formbook suggests that Zach Johnson is on the verge of something excellent, and that has been backed up by the player himself who has been effusive with praise for his new club and ball set-up.

He has made the weekend in 13/13 starts this term, and finished inside the top-25 in eight of those. It is just going to take all aspects of his game to click for the former British Open champion to add to his haul of titles.

Perhaps Sawgrass comes as an ideal time for him then, as it’s a layout he clearly enjoys. There’s 11 cuts made in 12 appearances, with five top-20s and a second place to his credit.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for THE PLAYERS Championship here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2017-2018)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”1.67%” bar_text=”2 out of 120 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent=”9.17%” bar_text=”11 out of 120 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”28.33%” bar_text=”34 out of 120 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”4.16%” bar_text=”1 out of 24 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”4.16%” bar_text=”1 out of 24 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”61.67″ bar_text=”74 out of 120 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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