Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – The WGC-Bridgestone Invitational

2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Fantasy Sleeper Report

The 2018 PGA TOUR season is reaching critical mass. This week we’ve got a WGC event, then a major (PGA Championship), then the Wyndham Championship, then four FedExCup events and finally the Ryder Cup.

It’s going to be an enthralling, thrill-a-minute ride to the final curtain.

First things first, there’s a $10,000,000 purse up for grabs at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, as well as 550 FedExCup points. You may remember this as the ‘Tiger Open’ – an event that the big cat has won eight times….and counting.

It goes without saying that he enjoys the Firestone Golf & Country Club then, although how much Tiger 2.0 will enjoy this driver-heavy layout remains to be seen.

This is one of the longest Par 70 courses on the PGA TOUR at 7,440 yards, with seven Par 4s measuring more than 465 yards and the sixteenth hole, a mammoth 660-yard Par 5 which eared the moniker ‘the monster’ from no less a judge than Arnold Palmer.

A course scenic view of the first hole during the final round of the…

A course scenic view of the first hole during the final round of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club on August 6 in Akron, Ohio. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

Oh, and if you thought the difficulty ended there, the Bentgrass/Poa greens run like lightning at 13 on the stimpmeter.

There is rain in the forecast, however, which should help to soften the greens somewhat. But the flipside is that the course will play longer; sorry Tiger, you might be needing that big stick in Ohio this week.

Being a WGC event there is a high-quality field in town, with 29 of the top-30 in the FedExCup standings and the majority of the world’s top-50 ranked players all battling it out for some handy cash and confidence ahead of the final major of the year.

From Dustin Johnston to Justin Thomas, Francesco Molinari to Jon Rahm, andd Rory McIlroy to Jordan Spieth, all the major players are in Akron in the battle for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational title.

So who makes our roster of sleepers for the event?

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The WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Fantasy Sleeper Report

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The WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Fantasy Sleeper Report

Bubba Watson – Vegas Odds 50/1 – Bubba Watson loves trees. If that sounds like the start of some kind of demonic confession then don’t be alarmed: we’re talking about the trees that tend to line Bubba’s favorite golf courses.

A two-time Masters champion at Augusta, the 39-year-old has won already this season at Riviera with its tight driving lines, Austin Country Club and TPC River Highlands, and it’s almost as if his eye tunes in better when he has foliage to work with.

That perhaps explains why his Links record is so poor for a player of his ability, and why a missed cut at Carnoustie does little to put us off Bubba this week.

Xander Schauffele – Vegas Odds 50/1 – Another player who seems to enjoy the confines of a tree-lined fairway is Xander Schauffele, whose maiden PGA TOUR win came at a track with tons of them: the Old White TPC, home of the Greenbrier Classic.

As if to reiterate how good a player he is, Schauffele finished second in the tree-less British Open last time out, and despite playing in the final group with Jordan Spieth he managed to hold his nerve and secure a share of the runners’-up payout.

The 24-year-old finished T13 on debut here 12 months ago, and after his classy showing at Carnoustie he will be looking to improve on that here.

Patrick Cantlay – Vegas Odds 55/1 – There are plenty of supporters of this fine young talent out there, and Cantlay enhanced his reputation yet further by securing a top-20 finish in his first look at a British Open.

His results this season are sublime, with 15 made cuts from 17 starts and a top-10 ratio of around 30% of his appearances. That shows how consistent (and versatile his golf game) is.

An outstanding tee-to-green merchant, you sense that Cantlay will win a tournament like this one day; so why not after a run of six top-25 finishes in just eight starts?

Webb Simpson – Vegas Odds 66/1 – Golf fans tend to have short memories; mainly because the game moves so fast with a tournament every week without fail.

So Webb Simpson’s extraordinary win at TPC Sawgrass in THE PLAYERS Championship has largely been forgotten; even though it was the second biggie of his career following his US Open victory.

For big events like this he often springs to mind then, and his fine record in important tournaments has continued lately with T10 and T12 in the US and British Opens respectively.

Back on US parkland territory, punters have every right to expect a decent turn from the 32-year-old.

Adam Scott – Vegas Odds 80/1 – There are few players in world golf who can rival Adam Scott for form at Firestone.

The Aussie hasn’t missed a trip in 12 years to this part of Ohio, and he has been rewarded handsomely: champion in 2012, Scott has recorded four other top-10s here.

Has he still got the hunger and desire to scrap it out for a win? That is open to debate, but if backing golfers was a recruitment-style process then Scott gets the job based on his resumé.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for WGC-Bridgestone Invitational here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2017-2018)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”1.67%” bar_text=”3 out of 180 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent=”9.44%” bar_text=”17 out of 180 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”27.78%” bar_text=”49 out of 180 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”2.78%” bar_text=”1 out of 36 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”2.78%” bar_text=”1 out of 36 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”63.33″ bar_text=”114 out of 180 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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Cover photo via Instagram