Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – Sentry Tournament of Champions

2018 Sentry Tournament of Champions Fantasy Sleeper Report

A new year, a new season, and new opportunities to back some long odds golf winners!

Mind you, we might be looking at a classier sort to win this first event of 2019. Only the best need apply for the Tournament of Champions, which features many of the finest players on the planet. The roll-call of recent winners reads Johnson. D, Johnson. Z, Thomas, Spieth and Reed, so we aren’t necessarily expecting a sleeper to crush his way through the field.

That said, the early going does afford opportunities to those who have worked hard on their game during the festive break, rather than putting their feet up and enjoying the good life.

There’s a purse of $6.5m to play for too, as well as 500 FedExCup points, so this ain’t no holiday in the sun….even if the host location, Maui in Hawaii, might suggest as such!

It’s a beautiful place, and the Plantation Course at the Kapalua Resort is a sumptuous place to play your golf, too.

Billy Horschel of the United States plays his second shot on the 17th…

Billy Horschel of the United States plays his second shot on the 17th hole during the first round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic at El Camaleon Mayakoba Golf Course on November 08, 2018 in Playa del… Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

It boasts the unique distinction of being the PGA TOUR’s sole Par 73 layout, but this isn’t a Par 5 paradise. There are just four longer holes, as normal, with eleven Par 4s and just a trio of Par 3s. That should give punters a little insight into who they should be looking to back this week.

On the face of it the Plantation is a long old track at 7,452 yards as well, but in reality that isn’t necessarily the case. There are some severe elevation changes – indeed, the last two holes are played over almost sheer vertical drops – and you may just recall 12 months ago when Dustin Johnson pounded a 420-yard drive that almost ended up acing a Par 4.

DJ is our defending champion, taking the honors by some eight shots a year ago from Jon Rahm, and his love of coastal golf – and the wide-open fairways – confirm that this is a layout he would love to roll up and take with him everywhere. A fondness for putting on Bermuda greens helps, too.

One final note of guidance. This is an easy course, where only the traditional Hawaiian winds act as defense. Spieth won at -30 here back in 2016, with DJ at -24 just last year. There’s no place for grinding here, just lots of birdies will separate the winner from the rest of the 34-man field.

It’s a super-fun event to kick things off in 2019, so where does the smart money lie? Here are our Tournament of Champions sleepers.

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The Sentry Tournament of ChampionsFantasy Sleeper Report

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The Sentry Tournament of Champions Fantasy Sleeper Report

Brandt Snedeker – Vegas Odds 50/1 – With a best finish of T3 at Kapalua and a worst of T14, it’s clear that this is a track that Brandt Snedeker enjoys.

And why not: when you look at his resumé, it’s clear that windy, coastal tests suit him down to the ground.

Sneds is a winner at Harbour Town and Pebble Beach, after all, and has lost in a playoff down the road at Waialae in the Sony Open. A former champion of the Fiji International in conditions not all too dissimilar, Snedeker should prosper this week.

Chronologically speaking, he hasn’t been in great form lately, although you only have to go back eight starts to see his win at the Wyndham Championship and five appearances ago he was T2 in the Safeway Open.

Billy Horschel – Vegas Odds 50/1 – It’s something of a surprise that Billy Horschel hasn’t won in recent times.

He’s racked up a quartet of top-five finishes since the summer alone – two of those coming in FedExCup events, and there was also a T11 in China to add to the ledger.

We also like the T5 at Harbour Town earlier in the campaign, and wind should prove no obstacle: B-Ho has won in Texas before, and was a playoff loser at the RSM Classic in 2016.

Matt Kuchar – Vegas Odds 50/1 – Always the bridesmaid, never the bride was the accusation often leveled at Matt Kuchar, but he put that to bed by winning the Mayakoba Classic in his penultimate start.

That was his first triumph in four-and-a-half years in a PGA TOUR event, and who knows it might just spark a late career renaissance.

Maybe, maybe not, but we have no qualms about Kooch’s ability to play in the wind. A fine record at the British Open is a precursor to victories at Harbour Town and in the Honda Classic, where a meaty breeze is often known to blow.

And you might think Kuchar is one of those grinders better off when conditions are tricky. Perhaps, but then he did win that Mayakoba event in -22. There’s life in the old dog yet, it seems.

Charles Howell III – Vegas Odds 66/1 – For Kuchar, read Charles Howell III.

Chucky triumphed in the RSM Classic in his last start, seeing off young hopeful Patrick Rodgers to claim his first PGA TOUR title in eleven years.

It’s a surprise that a player of his abilities hasn’t won more, and as a Florida native raised in Augusta it should come as no shock to learn that his best efforts have typically come in breezy conditions.

Is this CHIII 2.0? We will have to wait and see, but a wind-affected event played on Bermuda should be a decent place for him to start.

Brice Garnett – Vegas Odds 250/1 – It will take a minor miracle for Brice Garnett to win this event.

That is represented in his price, but it’s not impossible that somebody who putts as well on Bermuda as Garnett can get the job done.

He’s in good form too, with a solo fifth at the correlating Mayakoba Classic followed by T37 at the RSM Classic. Not that impressive, you might think, but it did feature rounds of 64 and 65.

Garnett qualified for this event by winning the Punta Cana Championship, which was played in conditions not all that dissimilar to those expected in Maui.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for The Sentry Tournament of Champions here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2018-2019)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”2.63%” bar_text=”1 out of 38 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent=”18.42%” bar_text=”7 out of 38 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”42.11%” bar_text=”16 out of 38 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”12.50%” bar_text=”1 out of 8 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 8 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”78.95%” bar_text=”30 out of 38 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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