Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – PGA Championship

2020 PGA Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

The business end of the PGA TOUR season is shaping up rather nicely.

The heavyweights are hitting form, and one – Justin Thomas – deposed another (Jon Rahm) at the top of the world rankings after just one week when winning the WGC St Jude Invitational last week.

He rode his luck, but champions get things done and you can’t fault JT for his flawless wedge game after he got a lucky bounce from a cart path.

And that was enough to see off the charge of another major player, Brooks Koepka, who ominously seemed to round into form. He is looking for a rare slice of history as a PGA Championship three-peater, and his ball-striking last week suggested that is a distinct possibility.

The best in the world will be in San Francisco this week for the year’s first major, with Tiger Woods returning to the scene of his triumph of 2005 when he won the WGC American Express.

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But TPC Harding Park, our host, has changed somewhat since then, and the players are in for a tough old challenge this week – especially if the early weather forecast is accurate.

The fairways are narrow here at the best of times, but when you factor in that the rough has been left to grow up to four inches, according to some reports, then the landing areas will be even thinner than usual.

So you’re hitting out of the very long grass, and then you’re attempting to attack greens that are protected by some sizable bunkers predominantly at the front of the surface. How many players will overshoot this week?

Huge cypress trees block out some routes to the pin too, and then we have the wind – predictions suggest the breeze could reach a trouser leg shuddering 20 mph.

Last, but by no means least, we anticipate the Bentgrass/Poa greens to run super quick what with the windy, dry conditions.

So all in all, we should have a major standard challenge to look forward to this week, and hopefully that should lead to a fascinating leaderboard come Sunday evening.

And if conditions are adverse, it greatly increases the chances of there being a long-odds winner, and so in that spirit who makes our shortlist of PGA Championship 2020 sleepers?

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PGA Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

Tyrrell Hatton – 50/1 – This should be a fantastic course and set of conditions in which Tyrrell Hatton can thrive this week.

The Englishman has a touch of class to his short game, and a former two-time winner of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship clearly has plenty of quality when it comes to chipping onto fast greens.

Hatton is comfortable in the wind too, as he showed in his maiden PGA TOUR win at Bay Hill earlier in the season. He gutted out a winning mark of -4 there, and fighting spirit will come in very hand this week no doubt.

Jordan Spieth – 60/1 – We were expecting more from Jordan Spieth at TPC Southwind, although conditions there were somewhat fairer than those expected this week.

The stronger the wind and the tougher the grind the more than Spieth should come to the fore, and even if he drives the ball badly, well, he shouldn’t be too disadvantaged given that many other players will miss fairways too.

His prowess out of the rough and from within 100 yards of the green are what bring the former Masters champion onto the radar once more, and if the winning score is single digits under par he stands a great chance of getting into the mix.

Shane Lowry – 90/1 – It was a typical performance from the Irishman at TPC Southwind. Solid enough from tee to green, he was excellent around the greens to maximize his scoring opportunities.

And that’s what you get from Lowry, who is a fantastic scrambler who thrives when the conditions get tougher – that comes from an upbringing on the Links.

If the wind does get up this week, few players will be in a position to cope as well as Lowry is, and as a major champion already we know he has the fortitude to get the job done.

Bubba Watson – 100/1 – It would be typical Bubba to come and win the PGA Championship on the back of middling form.

But his shot shaping off the tee could be a real advantage-maker at TPC Harding Park, and for a Floridan he does have a surprisingly good record on the west coast.

Bubba will need to be at his scrambling best to have a chance this week, however he was excellent when signing off with a 66 at TPC Southwind, and this is a guy who knows how to take care of business when he gets into contention.

Phil Mickelson – 100/1 – If Phil Mickelson was to win the PGA Championship this week, he would become the oldest major champion in history.

You might argue that should count him out, but if Lefty is going to win big anywhere you suspect it will be on Bentgrass/Poa and it will almost certainly be in his spiritual home on the west coast.

Mickelson was a sneaky T2 at the WGC St Jude last week, closing out with rounds of 66 and 67 and actually playing some really good golf.

Even more bizarrely, TPC Harding Park should actually suit him – yes, he will miss lots of fairways, but then so will most of the field, and his short game mastery will actually give him an edge on many. In tough conditions, Phil’s wedge game could stand him in excellent stead.

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

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2019-2020)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=2.96%” bar_text=”4 out of 140 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “6.67%” bar_text=”9 out of 140 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”30.37%” bar_text=”41 out of 140 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=7.40%” bar_text=”2 out of 28 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 28 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”65.18%” bar_text=”88 out of 140 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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