Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2020 Shriners Hospital for Children Open

The Shriners Hospital for Children Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

In the 80 years or so that the PGA TOUR has been up and running, can any player honestly say that they have won an event while putting with their eyes closed?

Sergio Garcia’s triumph at the Sanderson Farms Championship may well be a first for the Tour, and you suspect it might be the last too given the bizarre concept of not looking at the target you are aiming for.

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However, it worked for the Spaniard in Jackson, whose exceptional ball-striking display was rewarded – by hook or by crook – by a putting effort that was just about good enough to get the job done. It was Garcia’s first PGA TOUR win in more than three years, and another triumph for an elder statesman of the game to follow the likes of Jim Herman and Stewart Cink lately.

Looking at the field for this week’s event, the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, you suspect that the age profile of the winner might just be lower than that. There’s Bryson DeChambeau, fresh from his US Open triumph, plus the likes of Colin Morikawa, Tony Finau, Patrick Cantlay, Matthew Wolff and more besides – all young studs looking to add another trophy to their collection.

That’s not to say that an older head can’t prevail nor a long odds, surprise winner – Ben Martin (175/1), Smylie Kaufman (250/1) and Rod Pampling (275/1) have all converted here in the last six years. Even defending champion, Kevin Na, was a 70/1 shot a year ago.

So why is this event prone to a shock winner? It’s simple: TPC Summerlin is one of the easiest courses on the PGA TOUR rotation. So, there’s no major advantage to those who drive the ball peerlessly, and even iron game wizards find their USP negated by the fact that the vast majority of the field will be approaching these huge Bentgrass greens from the short grass.

And so pretty much everyone has a chance of shooting low numbers…as long as their putter heats up, that is.

Watch out for the closing four holes – they up the ante somewhat, but otherwise this is a jolly in the Nevada sun where anything can, and historically has, happened.

With that in mind, who makes the cut for our Shriners Hospitals for Children sleeper shortlist?

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The Shriners Hospital for Children Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

Cameron Davis – 66/1 – It wasn’t to be for Cameron Davis at the Sanderson Farms Championship, with the joint 54-hole leader having to settle for a T6 finish.

But that is another step in the journey of this fine young talent, and what you often find with these young guns is that once they have had a taste of life at the business end of a PGA TOUR event, they are eager to get back into the mix as soon as possible.

And there’s no reason why Davis can’t go in again – his long hitting, accurate putting game is tailormade for a venue where making birdies is an absolute necessity.

Kevin Na – 70/1 – We can debate the current vs course form argument until the sun goes down – there is no definitive answer, but it’s clear that Kevin Na loves playing at TPC Summerlin and that’s good enough for us.

Two wins and a runners-up finish showcase his complete authority over the layout, and while his recent form has not been up to the mark we know that Na has the game to pop up from nowhere.

And, lest we forget, he’s a four-time winner on the PGA TOUR with three of those coming since the start of the 2018 season – the point being is that his backers will occasionally get an exceptional reward for their investment.

Charley Hoffman – 80/1 – A veteran looking to emulate the likes of Stewart Cink and Jim Herman in rolling back the years, Charley Hoffman has been making clear exponential gains since golf’s return.

T7 at the Workday Charity Open, the Hoff has also posted T13 and T14 in the Northern Trust and Corales Punta Cana Championship respectively.

But arguably his finest work of the spell came last week at the Sanderson Farms, where his T6 finish was franked by an excellent performance off the tee and on the greens – both will stand him in very fine stead at TPC Summerlin.

Keegan Bradley – 100/1 – Maybe we’re getting a little carried away with the narrative of the ‘PGA TOUR partying like it’s 2011’ with all these crazy winners, but let’s face it Keegan Bradley looked good value for the win at the halfway stage of the Sanderson Farms Championship.

He drifted away to T4 in the end, but notably his putting was on point – he gained strokes with the flat stick in three of his four rounds.

With a top-10 at TPC Summerlin to his name, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Bradley can go well again this week – if that putting improvement holds, he has the all-round game to make some excellent low scores around this stretch.

Francesco Molinari – 150/1 – Let’s face it, we’d be kicking ourselves if this proven major winner slipped under the radar and won this week and we hadn’t wagered on him.

The Italian has endured a wretched 2020 and at times his game has completely deserted him, but some time away from the coalface of professional golf may just have done his career the world of good.

We try not to back players based on former glories, but it’s not as if we were small boys sat on our grandfather’s knee the last time Molinari won – his 2018 triumph at the British Open was followed by victory at the Arnold Palmer early in 2019, and that was followed a few weeks later by a genuine assault on the green jacket at The Masters.

We’re starting to see some older heads thrive after the lockdown period, and Molinari is more than a match for Cink, Swafford, Herman and co who have already won in a crazy couple of months.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for Shriners Hospital for Children Open here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2020-2021)

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