Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2020 Vivant Houston Open

The Vivant Houston Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

These early days in the 2020-21 season have been stellar times for sleeper plays and long odds picks, and Brian Gay is the latest addition to the roll of honor.

The veteran was priced at a princely 250/1 for the Bermuda Championship, and that’s not a surprise given his recent form of nine missed cuts from twelve starts.

But Gay showed the merits of experience in the heat of battle, downing Wyndham Clark in a playoff to land his backers an extraordinary payday.

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Will we similar at the Houston Open this week? It’s certainly possible at a golf course where a hot week on and around the greens could prove pivotal, although some of the big names may have something to say about that.

Dustin Johnson makes his first start since his positive COVID-19 result, and he will be looking to find some form ahead of the trip to Augusta next week. And Brooks Koepka, another with eyes on the Green Jacket, will be looking to sharpen his game at a layout that he helped to revive last year.

Memorial Park has actually been an occasional PGA TOUR layout since the 1960s, but in 2019 the designer Tom Doak was given the go ahead to reshape the venue from top to bottom. He consulted with Koepka, and together they came up with a course where there’s just 19 bunkers on the whole of the real estate – but those have been replaced by sloped run-off areas that arguably create more danger than a simple sandy lie.

We don’t know how Memorial Park will play, that’s the truth, but we do know that historically the tournament prior to The Masters has served up razer-sharp greens for the players to practice on, and the belief is that we will see Bermuda surfaces running as fast as 12.5 on the stimp this week – that could prove to be the difference-maker for many in this field.

So who makes our shortlist of sleeper picks for the Houston Open this week?

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The Vivant Houston Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

Lanto Griffin – 50/1 – When the Korn Ferry Tour graduates are revealed, we draw up a quick set of notes on what we expect from each and in what type of conditions we expect them to thrive.

In hot, windy set-ups in the Deep South, Lanto Griffin, Scottie Scheffler and Robby Shelton were three we had earmarked for success based on their KFT performances and their natural game, and so it was a pleasing nod of the cap when Griffin won this event last season.

The world number 55 has kicked on too, banking top-10s at the Sony Open, AT&T Pebble Beach, the CJ Cup and the BMW Championship, finishing T17 in his first stab at the TOUR Championship and landing a first major top-20 in the PGA Championship.

For a player who thrives in Texan conditions, the omens are very strong.

Zach Johnson – 55/1 – There has been a trend for slightly elder statesmen getting over the line in PGA TOUR events of late, so why not wager a few dimes on the possibility of Zach Johnson cashing in on his recent form.

The former two-times Texas Open champion has a great record in this part of the world, and most pleasing is that his recent play has been of a high standard too – T8 at the U.S. Open has been followed by T19 and T23 at the Shriners and Sanderson Farms respectively.

In conditions where he is truly effective, ZJ could improve on those efforts, and if putting is key at Memorial Park you could do a lot worse than having the 44-year-old on board.

Brian Harman – 55/1 – When Memorial Park last hosted the Houston Open in 1963, Bob Charles became the first left-hander in history to win a PGA TOUR event.

Maybe that’s an omen for Brian Harman, who has been playing some excellent golf in recent times without contending for a trophy.

Indeed, his statistical data is perhaps better than his results suggest – T13 at Shriners, T26 at the ZOZO Championship, T28 at the CJ Cup and T38 at the U.S. Open just some examples of his ‘close but no cigar’ form.

An outstanding putter, Harman tends to perform particularly well on fast Bermuda greens and so maybe this is the week where he really gets into the mix for honors.

Si-Woo Kim – 66/1 – The long term trending of Si-Woo Kim is looking very good for the Korean right now.

Pretty much since golf returned after the suspension of last season, Kim has been playing excellent golf – top-10s at the Wyndham Championship and Shriners have been backed by T11 at the Travelers and T13 at the PGA Championship.

Kim’s iron play has been phenomenal and we know historically he has a decent short game – as most winners at Pete Dye tracks have, and if his putter behaves Si-Woo can perform strongly once more.

Cameron Davis – 75/1 – Having won in Nashville on the Korn Ferry Tour and holding the 54-hole lead in Mississippi at the Sanderson Farms Championship, it’s clear that Cameron Davis enjoys his golf in this part of the world.

Naturally, given his upbringing in Australia, the wind and fast conditions hold no fear, and as a player most expect to ‘break out’ in the near future this week poses as great a chance as any for Davis contending on the PGA TOUR once more.

The 25-year-old is something of a bomb-and-gouge merchant, and while we wait to see if that formula can work at Memorial Park there is just about enough quality in Davis for him to make it work on a favorite stomping ground.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for Vivant Houston Open here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2020-2021)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 40 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “7.50%” bar_text=”3 out of 40 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”25.00%” bar_text=”10 out of 40 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=0%” bar_text=”0 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=”77.50%” bar_text=”31 out of 40 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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