Fantasy Sleeper Report – 2015 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

The Sleeper Report: Fantasy Golf Sleepers, Long Shots, and Undervalued Picks for the 2015 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

Event Preview

The California swing of the PGA season is in full effect as players nowhead to beautiful Pebble Beach this week to play in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tournament.  Spectators who make their way to one of the three courses played throughout the event will be there to see some of the great celebrities, which include Bill Murray, Wayne Gretzky, Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia, Buster Posey and Ray Romano, on top of the great golf that is sure to ensue.

Typically this leg of the season features fields which are fairly weak and allows some fresh faces to adorn the winners circle, and this week there will be nine of the top-25 golfers from the OWGR among the field, with No. 4 Jason Day being the best of the bunch as he comes off a playoff win in the Farmers Insurance Open.  Another top golfer, No. 6 Jim Furyk, will be making his season debut when he tees off on Thursday as he looks to build on a phenomenal 2014 campaign where he failed to earn a victory but had four impressive runner-up finishes.

Last year it was Jimmy Walker that hoisted the trophy on Sunday here in what was his third win in just eight events to start the year as he began to make a name for himself.  He also nearly gave this one away, firing a 74 on Sunday after shooting a 69 or better in each of the first three days.  Walker was just able to fend off the likes of Dustin Johnson and Jim Renner by a single stroke.  If Johnson had won it would have been his third career win at this tournament after taking it in back-to-back years in 2009 and 2010.  DJ will be in attendance this week for just his second start of the year after a six-month personal hiatus from the game.  He failed to make the cut last week at the Farmers Insurance Open but should be able to play better at a course which has been good to him over the years.  Dustin will be joined by Davis Love III as the only two golfers who have multiple victories in this event while Jimmy Walker, Brandt Snedeker, D.A. Points, and Vijay Singh have all also won here in the past.

With this time of the year being all about fresh, young players making a name for themselves and journeymen returning to their former glory, let’s check out a few who have a chance to bring home the bacon come Sunday afternoon.

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The Sleeper Report

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The Sleeper Report

In an effort to continually provide our Premium Members with the best fantasy content anywhere on the web, this week we’ve added a bonus “Sleeper Report” to help you identify the undervalued, long-shots that can help you score some bonus fantasy points this weekend.  Mix and match these players with your usual rosters (or play them separately) to get the most out of your picks this week.

• Alexander Levy – 66/1: Levy has played just three PGA tournaments in his young career, but has been able to jump to 52nd on the OWGR after some impressive play on the European Tour; including two wins and a runner-up performance last year.  He’s made the cut in each of the three events in the U.S. and has done so against some great fields, including a 14th place finish back in November at the WGC- HBSC Champions and 30th at last year’s PGA Championship.  What helped him have such a breakout season last year on the European Tour was his big driver (298.1 yards per), which would rank in the top-40 on tour this year, and his ability to get on the green quick with 71.6% of greens hit in regulation.  This 25-year-old Frenchman is as talented as any of the youngsters who frequent the PGA events and should be treated as such.
• Rory Sabbatini – 75/1: Sabbatini likely frustrated some fantasy players last week with a late decision to not play in the Farmer’s Insurance Open, but he is a great play this year that can be had for cheap.  Rory is certainly a safe yet unspectacular player after making the cut in the last seven tournaments, placing in the top-25 in at six of those.  Many others will be shying away from Sabbatini who has failed to make the cut in this tourney in each of the past three seasons, but he has had some success with a 15th-place finish back in 2011.  It all comes back to consistency on the year for the veteran, though, as he has the 13th-best scoring average on tour (69.89) this year and also ranks in the top-40 in GIR (72%).  With six career victories under his belt, look for Sabbatini to work this rather weak field and put up some nice rounds.
• Zac Blair – 80/1: Blair is in early talks for Rookie of the Year after a fantastic start to the season which has seen him make 6-of-8 cuts and finish in the top-25 four times.  He put together one of his best events last week at the Farmer’s Insurance Open when he placed 11th after netting a score of six-under and ranking second in the field in par-breakers (20 Birdies).  The 24-year-old was also able to rank first among the large field in strokes-gained putting (3.45), and total distance of putts made (376 feet, 10 inches).  He may not have the biggest drive (278.5 yards per, 184th on tour), but his aforementioned short game has been on point as he currently ranks 14th on tour with .844 strokes-gained putting and has a scrambling percentage of 71.3% (6th on tour).  They say you drive for show and putt for dough and that is Blair’s MO as he looks to continue what is shaping up to be an excellent rookie campaign.
• Daniel Berger – 125/1: Berger is another rookie who has came out of the gates hot as he currently ranks 50th in the FedExCup standings behind four top-25 finishes; including two top-15 finishes in the past four events.  His best showing of the year came at the Waste Management Open when he earned 10th-place after hitting more than 70% of GIR for the third consecutive week and drove the ball 305.9 yards per.  The big stick has been an advantage for him in his success this year—he’s bombing the ball for 304.6 yards per drive (9th on tour)—and that should really help him do well on these courses which are all less than 6,900 yards long.  Look out for this young gun this week as he is itching to get his first career win and has the capability to string together birdies.
• Jason Bohn – 175/1: Bohn is having a comeback campaign after making a mere 40 cuts over 76 events (53%) in the past three years as he has been able to get to the weekend in 6-of-7 tourneys this year and has cracked the top-10 twice; including a runner-up showing at the Sanderson Farms Championship back in November.  He ranks in the top-25 on tour in a ton of key categories with the most important being driving accuracy (69.5%, 21st on tour), GIR percentage (72.7%, 24th on tour), and scoring average (70.10, 21st on tour).  He may not be the sexy pick for this week with his 278.6 yards on average off the tee, but his experience on tour could help him navigate these beautiful California courses and grab some low scores in the process.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions?  Check out our full fantasy preview for this week’s 2015 Pebble Beach National Pro-Am here.

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