Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2016 Masters Edition

The Sleeper Report: Fantasy Golf Sleepers, Long Shots, and Undervalued Picks for The Masters 2016 from Augusta, Georgia

The Masters Fantasy Sleeper Preview

One of the most anticipated sporting events of the year begins this Thursday as the top golfers from around the world compete in Augusta, Georgia for the coveted Green Jacket at The Masters.  Augusta National will be the site once again as the venue first played host back in 1934 when the event was originally the “Augusta National Invitational.”

The Masters has a certain mystique and awe while being the most traditional and known event in the golf world.  Winners are crowned in the halls of PGA glory and it seems like there are always story lines that can be followed leading up to the big week.  The par-72, 7,435-yard course has seen many changes over the years, one of which lengthened the course more than 500 yards since 2001.

The toughness of the venue is shown with the list of winners in the past few years as many of the top young names taking home the trophy after some amazing performances.  The last four installments have really brought the forefront of golf into the limelight with Bubba Watson (2012, 2014), Adam Scott (2013), and Jordan Spieth (2015) all going home with the ultimate prize come Sunday afternoon.  Each of these players is currently in the top-seven of the Official World Golf Rankings and all will be among the favorites this week.  The most impressive victory of those came last year, as not only did Spieth win at the astonishingly young age of 21, he also tied the tournament record with a score of 18-under-par while outpacing runners-up Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose by four strokes.

The field for the week is not a huge one, as 90 players are expected to make the trek to Georgia, with four-time Masters winner Tiger Woods not being among the attendees.  The two hottest golfers heading into the week will certainly be OWGR No. 1 Jason Day and No. 7 Adam Scott; both of who have a pair of wins in the past month and a half of play.  Of course, also at the top of the list of favorites will be last year’s victor, No. 2 Jordan Spieth, and No. 3 Rory McIlroy, who needs a Green Jacket to complete his career major grand slam.

The newest addition to the field came just last week when Jim Herman added to his Cinderella story behind his first career PGA TOUR win at the age of 38.  His one-shot win at the Shell Houston Open will allow him his first Masters appearance and certainly make his long road to this point well worth it.

Despite this illustrious event typically going to one of the favorites, there have been plenty of great wins from less than expected places.  Each one of the players on the course this week has earned their way by showing they have what it takes to compete against the best in the sport and have it in them to conquer one of the most impressive and beautiful courses in the world.  Let’s take a look through some long-shots and sleepers who could have their names etched in history following the 2016 Masters.

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The Masters Fantasy Sleeper Report

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The Masters Fantasy Sleeper Report

Mix and match these players with your usual rosters (or play them separately) to get the most out of your picks this week.

Paul Casey – Vegas Odds 70/1: Casey has been somewhat of a sporadic player both during his 2016 season as well as with his Masters performances.  He has made it to the weekend in 7-of-8 attempts on the year, but has yet to crack the top-five after getting into the top-three four times in 24 outings last year.  Paul has also failed to make the cut in two of his last five visits to this major, but is now coming off a few big days in 2015 when he finished in sixth behind a score of nine-under as he hit better than 67% of GIR and fairways.  His length off the tee (296.5 yards per, 52nd on TOUR) certainly won’t hurt him this week, and the yardage he may lose to some of the elite mashers out there is made up for with his incredible ball striking.  He is currently 10th in GIR% (72.22%) and has gained 0.921 strokes from tee-to-green (19th on TOUR) over his eight 2016 tournaments.  That alone should give him an opportunity to put up some big numbers and if the putts are dropping it could be a nice finish for the for Arizona State University graduate.

Rafa Cabrera-Bello – Vegas Odds 80/1: Cabrera-Bello has been quickly making himself a household name with a stretch of strong performances on the PGA TOUR.  He’s played on the TOUR a mere three times this season, but has placed in a tie for 11th or better each time with an 11th at the WGC-Cadillac Championship, a third at the WGC-Dell Match Play, and then a fourth place finish last week in Houston.  The 31-year-old will be making his Masters debut but has participated in 10 majors in the past, going 6-for-10 in cuts made with his best showing coming at the 2013 Open Championship where he earned a tie for 21st.  Over his three events in the U.S. this year, the Spaniard has been able to hit 70.83% of GIR and is better than most with the flat iron, gaining 0.676 strokes putting.  Cabrera-Bello has shot up the world rankings to 33rd place and will be a fun player to watch this week in Augusta.

Jimmy Walker – Vegas Odds 90/1: Walker was a late bloomer, but he has been borderline dominant at points over the past few years.  His solid overall play has also translated to some great finishes in majors and the now 37-year-old earned top-10s at three of the four big events during the 2014 campaign; including a tie for eighth at The Masters that year.  He has earned all five of his career victories since late 2013, and although none have come during this season, he has gone 9-for-10 in cuts made with three top-10s.  His combo of power off the tee (299.6 yards per, 38th on TOUR) and putting (0.448 strokes-gained putting, 33rd on TOUR) give him an advantage over most in both areas and his all-around game will go far on this Augusta course.  Walker is not often talked about with some of the other elite players, but he should get more credit for how well he has done—at these odds Jimmy is a great choice this week.

Bill Haas – Vegas Odds 100/1: Haas is backing up his top-30 OWGR ranking with a spot as the 25th-best in the FedExCup standings to this point in the season.  The 33-year-old has four top-10s in his nine 2016 starts and has been playing some of his best golf of late with a playoff loss in the Valspar Championship and a tie for ninth in the WGC-Dell Match Play just a few weeks ago.  He also has done better in The Masters than some of the other majors, getting a top-25 in each of his last three visits to the famous course while making it to the weekend in each of the last six years.  Haas has improved his standing each time out since 2011 and had his best to date in 2015 with a tie for 12th behind four rounds at par or better.  He currently ranks in the top-40 in driving accuracy (67.26%, 31st on TOUR), GIR (69.64%, 39th on TOUR), total strokes gained (0.796, 35th on TOUR) and scrambling (66.01%, 12th on TOUR) which should allow him to get out of most sticky situations.  Look for Haas to make a run at his first top-10 in a major and quite possibly more this week.

Charley Hoffman – Vegas Odds 125/1: Hoffman has always been a sneaky good player on TOUR, getting into the top-50 of the FedExCup standings five times since 2007; including a top-10 finish twice.  One of those came just last season when he was 19th behind a career-best four million dollars plus in earnings and four visits into the top-three.  He also played into the winner’s circle for his third career PGA TOUR victory during that career year.  Despite not doing quite as well in 2016, Charley seems to make his way to the top of leaderboards at some point in many of his tournaments and it is usually in the early going as he ranks 40th in first round scoring (69.78) and progressively gets worse as the week wears on.  Hoffman will not have many more opportunities at a big win such as this with his age now nearly over the hill, but he should feel confidence following last season’s tie for ninth here and certainly has the experience to get things done under the pressure of Augusta.

Need a few more options to fill up your roster?  Remember to check out our new fantasy predictions stats page for Golficity Predicted Fantasy Points, Price Per Fantasy Point, and more info on every player in this week’s field!

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

Cover photo via Flickr