Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2016 RSM Classic

The Sleeper Report: Fantasy Golf Sleepers, Long Shots, and Undervalued Picks for the 2016 RSM Classic

The 2016 RSM Classic Sleeper Preview

The RSM Classic, previously the McGladrey Classic until this installment, is the next event we have to look forward to on the PGA TOUR.  This early season tournament brings golf back to the United States after its visit to Playa del Carmen, Mexico last week and journeys to courses outside of the country on three occasions over the past month.

Sea Island Golf Club in Sea Island, Georgia will be the gracious host for the festivities this week.  The par-70, 7,005-yard course sets on a Saint Simmons Sound along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and was originally a nine-hole course until they combined in the “Marshside Nine” in 1999.

With the event being in the fall, there are typically a lot of top golfers missing from the entrants list, and over the first six years of the tournament, no household names have taken home the trophy.  Also similar to other events held early in the season, Americans reign king as each of the six past victors have called the United States home.

Last year, Kevin Kisner made his way to Georgia and put together a masterful performance, carding a tournament record 22 shots under par and defeating runner-up Kevin Chappell by a whopping six strokes.  Previous to that, each of the past five winners had won by either a single stroke or in extra holes.  This year Kisner will attempt to become the first multiple-time winner in what is a newer tournament.

Joining Kisner in the field will be a few veterans in Matt Kuchar, Brandt Snedeker, and Jim Furyk along with another 16 players who have won an event in the past two years.  A total of five major winners (Webb Simpson, Matt Kuchar, Ernie Els, Zach Johnson, and Billy Horschel) will also be in attendance.  One name to keep an eye on will be Chris Kirk who was the champion here back in 2013 and is looking to build on his three top-10s over his first four events played.  Each of the top-five golfers from the current FedExCup standings will not make the trek to Sea Island in order to improve their place in the season-long event as No. 6 Cody Gribble, winner of the Sanderson Farms Championship, comes in as the highest on the list.

These fall events are the perfect opportunity for sleepers to come out of the woodwork; making a little money and a name for themselves.  So far we have seen the likes of Gribble, Rod Pampling, and Pat Perez take home trophies and this week we could see another similar name come away with the victory.

Below are a few of the golfers we feel could take advantage of this situation and outperform what is expected of them.

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The 2016 RSM Classic Fantasy Sleeper Report

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The 2016 RSM Classic 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.

Jon Huh – Vegas Odds 50/1 – Huh has not been able to live up to his breakout campaign in 2012 when he finished 29^th in the FedExCup standings behind a victory in the Mayakoba Golf Classic and another runner-up finish, but he has remained in the top-100 during three of the past four seasons and has started off solid this year.  In his four outings, the 26-year-old has made it to the weekend in each attempt and has six rounds of 69 or better in his past two tournaments; even kicking off his Shriners Open week with a 62 on Thursday.  He has all the tricks in his bag to be successful each time he heads to an event and so far in the new season has drove the ball with extreme accuracy (66.96%, 31^st on Tour) while converting those clean lies into 75.35% greens in regulation (35^th on Tour).  Coming back to Georgia should allow him to continue a nice early season run as he went 10-under-par here last year en route to a tie for ninth.  He has a chance to better that mark when he signs his card on Sunday.

Jamie Lovemark – Vegas Odds 66/1 – Up until this point in his career Lovemark has nearly as many Web.Com starts (87) as he does on the PGA TOUR (95), but things are looking to be headed in the right direction as he is coming off a career-best season in which he finished 49^th in the FedExCup standings.  He totaled five top-10s over his 27 tournaments and nearly added a first career victory at the Zurich Classic where he lost to Brian Stuard in a playoff.  His breakout 2015-16 year came thanks to gaining 0.532 strokes on the field off the tee (14^th on Tour) with a big 304.8 yard drive (11^th on Tour) which became more lethal when combined with the ability to gain strokes around the green (0.286, 21^st on Tour).  Lovemark seems to be putting in the work to be competitive each time out and should have no issues navigating the course this week.

Whee Kim – Vegas Odds 80/1 – Kim has yet to make a big splash on the biggest stage, but over his first 52 events he has played his way into two third-place finishes and has made more cuts (27) than he has missed (23).  At just 24-years-old, his forecast is looking up and he has already proven he is ready to take the next step with a top-15 at each of his first couple of starts this year.  Kim shot a combined 24-under-par between the Safeway Open and Sanderson Farms Championship while hitting better than 70% of GIR and gaining at least 0.800 strokes putting on the field each week.  Once again, this is a player that not too many people out there are talking about and this could be a great chance to get him before he becomes a hot commodity.

Chad Campbell – Vegas Odds 120/1 – Campbell fits the mold this week as a four-time winner on Tour who has not been able to grab a trophy since 2007.  The 42-year-old is coming off a 2015-16 campaign which was his best since 2011; finishing 73^rd in the FedExCup standings behind 17-of-28 cuts made (61%).  He has started this season off right as well, making it into the money in each of his first four events played, but failing to jump into the top-25 just yet.  In his brief stint this year, Campbell has accurately drove the ball (64.73%, 48^th on Tour) and should be able to get closer to his 0.370 strokes gained from last year; a mark which was 14^th-best on the PGA TOUR.  Campbell isn’t too exciting to watch, but he could follow in Pat Perez’s footsteps and end his winless drought this week.

Bryson DeChambeau – Vegas Odds 120/1 – DeChambeau came to the PGA TOUR with high accolades as the NCAA Division I Champion and Amateur Champion in 2015 and looked great instantly with top-30s in his first three PGA TOUR starts last year.  He followed that with four consecutive missed cuts, but made sure everyone knew he was still around with a tie for 15^th at the U.S. Open and eventually earned his way back into the winner’s circle with a victory at the DAP Championship; a Web.Com event played in early September.  With all the new rookies currently making the rounds and playing better, most have forgotten how talented DeChambeau really is.  This is the perfect spot to pounce on him at these high odds as the field is rather weak and he posses more raw talent than most of the men heading out to the course.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the 2016 RSM Classic here.

Cover photo via Instagram