Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2016 Sony Open in Hawaii

The Sleeper Report: Fantasy Golf Sleepers, Long Shots, and Undervalued Picks for the 2016 Sony Open in Hawaii

2016 Sony Open Fantasy Sleeper Preview

The PGA TOUR remains on the beautiful islands of Hawaii for the Sony Open this week, a tournament first established in 1965 at the Waialae Country Club on Honolulu.  The par-70, 7,068-yard course will host the first full field event of the young new year after all of the winners from 2015 just battled it out in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions last week.  The winner of that tourney, World No. 1 Jordan Spieth, will not stay in Hawaii this week after blowing out the small field by eight strokes and confirming what should be a dominating season for the 22-year-old phenom.

Taking over the reins as top dog this week will be Jimmy Walker who is looking to climb the leaderboard here for the third consecutive season.  He will be joined by No. 11 Adam Scott and six others, including current FedExCup standings leader, No. 16 Kevin Kisner, and multiple-time major winner No. 12 Zach Johnson as they attempt to unseat the aforementioned Walker from his Hawaiian throne.  In all, 22 players will be staying in the State from the Tournament of Champions for this long standing event.

It is a very rare thing to win a particular event so many times consecutively, but Walker will be looking to win his third straight title here after obliterating the field by nine strokes behind weekend rounds of 62 and 63 last year.  It was a much easier victory than the one that he pulled off the year previous, taking home the trophy in 2014 by just a single stroke over Chris Kirk with a blistering 63 on Sunday.  Of course he is the favorite coming into this one and is fresh off of a solid tie for 10th at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

When Walker won last year, he joined four other men, including Ernie Els (2003, 2004), as two-time champions at Waialae Country Club.  His score of 23-under-par also nearly matched the tournament record of 28-under-par and it could be a very low mark that takes it once again this weekend as six of the last seven victors have hit 15-under or better.

No top-10 players will make the visit to this beautiful Honolulu course for this week’s Sony, but there are some obvious favorites in the field.  The sleepers will have chances, as long as nobody pulls off a week like Walker did last year, so let’s talk about a few golfers who are looking to finish nicely when Sunday afternoon rolls around.

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2016 Sony Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

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2016 Sony Open 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.

Gary Woodland – Vegas Odds 55/1: Woodland is one of those players that is still waiting for his breakout campaign, and even though he will make it to the weekend more often than not, he does not put himself in position to take home the trophy very often.  He has two PGA TOUR victories to his name and finished 43rd in the FedExCup standings last season after two consecutive top-25s and 45-of-50 cuts made (90%) between 2013 and 2014.  If he can revert back to that form in 2016, he should be able to easily outperform his given odds against a fairly shallow field this week and will look to build off of two solid performances to kick of this new season.  Gary has hit better than 70% of GIR during his first two outings and should continue to give himself opportunities after crushing the ball for an average of 305.5 yards last year (12th on TOUR).

Steve Stricker – Vegas Odds 75/1: Stricker is a shell of his former self, but his former self was something quite impressive as evidenced by his trophy case that’s filled with 12 PGA TOUR trophies won over 449 career outings.  Although he has not been able to get a win since 2012, or a top-three finish since 2013 for that matter, Steve has still performed well in limited appearances with 18-of-20 cuts made (90%) over the last two years.  In his seven visits to the weekend last year, he failed to net a top-25, but Stricker has the pedigree and experience to grind out a few more gutsy performances in his career and these early season events are the perfect place to begin.

Peter Malnati – Vegas Odds 75/1: Malnati is a mostly unknown commodity to the public after playing nearly his entire 2015 season on the Web.Com Tour, but he came out the gate with a bang this year, making 5-of-6 cuts with three top-10 finishes; including his first career victory at the Sanderson Farms Championship back in early November.  He’s already eclipsed the million dollar mark in earnings and currently sits in 10th in the FedExCup standings after a tie for sixth at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions where he hit 77.8% of GIR and putt .748 strokes better than the field.  This 28-year-old is firing on all cylinders, so it may be smart to go with the hot hand while he’s performing at such an exceptional level.

Zac Blair – Vegas Odds 100/1: Blair had a solid rookie campaign in 2015, playing well enough to make it to the weekend on 20-of-33 occasions (61%) and toying with the idea of his first win behind two top-10s.  He’s already been in the top-10 once this season as he tied for 10th at the OHL Classic with four consecutive rounds of 70 or better.  While this 25-year-old doesn’t have the length that some of his counterparts do, averaging a mere 273.1 yards per drive last year, he can nail fairways with the best of them and ranked 23rd in the category with 67.91% of fairways hit.  He should be able to combine that with a great flat iron (0.520 strokes-gained putting in 2015, 11th on TOUR) to continue what should be a consistent career for the youngster.

Tim Clark – Vegas Odds 150/1: Clark, just like the previously mentioned Stricker, has already played his best years of golf, but still has some juice left in the tank allowing him to compete at a high level.  The South African born player participated in a mere 13 events during his 2015 campaign, but showed he still should be teeing it up with the young crowd with 8-of-13 cuts made and a runner-up finish at a WGC event.  It was his 11th consecutive season with at least one runner-up performance and he is due for at least one stellar performance per year.  With many people overlooking a man who has made over $23 million playing golf, this may be a time to take a shot at a deep sleeper with plenty of experience.

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 golf preview for the 2016 Sony Open here.

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