Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2016 Wyndham Championship

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

The 2016 Wyndham Championship Fantasy Sleeper Preview

What a week it has been!  Justin Rose collected golf’s first-ever Olympic gold medal for Team Great Britain in Rio, while Ryan Moore produced a blistering performance to claim the John Deere Classic in Illinois.

With his win, Moore confirmed what we already knew about him: that he’s the perfect horses-for-courses pick.  He had picked up four consecutive Top-25 finishes in the JDC, including a pair of Top 10’s, prior to his win, and that will interest punters and DFS managers ahead of this week’s Wyndham Championship, which Moore won in 2009 and where he finished tenth in 2015.

But we’re naturally digging a bit deeper into the field for our Sleeper Report, and we have managed to find some good value in a collection of players that has a kind of lacklustre post-Rio, pre-FedExCup feel about it.  And that could be a pertinent point when examining the field; who has FedExCup points to defend – and points to gain – ahead of the first event of the seasonal wrap-up next week will matter a lot to how this coming weekend plays out.

The Wyndham Championship was first contested way back in 1938, when the legendary Sam Snead slayed the field to take the honours.  It has moved here, there and everywhere since before settling upon its Sedgefield Country Club home in Greensboro, North Carolina in 2008.  This Par 70, 7,127-yard stretch has produced some fine golf over the years, some low-scoring masterclasses, and some surprise winners to boot.  After Webb Simpson, Patrick Reed, and Sergio Garcia took the honours from 2012 to 2014, the two subsequent champions have been Camilo Villegas and Davis Love III, and both with a score of -17 to boot.  That is a great insight into the kind of free-scoring barnburner to expect this week.

So what can the players expect this week?  A long test, but one which is not exactly penal in its layout.  Yes, extra bunkers have been added, and the Bentgrass greens changed to Bermuda, but low scoring has remained a constant in deciding the outcome of the trophy here.  The greens are smaller than average but run at a reasonable pace (around 12 on the stimp) and are reliably undulating.  The trend is for strong putters who are accurate off the tee and who can avoid falling into the few traps that are present.  In truth, getting the ball onto the dancefloor and putting your boots off is the smart play this weekend.  Also, with a 60% chance of rain on Thursday and Friday, a good tee time will of course help.

To really add some color to those claims, let’s examine the performances of the past five champions.  Only one of them has ranked outside the Top 15 for Driving Accuracy in the last five years, with Davis Love III, the 2015 champ, just sneaking into the upper echelons in tenth.  Three have gone Top 20 for Greens in Regulation (Reed, Villegas and Love III) while the last seven winners – yes, seven – have ranked inside the Top 25 for Putting Average.

Love III’s final round of 64 ultimately won the day last year, and featured two eagles (both on Par 5s), four birdies, ten pars and two bogeys.  So clearly, scoring opportunities on the par 5’s prevail – he played them in -8 across the four days – which helps to assuage some of the damage caused by the trickier par 4’s.  That said, the front nine’s par 4’s in particular appear to be surmountable, so going low here will naturally be an advantage.

A mixed field will feature players who turned out in Illinois last week and those risking all kinds of jetlag and illness, having returned from Rio de Janeiro just 72 hours ahead of the first tee.  Will fatigue be a factor?  You would have to assume so, and as such it is likely to be wise to swerve any Olympians in Greensboro this week.

Here are five sleepers to have on board at the Wyndham Championship:

The 2016 Wyndham Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

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

Cover photo via Instagram