Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2020 U.S. Open

The U.S. Open 2020 Fantasy Sleeper Report

After a 15-month wait, finally we get to enjoy the next edition of the U.S. Open this week!

The delay will be worth it, you fancy, if the terrors of Winged Foot Golf Club are to be believed – more on that in a moment.

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First we should wrap up the Safeway Open, and it’s hard not to feel happy for Stewart Cink, who has experienced tough times off the course and channeled those into ending his eleven-year wait for another PGA TOUR title.

His wife has survived a cancer scare and Cink himself has had a minor battle with the insidious disease, but with his beloved watching from the sidelines – and with his son carrying his bag for the week – the old-timer showed class among a selection of players unused to being in the mix on a Sunday to lift the trophy.

That was a win that gives the golf community good vibes, but those will end you suspect when the field for the U.S. Open walks the course at Winged Foot in New York in the lead up to Thursday’s first tee.

The general profile remains the same as it was for the 2006 edition of this event, which means lots of huge trees lining the fairways (and the greens in some cases), narrow fairways, thick rough and unusual green complexes, many of which slope from back to front with run-off zones, false fronts and all manner of nastiness.

As if to compound the misery, some of the bunkers this week are as much as eight feet lower than the green itself.

So that’s the bad news. The good news….well, there isn’t any, really. But that’s okay, because the players profess to enjoying proper major-style tests, and they will certainly enjoy one of those this week.

The great and the good will head to New York, and this is a fantastic renewal with maybe a dozen or more players who are genuine contenders for the title.

And, if Winged Foot plays as tough as we might think, it will be very difficult for a leader to really assert their dominance on the field with danger lurking at every turn. That will keep the leaderboard bunched, and that always leaves an opportunity for somebody – perhaps one of our sleeper picks – to win from off the pace!

So, without further ado, here is our U.S. Open 2020 sleeper shortlist.

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The U.S. Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

Justin Rose – 55/1 – Justin Rose will reflect upon a poor 2020 and be glad to see the back of it no doubt!

But there is still time for the Englishman to redeem himself this year, and you know that – at his best – Winged Foot is a test he would relish.

Decent off the tee, Rose has that battling quality that enables him to compile a winning score in tough conditions, and it’s rare you get a chance to back a proven major winner at these odds on a given week.

Viktor Hovland – 60/1 – Having put in the hard yards to improve his short game with Pete Cowen, Viktor Hovland seemed to abdicate his long game for a while….and his results have paid the price.

However, the Norwegian seemed to strike the ball much better at the TOUR Championship, and while T14 in the strokeplay element there hardly gets the pulse racing it was a much improved showing.

Hovland, if he can combine both elements of his game, has the potential to be a major winner – could it even be this week?

Harris English – 66/1 – He’s been knocking at the door a few times this season, and maybe the ultra-consistent Harris English can finally cash in at a layout where his neat-and-tidy play will give him an edge.

You could argue that English is under-priced in the betting most weeks, given that he doesn’t have the explosive birdie-making style that tends to win PGA TOUR events these days. But in a more old-fashioned tournament where strategy is key, he can thrive.

Because he gets good drives away (34th for Total Driving in 2019-20) English tends to make few mistakes, and his ability to convert on the Par 4s (10th for Par 4 Scoring Average) clearly plays well at Winged Foot.

Sebastian Munoz – 250/1 – You can plug all manner of stats into your thinking this week, but nothing will quite prepare the players for what Winged Foot has to throw at them.

And so we go with our instincts as much as our spreadsheets, and while the data tells us Sebastian Munoz is a quality driver of the ball who doesn’t make too many mistakes, our eyes tell us he is the kind of player who could put together a winning score this week.

Top 10 at both the BMW and TOUR Championships, the Colombian is being disrespected in the betting market given his form and style of play.

Kevin Streelman – 250/1 – You can bet your bottom dollar that there will be a plodder or two near the summit of the leaderboard heading into the weekend.

That Kevin Streelman is having to make the journey from California to New York is less than ideal as far as prep goes, but there aren’t exactly many bells and whistles to his game and he can turn up, hit the ball straight and make par without too much practice you suspect.

Ranking 19th on Tour last season for SG: Tee-to-Green, Streelman has no weaknesses in his game, and Winged Foot is the kind of layout where he could just fall over the winning line.

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

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2020-2021)

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