Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2021 AT&T Byron Nelson

The 2021 AT&T Byron Nelson Fantasy Sleeper Report

Forget the Mother’s Day narratives, Rory McIlroy’s victory at the Wells Fargo Championship was simply a case of a world-class talent finding something at a course he loves.

Yes, the Irishman referenced his own mother back home and his wife, who was celebrating her first year as a mom, but this was really about an extraordinary talent whose hard work on his short game paid off big time.

McIlroy gained an astonishing number of strokes on the field with putter in hand – +3.00 on Saturday alone in fact, and that was the catalyst for a first win some time….and in a week where he found just one-in-three fairways off the tee!

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Whatever the means, winning breeds confidence – a week shy of the PGA Championship, McIlroy could not have asked for a timelier boost.

One week shy of the second major of the year, there are plenty in the field for the Byron Nelson Championship that will be hoping to find some form….and pronto. Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm fit that bill, while Bryson DeChambeau will be looking to build on a much-improved weekend at the Wells Fargo – after he nearly missed the final 36 holes in the most bizarre circumstances.

There will be new surroundings awaiting them. The deal that saw Trinity Forest host this tournament has come to an end, and the PGA TOUR have moved it on to another track in Dallas instead – TPC Craig Ranch.

Aside from hosting a couple of editions of the Nationwide Tour Championship on the Korn Ferry TOUR, this will be the first runout for this track for a professional event – it’s very much a case of learning as we go and making as many notes as possible this week.’

That said, we do have some clues to work with. We know that any Par 71 track, with just three Par 5s, is going to play long at 7,438 yards – especially with some rain in the forecast early in the week to soften conditions.

The aerial pictures of the course suggest that the fiairways are fairly wide too, and while a creek straddles 14 holes it’s still expected that the longer hitters will have an edge this week.

The Bentgrass greens are protected by copious bunkers, however these are quite flat in nature and shouldn’t create too many problems.

The key defense, aside from the length, could be the wind, and that is expected to whip up over the weekend – as you might expect in Texas.

While Trinity Forest was absolutely at the mercy of the best players in the world, we expect TPC Craig Ranch to play slightly tougher but still yield to birdie chances to those who can give it a whack off the peg.

With that in mind, who has made the cut for our 2021 Byron Nelson Championship sleeper shortlist?

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The 2021 AT&T Byron Nelson Fantasy Sleeper Report

Ryan Palmer – 50/1 – A course set up beautifully for his natural game, Ryan Palmer will surely savor a return to his home Texan soil.

Long off the tee and excellent on those mid-range approach shots, Palmer tends to putt well and makes stacks of birdies – on paper, he is an excellent fit for TPC Craig Ranch.

There is enough form to suggest Palmer is more than just a ‘paper’ pick too. Consecutive top-20s at the Texas Open and PLAYERS Championship, plus a decent turn at Augusta, suggest his game is in decent health right now.

Charl Schwartzel – 60/1 – Not exactly the hardest-working player on the circuit, Charl Schwartzel is showing the benefits of committing to regular tournament golf.

Busy of late, the South Africa has delivered a T26 finish at The Masters, T21 at the Valspar Championship and T14 at the Wells Fargo, and he went close alongside Louis Oosthuizen to winning the Zurich Classic.

Odds of 60/1 seem more than fair on a player that has won 15 times worldwide, and who is in his best form for quite some time.

Lee Westwood – 60/1 – There were two occasions on which Lee Westwood could have won a surprising PGA TOUR title, but in the end two solo seconds at the PLAYERS and the Arnold Palmer Invitational are still signs of how well the Brit is hitting the ball.

He ran out of steam immediately afterwards, and that’s perhaps no surprise given that Westwood – with no offence intended – isn’t exactly getting any younger.

With three weeks off, he should hopefully head to Dallas renewed – maybe he can go one better than his recent close-but-no-cigar showings.

Luke List – 60/1 – A much-improved – and necessary – putting performance swept Luke List to a top-10 finish at the Wells Fargo Championship.

Otherwise, he was as strong as ever from tee-to-green – his mammoth driving length followed by solid iron game mastery.

Long overdue a maiden PGA TOUR victory, List has a habit of letting his backers down on the greens, but he’s also a player whose best chance of winning comes after a stronger putting showing.

Aaron Wise – 66/1 – Only Abraham Ancer hit more greens in regulation at Quail Hollow than Aaron Wise, and that shows how well he played tee-to-green in occasionally challenging conditions.

Another who favors room off the tee, Wise will send his bombs out free and easy this week and set himself up for more mid-range approaches – those were an area of real strength in Charlotte.

Ironically, his sole PGA TOUR win came in this event at 2018, albeit at a different course, but who knows maybe that will inspire a further improvement on his T9 at Quail Hollow?

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the 2021 AT&T Byron Nelson here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2020-2021)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”1.42%” bar_text=”2 out of 145 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “9.28%” bar_text=”13 out of 145 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”25.71%” bar_text=”36 out of 145 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=0%” bar_text=”0 out of 29 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”7.14%” bar_text=”2 out of 29 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”70.00%” bar_text=”98 out of 145 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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