Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2021 Butterfield Bermuda Championship

2021 Butterfield Bermuda Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

There’s no place like home, as the old saying goes, and Hideki Matsuyama showed that to some tune in winning the ZOZO Championship last week.

It’s a big deal for Asian players to head home on these rare PGA TOUR forays, and especially so when you are the home favorite – as Hideki was in Chiba. But he showed his ability to shoulder that burden when just missing out on a medal at the Olympics, and there were plenty who expected him to improve on that showing at Narashino.

And so it proved. Matsuyama asserted the lead on Friday and never looked back, extending his lead in a flawless final round showing to five shots from a field that never really looked likely to reel him in.

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From the sublime to….let’s be realistic, the ridiculous. The Bermuda Championship (its title sponsor is Butterfield, but it just takes too long to type) is always likely to be a weak field event, but in 2021 that has taken on epic proportions.

At least half of this field – probably more, in truth – does not have a hope in hell of lifting this trophy on Sunday, and there are many playing who are simply here to make the numbers up.

In theory, that should make it easier to pick a winner, but the reality is that even those favored are either out of form, travelling a long way or perhaps don’t quite have the right profile to thrive at Royal Port Golf Club.

In short, it’s a bit of a nightmare for the betting community.

That said, there’s room for a few speculative plays because we know of the kind of profile that suits Royal Port. This tiny course – 6,828 yards for its Par 71 – is located by the coast of Bermuda, and as such it tends to be buffeted by a strong ocean breeze. That trend does not look likely to change this week.

The layout is fairly lenient and without much in the way of hazards and demons, but those blown too far from the fairway will still have plenty of work to do to mount a winning total.

The large Bermuda greens are receptive to all, and in the end the Bermuda Championship will become something of a putting shootout – and we’re talking long-range putting, if the wind really does take hold.

So, we need players who will keep their ball under the breeze and in play, while making plenty of putts to remain on the birdie trail. That sets the cogs whirring….

As such, here is our sleeper shortlist for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship 2021.

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2021 Butterfield Bermuda Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

Taylor Pendrith – 50/1 – Should he decide to put the big stick away and focus on hitting more fairways, Taylor Pendrith can build on a solid start to his PGA TOUR career.

He’s banked three consecutive top-50s, with a best of T36 at the Fortinet Championship, and in time his finest results will probably come on bombers’ tracks given his prodigious length off the tee.

A decent putter, anything could happen if Pendrith hits a high GIR this week….let’s hope he opts to keep the ball in play off the tee.

Denny McCarthy – 50/1 – It’s almost a running joke how good Denny McCarthy is at putting on Bermuda greens compared to his actual tournament results.

One of the reasons is that he is short off the tee – no matter at Royal Port, and the other is that his iron game isn’t that sharp.

However, McCarthy notched back-to-back rounds of 65 on his way to T15 at the Sanderson Farms Championship, and it takes a pretty special player to be able to do that.

Strong at this layout (4-15 in two trips), it’s not ridiculous to suggest that McCarthy has a really strong chance this week.

Mark Hubbard – 70/1 – Appearing like clockwork on leaderboards at weak field events, Mark Hubbard has a habit of saving his best for this kind of fare.

T14 at the Fortinet Championship, he also delivered T17 in last season’s weak CJ Cup, T16 at the 3M Open and T20 at the Barbasol Championship.

A winner of the LECOM Suncoast Classic in 2019, Hubbard is happy on coastal, Bermuda layouts….and that’s good enough for us in this company.

Nick Taylor – 80/1 – One of the tasks bettors have this week is finding players who have the ability to win on the PGA TOUR, all while blocking out the noise of recent bad form.

Nick Taylor has done okay this term, making two out of three cuts and opening with a 65 at Shriners, but he’s not exactly shooting the lights out.

However, he’s a winner at Pebble Beach – not all that dissimilar to Royal Port in many ways, and he has also won the weak Sanderson Farms Championship too.

One of those players that can make putts from all angles when on song, Taylor is worth a second look this week.

Brian Stuard – 90/1 – Players loosely described as ‘plodders’ generally don’t get much love in the betting market, but Royal Port is a track where their basic skillset can thrive – see Brian Gay 12 months ago.

Let’s be honest: Brian Stuard won’t be getting called up for Ryder Cup duty any time soon, but he’s a solid journeyman pro whose accuracy off the tee and reliable putting stroke has made him a pretty rich man through the years.

Missed cuts will put plenty off, but those were at -3 and -4 respectively, so it’s not as if Stuard is hunting around wildly for form. In this field, his fairway and green finding could deliver much more positive results.

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

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2021-2022)

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