Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2021 Houston Open

2021 Houston Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

Some things in life just seem to go together perfectly, and if he plays at the top-level for the next ten years you wonder how many wins Viktor Hovland will rack up alongside his golfing sweetheart, the El Camaleon club.

That venue is the host of the various tournaments that have featured the name ‘Mayakoba’ in them over the years, and the last two of those that have now been won by an inspired Hovland.

The Norwegian seems to reserve his best golf when he is playing at short, fiddly coastal tracks, and when you factor in the unique Paspalum greens found at Playa del Carmen – they’re kinda slow and bumpy – it seems likely that Hovland will experience lots of joy here.

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He won by a margin of four shots on Sunday, a lead which could have been even greater but for two bogeys on the back nine, and once again Hovland was anointed the king of El Camaleon – hoisting that suitably reptilian trophy once again.

It’s fun to think that we could have a second back-to-back event winner this week – Carlos Ortiz, who chased Hovland home in Mexico, will take on the honor at the Houston Open.

He won his maiden PGA TOUR title in tremendous fashion 12 months ago, overcoming a chasing pack that included course co-designer Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama and Dustin Johnson in a victory that was notable for the grace Ortiz showed under pressure.

He’ll have a slightly less heavyweight field to contend with this time around, with the betting market led by Sam Burns and Scottie Scheffler, and in the midst of some strong form Ortiz will be feeling pretty bullish about his chances.

But Memorial Park, the host venue in Houston, will not afford him the luxury of winning with ease. It’s a long old stretch at 7,412 yards for its Par of 70, and in many ways that length is the primary defense – especially in weeks where,, according to the forecast, the weather will be fairly benign.

Renovated by Koepka and Tom Doak, you can almost see the four-time major champion’s fingerprints on Memorial Park, with its wide fairways and complex greens perfect for Koepka’s natural game – he was T5 here last year.

Crucially, it’s all about putting well on speedy Bermuda greens this week, with bomb-and-gouge merchants having something of an edge – that’s the tactic that Koepka, Ortiz, DJ and Matsuyama deployed last year.

So with all of this in mind, who makes our shortlist of sleeper picks for the 2021 Houston Open?

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2021 Houston Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

Jason Kokrak – 50/1 – Long off the tee and an excellent putter on Bermuda greens, this week feels primed for a return to form for Jason Kokrak.

His formline looks terrible – MC-54 in his last two starts, but dig a bit deeper into his turn at the CJ Cup and you’ll note a player who after opening with a round of 77, closed 66-65-68.

Equally adept at making birdies as he is grinding out a score in touch conditions, Kokrak has won twice since the start of 2020 and racked up a host of top-10s too – he’ll be hoping to add to that collection this week.

Cam Davis – 100/1 – The artist formerly known as Cameron Davis has endured a sluggish start to the campaign.

It’s not all doom and gloom – he was T27 at Shriners and backed that up by scoring -8 at the CJ Cup, albeit in a T64 finish.

But these are the conditions that the Australian will love, with fast greens that require a high angle of approach and a sharp short game when the putting surfaces are missed.

A maiden PGA TOUR winner at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last season, Davis has the nous to win events at layouts that suit, so there’s no reason why he can’t end his early-campaign malaise in spectacular fashion here.

Harry Higgs – 125/1 – He may bear a passing resemblance to Wolverine, but Harry Higgs has a gentle touch on and around the greens and that will surely serve him well at Memorial Park.

And what is interesting about the 29-year-old is that he has made strides to improve the prior weaknesses in his game, which include hitting it longer and straighter off the tee and with a bit more finesse on approach.

So far, that has led to a T9 finish at the CJ Cup and a T27 turn at the Shriners, where he opened with a round of 66. It’s all very progressive indeed from Higgs.

Martin Laird – 150/1 – A winner at the Texas Open in 2013, Martin Laird has the sort of game that can thrive in the Lone Star State’s hot and breezy conditions.

The Scot is playing some good golf right now, with T11 at his favorite Shriners Open backed by T22 at Mayakoba.

Laird has an excellent short game and typically averages more than 300 yards off the tee, and as an adept scrambler all of the boxes are ticked for a player that won on TOUR as recently as 2020.

Wyndham Clark – 200/1 – We’ve long been talking up Wyndham Clark as a potential winner on the PGA TOUR, and so far he has just a solo second at the Bermuda Championship and a T5 at the 3M Open to his name.

A lack of quality with irons in hand is the main obstacle Clark must overcome, but at venues like Memorial Park we can leverage his other advantages – huge length off the tee and some quality around the greens and from 100 yards and in.

A streaky putter, Clark can put together runs of birdies – he made numerous rounds of 66 and better last term – and so we hope he brings some of that inspiration to Houston this week.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the Houston Open here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2021-2022)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”3.33%” bar_text=”1 out of 35 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “26.67%” bar_text=”8 out of 35 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”23.o0%” bar_text=”7 out of 35 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=0.00%” bar_text=”0 out of 7 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”16.67%” bar_text=”1 out of 7 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”60.00%” bar_text=”18 out of 35 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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Cover photo via Instagram