Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2021 Sony Open

The Sony Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

It was a fantastic way to start the 2021 calendar year of golf, and a week that Harris English won’t forget in a hurry.

The 31-year-old ended a lengthy eight-year hiatus from the winner’s circle in fine style at the Tournament of Champions, outgunning the field in low scoring conditions to cement his status as one of the best, if underappreciated, players on the planet.

He had to go to the well to, given that his 54-hole lead quickly evaporated as Joaquin Niemann and Justin Thomas demolished their way through the field on Sunday. But English steadied himself after a sluggish start, made a clutch birdie on the last and forced a playoff with Niemann, whose 63 was enough to give him a share of the 72-hole lead.

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English, with adrenaline pumping through his veins, birdied the first playoff hole to finally get his hands on a trophy and prove beyond doubt that he is a top-20 golfer according to the OWGR very much by merit.

The beauty of the two-week swing in Hawaii is that the players who did well at the Tournament of Champions should thrive at the Sony Open in similar conditions and with a competitive event under their belts – a huge edge on those making their first foray of 2021.

It certainly helps bettors to get a handle on who to back, and feelings of comfort are backed by the familiarity that Waialae Country Club serves up year on year. The rollcall of former winners includes Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson, David Toms, KJ Choi and Vijay Singh, so before we even begin to unpack our shortlisting criteria you know that accurate players that are comfortable in the wind and reliable on the greens tend to thrive.

There are some anomalies of course – whether defending champion Cameron Smith is one of those only time will tell, although the Aussie has performed well in a stiff breeze before and seems to be a streaky, hot-handed putter when the going is good.

Featuring average-sized fairways and larger-than-standard greens, gaining an advantage on the field tends to come from laser-precision on approach or a strong week with the flat stick on what are slowish Bermuda putting surfaces – very similar to the ones last week at the TOC (hint hint).

Unusually for an ocean-front course, Waialae is tree-lined but that foliage cover can only temper the wind somewhat….and here’s another point of difference for 2021. According to the early forecast – which is always subject to change, of course – the breeze won’t be all that strong, relative to normal conditions in Hawaii, and a benign playing environment may well lead to crazy-low scoring. In 2017, in a similar set-up, Justin Thomas joined the 59 club on his way to a -27 winning mark.

That sets the scene rather nicely then for another fine week of golf, but who has made our selection of sleeper picks for the Sony Open?

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The Sony Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

Brendon Todd – 50/1 – Slowly tiptoeing back to form is Brendon Todd, who followed his T8 at the Mayakoba Classic prior to the festive break with T13 at the Tournament of Champions.

He was back putting very well once more, which is always a good sign for the veteran grinder, and if his tee-to-green game holds up he will present himself with plenty of scoring opportunities….in this form with the flat stick, he’s inclined to take them.

In six trips to Waialae, Todd has made five cuts and delivered a T13 and two other top-25 turns in that time. He’ll be hoping to improve on that record in conditions that suit.

Sebastian Munoz – 55/1 – Regular readers of this column will know we are fully signed-up members of the Sebastian Munoz fan club, and we suspect it won’t be too long before he returns to the winner’s enclosure.

The Colombian made it all the way to the TOUR Championship last season, which is a sign of his class, and while form has been patchy since then he has a top-10 at the CJ Cup and top-20s at The Masters, the ZOZO Championship and last week’s Tournament of Champions to call upon.

T10 in the Sony Open a year ago, the need to make birdies won’t faze Munoz and he should prove very much up to the task.

Brian Harman – 55/1 – Harris English proved that steady Eddie’s who have gone a long way between wins can still be trusted to take care of business, and so by that logic Brian Harman is once again an appetizing proposition.

The left-hander is super-consistent, with 12 cuts made in his last 13 starts, and while he hasn’t contested at the top of a Sunday leaderboard he continues to be there or thereabouts.

Harman has top-fives at both the Sony Open and the Tournament of Champions, so clearly he loves life on Hawaii and he has the perfect game and formline to tackle Waialae once again.

Marc Leishman – 66/1 – At his best, Marc Leishman is an elite-level operator and so clearly we’re keeping a close eye on any improvements in his form.

That seemed to have come with his T13 at The Masters, and while he was down the leaderboard at the Tournament of Champions he did rank eighth for SG: Approach there – a happy sign indeed.

The reason why he’s on side at the Sony Open is because there’s little danger lurking off the tee, and so the remaining frailties in his game won’t be put too strenuously to the test.

And then we’re simply hoping for an improvement on the greens….but then, aren’t we always!

Si-Woo Kim – 80/1 – He’s a frustrating young man to bet on, is Si-Woo Kim, with his head-scratching inconsistency.

His New Year resolution will surely have been to be a more regularly prominent figure on leaderboards, but he has been showing signs of that in the past few months – T3 at the Wyndham Championship, T8 at Shriners, T13 at the PGA Championship and T17 at the CJ Cup are all testament to that.

Predicting his movements? That’s the trick. But what we can say is that Si-Woo is a fine wind player who seems to perform better on shorter, par 70 layouts, and he does have a top-five to his name at Waialae too.

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

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2020-2021)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”1.53%” bar_text=”1 out of 65 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “10.76%” bar_text=”7 out of 65 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”29.23%” bar_text=”19 out of 65 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=0%” bar_text=”0 out of 13 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”7.69%” bar_text=”1 out of 13 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”80.00%” bar_text=”52 out of 65 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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Cover photo via Instagram