Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2022 Open Championship

2022 Open Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

It’s with some sadness that we say for the fourth, but final, time in 2022….welcome to major week!

This time it’s off to Scotland we go for the British Open, which is celebrating its 150th year by stopping by the iconic ‘home of golf’, St Andrews.

Chances to win the Claret Jug at such a legendary venue don’t come along all that often, and so for the likes of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas time is very much of the essence.

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Mind you, they might be chasing the tail of Xander Schauffele, who has gone from uber-talented nearly man to champion thoroughbred in the blink of an eye. He has followed his triumph at the Travelers Championship with more success, this time by lifting the trophy at last week’s Scottish Open. As major prep goes, winning an event played a few miles away just days in advance is right up there.

Collin Morikawa will carefully transport the Claret Jug back to the R&A – his triumph 12 months ago one of the few times in recent memory in which a tournament debutant has taken the spoils. It’s generally not the form of the British Open, with more experienced campaigners usually prevailing….heck, even Jordan Spieth was a ten-time PGA TOUR winner by the time he cracked this event in 2017 as a 24-year-old.

Intriguingly, there’s a chance that a long-odds outsider might go on and win the British Open. Shane Lowry (66/1) and Zach Johnson (80/1) were both relatively unfancied by the market when they lifted this famous trophy – the latter, of course, coming at St Andrews back in 2015.

One of the reasons why sleepers have a chance of shocking the field at the British Open is the conditions, which have a unique ability to make the sport’s elite look like club hackers. There will be 15-17mph crosswinds blowing in from the ocean, pot bunkers so deep that Danny De Vito could disappear in them and fairways and greens that are as dry, hard and as fast as grass can get.

Mind you, we have to say it – St Andrews isn’t exactly the hardest course on the Open rotation. Johnson (-15), Louis Oosthuizen (-16) and Tiger Woods (-14) have all won here with plenty of birdies on their cards, and don’t forget that’s despite the fact that the layout only has two Par 5s….one of which is a 615-yard brute.

So making birdies on the Par 4s is paramount on this 7,315 yard Par 72, and so hitting big drives into the wide fairways and then lasering short irons and wedges at the flag is the best way to go about your business at St Andrews. The greens are super-slick and have numerous cambers and undulations, so that second shot is what will separate glory from the other this week.

And so, with that in mind, who makes up our sleeper hitlist for the 2022 British Open?

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Sam Burns – 50/1 – While he doesn’t have a long history of success on Links type golf courses, it’s hard to let the chance to back a player who has won twice in quality PGA TOUR events since the spring pass by.

Besides, Burns opened with a round of 67 in the Scottish Open last week, and while he fell away from there at least it shows some competence in these conditions.

One of the most progressive players around, Burns has the power off the tee and the quality of short game to make short shrift of St Andrews. 50/1 odds on the world number 11? Go on then….

Joaquin Niemann – 50/1 – The Chilean was there or thereabouts at the Scottish Open, ranking tenth for SG: Tee-to-Green and finishing T16 after a Sunday in which little went right.

No matter, because it was confirmation that Niemann can thrive in windy, coastal conditions – as already suspected given his excellent record on the Hawaiian swing and at locations like Harbour Town Links.

The world number 16 is another who comes on the betting radar in strong field events, partly because we’re able to get a value price and partly because he is very much amongst golf’s elite these days.

Max Homa – 60/1 – Our trio of players that have been underrated by the sportsbooks this week concludes with Max Homa, who as the world number 19 perhaps shouldn’t be 60/1 for the win this week.

That is down, partly, to a lack of Links pedigree, however anyone that saw his easy-swinging 66 on Saturday at the Scottish Open will know that Homa has the tools for the job.

A four-time winner on the PGA TOUR, Homa has top-10s to his name at Pebble Beach and Waialae – there’s no reason why he can’t tame St Andrews as well.

Gary Woodland – 100/1 – Opening with a stunning round of 64 at the Scottish Open, Gary Woodland put it into reverse from thereafter….but it was still a tantalizing glimpse of his capabilities.

He’s one of those curious sorts that tends to save his best golf for when the wind is really blowing – as evidenced by wins at Pebble Beach and in the Phoenix Open.

Other strong showings at Waialae, Kapalua and Mayakoba suggest that success on exposed, coastal courses comes easily enough for Woodland. He’ll be hoping for more of the same this week….

Keith Mitchell – 150/1 – With a dad who’s a member at St Andrews and a sister who studied at the nearby university, it goes without saying that this is a special week for Keith Mitchell and his family.

Intriguingly, the big hitter has admitted that he has played the course a number of times before, and so he may have something of an edge on the field this week – particularly when you consider the unique green complexes at the ‘home of golf’.

With length and putting prowess two of the key elements to success at St Andrews, Mitchell seems ideally placed this week.

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

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2021-2022)

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