Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic

2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic Fantasy Sleeper Report

The 3M Open of 2022 will perhaps long be remembered for the meltdown suffered by Scott Piercy, whose brave title charge – which would have extended his PGA TOUR career – fell apart on the back nine at TPC Twin Cities.

But it’s always right and proper to congratulate the player that takes advantage of the wobbles of others, and – let’s be honest – Tony Finau has endured plenty of woe of his own when deep in contention.

In Minnesota he was a different animal altogether. Even though Piercy opened the door, Finau trampled his way through it – posting three birdies in a row deep into the business end to secure that was, in the end, a comfortable victory.

Embed from Getty Images

That’s two wins in as many years for a player whose talent is not in question….could he kick on from here and become a serial winner on the PGA TOUR?

He’ll have an immediate chance to aim for that ambition, with Finau in the field for this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic alongside the likes of British Open runner-up Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay, Will Zalatoris and other big guns aside.

They’ll be greeted by a Detroit GC layout that is rather feature-less and, thus, easy to defeat, with the average winning score here since the tournament began a breezy -22. There are trees, sand and one large water hazard, but the absolute majority of this field will be able to avoid the mess and set themselves up for the attack-the-flag contest that the Rocket Mortgage Classic is. 

More than a century ago, Donald Ross created this layout and probably thought that the distance – 7,370 yards for its Par 70 – would be ample to future-proof it. But, as we know, golf has moved on, and now a layout with three Par 5s around the 550-yard mark, and four Par 4s under 400 yards, we know that all of the players in this field can go low regardless of their length off the tee.

This is an event where Bryson DeChambeau and Ryan Armour, who are separated by about 50 yards off the tee, on average, have both banked top-five finishes, while the defending champion Cameron Davis was entering the PGA TOUR winner’s enclosure for the first time 12 months ago when he downed Joaquin Niemann and Troy Merritt in a five-hole playoff. 

But who will replicate his achievement? These putt-heavy contests tend to open the door for a long-odds sleeper or two to thrive, so without further ado let’s take a look who has made our shortlist of sleepers for the 2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic. 

[membership level=”0″]

You must be a Premium Member to view our exclusive fantasy golf picks.

Already a member?  Sign in Here.

[/membership]

Scott Stallings – 55/1 – He’s not the kind of player that generates headlines or social media traction, but Scott Stallings is truly riding the crest of a wave right now.

He’s scored three top-10s in his last five outings on the PGA TOUR, and stellar returns back-to-back at the John Deere Classic (T4) and Travelers Championship (T8) most recently.

His approach game has been outstanding of late, and when you pair that with a renewed sense of confidence on the greens – Stallings has served up positive putting numbers in those three top-10s, naturally – you tend to get fine results.

A T6 finish at Silverado earlier this season sets the scene rather nicely.

Chris Kirk – 55/1 – A return to American soil might prove to be just the ticket for Chris Kirk.

He’ll have been pretty disappointed by his two-week jaunt to Scotland, but such is Kirk’s form lately that lack of progress on the Links can be forgiven now that he’s back in more familiar surroundings.

Gaining strokes on the field with his flat stick in each of his last four starts on US soil, Kirk remains – as he always was – an excellent tee-to-green merchant. Can he put it all together at Detroit GC?

C.T. Pan – 80/1 – Fans of such things will be suitably impressed by the statistic that C.T. Pan has gained strokes on the field on approach in eleven of his last thirteen starts.

Timing is everything in this sport, and to that end it’s noticeable that he’s also improved in the short game department lately too – posting green numbers around the green, and on them, in three of his last four outings. 

Like Stallings, Pan also finished T6 at the Fortinet Championship at the start of this campaign, and so he’s another that appears to be well-placed to perform nicely at Detroit GC. 

Adam Svensson – 80/1 – It’s rather bizarre to note that Adam Svensson gained +1.50 strokes on the field putting at the 3M Open despite missing the ct.

Amateur detectives will have come to the conclusion – correctly – that his ball-striking game was wretched, but that goes against the grain of the Canadian’s general excellence from tee-to-green lately.

Available at sportsbook odds of 50/1 last week, the 80/1 price offered now is a bizarrely harsh downturn on the back of just one bad week, and here’s hoping that Svensson shows the bookmakers they are wrong to forsake him so readily.

Stewart Cink – 100/1 – There’s plenty to like about Stewart Cink’s chances this week given his ball-striking improvement last time out at TPC Twin Cities.

The veteran is, eye-catchingly enough, a winner on our comp course of Silverado, and so he should turn up to Detroit GC feeling pretty swell about things after gaining +1.70 strokes on the field last week when combining SG: Off-the-Tee and Approach.

Cink’s flat stick has been running cold for some time now, and we don’t really have any mitigating words or crumbs of comfort about that – just know that he isn’t a terrible putter, generally speaking, and gained more than +1.00 on the field putting at the Memorial Tournament in June.

[/membership]

Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the Rocket Mortgage Classic here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2021-2022)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”3.16%” bar_text=”6 out of 190 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “14.21%” bar_text=”27 out of 190 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”19.47%” bar_text=”37 out of 190 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”7.89%” bar_text=”3 out of 38 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”2.63%” bar_text=”1 out of 38 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”51.05%” bar_text=”97 out of 190 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

---

Cover photo via Instagram