Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2022 Valero Texas Open

2022 Valero Texas Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

Well, that escalated quickly.

At the turn of 2022, Scottie Scheffler was a promising young player that had yet to crack the winner’s circle on the PGA TOUR. Fast forward about 12 weeks, and he’s won three tournaments and is the new number one in the world!

His latest victory came at the WCG-Dell Match Play, where he downed the likes of Dustin Johnson and defending champion before taking out event specialist Kevin Kisner in the final.

It’s an extraordinary ascent to the top, and only Woods and Spieth took fewer events to reach the summit – where will Scheffler’s ascendance end?

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The good news for the field this week is that he won’t win the Valero Texas Open, simply because he’s not hanging around in the Lonestar State. But with a trip to Augusta National on the horizon, a number of big names – Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, Bryson and defending champion Jordan Spieth – will tee it up at TPC San Antonio.

While they will be greeted by a pretty straightforward Greg Norman design, the Oaks Course, they may also have to battle the elements – the early weather forecast suggests that the wind could reach up to 16mph, which with few trees on the real estate will provide some examination.

At 7,340 yards for its Par 72, the Oaks is no pushover and there will be plenty of long-range approaches to contemplate, but there’s also some shorter, 100 yard or so wedges on the Par 5s that could prove vital to the winner of the event.

Otherwise, the rough tends to be kept short and manageable, and the greens – originally Bermuda, now overseeded with Poa – are large in stature.

As ever in large green events, there’s that decision to be made on whether you are going to target iron game flushers – they will hit it closer than anybody else – or putting machines, given that GIR numbers should be high from most in the field.

In our Valero Texas Open sleeper shortlist, we’ve kind of straddled both camps with our plays, but don’t be put off by longer prices this week – Corey Conners (175/1) and Andrew Landry (200/1) have both done the business here at huge odds!

So let’s take a look who’s made the cut in our selections this week.

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Kevin Streelman – 60/1 – While not the most glamorous of picks, Kevin Streelman is surprisingly good at scoring each way returns for his backers.

He nabbed a place at the Valspar Championship, and that continues an uptick in form that saw T16 at the Honda Classic and T22 at the PLAYERS Championship in the past month or so.

Streelman has a pair of top-10s to his name at TPC San Antonio, and his solid tee-to-green game and reliable putting stroke should stand him in excellent stead for something similar this time around.

Davis Riley – 60/1 – It’s a case of correlating upsides for Davis Riley this week.

While outside of his bomb-and-gouge remit, you might think, Riley found himself in a play-off at the Innisbrook, and while he would go on to taste defeat it was interesting to see how he adjusted his skillset for the test in hand.

The double-whammy comes courtesy of the fact we know that Riley won one of his Korn Ferry Tour titles – the TPC San Antonio Championship – at this particular golf course, and so once again he modified his approach to get his hands on the trophy.

So there’s plenty of good vibes for Riley, who will surely benefit from his play-off heartache.

Mito Pereira – 66/1 – Concerns about his short game aside, Mito Pereira is developing into an elite iron flusher.

How far that will carry him in the sport, in light of his woes on and around the green, remains to be seen, but his approach play should at least stand him in decent stead at TPC San Antonio.

The Texas Tech grad will feel comfortable in this part of the world, and interesting to is his winning record on the Korn Ferry Tour – three wins and a play-off defeat in a stellar 2020-21 season. Come Sunday, that could be very useful if the leaderboard has an unexpected look to it.

Patton Kizzire – 66/1 – A quality iron hitter and solid putter, the Oaks Course should play right to Patton Kizzire’s strengths.

He’s certainly not the best driver of the ball in world golf, and he has no chipping stroke to speak of, but neither of those skills tend to prove particularly valuable at TPC San Antonio anyway.

It’s notable then that Kizzire finished inside the top-10 here a year ago, and a solid turn through what me would call the ‘high class swing’ – the Arnold Palmer Invitational, PLAYERS Championship and Valspar Championship – should lay the foundation for a strong showing here.

Anirban Lahiri – 125/1 – You’ll see Anirban Lahiri posted as short as 70/1 with some sportsbooks, but if you can avail yourself of the 125/1 about the Indian then you are surely in a value position.

Yes, it’s a chalk pick based on his efforts at the PLAYERS Championship, but Lahiri ranked very nicely in our adjusted ball-striking metric – this wasn’t some ‘lucky’ week where he drained every putt in sight.

Knowing he finished solo fifth here last year, with little lead-in form, only serves to add to the intrigue about his chances at this 125/1 mark.

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

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2021-2022)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”3.60%” bar_text=”4 out of 110 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “17.27%” bar_text=”19 out of 110 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”20.00%” bar_text=”21 out of 110 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”4.54%” bar_text=”1 out of 22 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”4.54%” bar_text=”1 out of 22 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”54.54%” bar_text=”60 out of 110 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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Cover photo via Instagram