Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2022 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

2022 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Fantasy Sleeper Report

Golf is, by its very nature, a game of inches.

An inch to the left or right and some of the most legendary moments in the sport would never have happened – conversely, there will be some that would have won majors had their putts just started out an extra inch one way or the other.

The irony that will not have been lost on Davis Riley at the Valspar Championship. After 72 holes of regulation action and the first playoff hole against defending champion Sam Burns, Riley hit an approach shot that had pretty much the same line and weight as his opponents.

And while Burns iron just nestled into the fringe of the eighteenth green, Riley’s took one or two extra bounces and ended up in the rough around the dancefloor.

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The rookie could then only watch as Burns’ putt caught the left-most edge of the bucket to drop for his birdie, before his own chip-in attempt dribbled just wide of the target.

Like we say….inches are everything in golf.

So Burns hoisted the trophy aloft and then declared his intention to skip this week’s event, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. It’s a rare outing for the ‘mano a mano’ format, but one that is relatively well received by TV viewers, bettors and DFS gamers who enjoy a change of scene once in a while – especially given the quality strokeplay events that are just around the corner.

Burns, Rory, Cameron Smith….some have chosen not to make the trip to Austin, Texas, but the good news is that plenty have – 64 of the world’s top 70 players, to be exact. The field has that major-like feel to it, and it’s always intriguing to see how the best in the business set about their work in the match play format.

One thing that is for sure – the Austin Country Club is not the most forgiving of playgrounds. One of Pete Dye’s devilish designs, this layout is incredibly short (just 7,082 yards for its Par 71) and so you know there are obstacles galore to protect Dye’s legacy. Those include tree-lined fairways, stacks of pot bunkers, elevation changes, small but speedy overseeded Bermuda greens….oh, and we forgot to mention the often cruel Texan breeze.

The fact that Billy Horschel and Kevin Kisner are the two most recent winners at Austin CC speaks volumes – this is a layout where accuracy and strategy are prized just as highly as bombs and wedges, and that only serves to make the match play format all the more exciting to watch.

So who have we got our eyes on for this notoriously unpredictable event? Let’s take a look in our WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play 2022 sleeper report.

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WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

Max Homa – 60/1 – When the draw was made, you’d have probably detected a merest hint of a smile on Max Homa’s face.

His Group 8 rivals will be Dustin Johnson – who tied tenth for most bogeys made (post cut) at the Valspar, the woefully out-of-form Matthew Wolff and Takumi Kanaya, who makes a rare step up in grade.

With four top-20s in a row, and as a straight-shooting birdie machine, Homa’s game is perfect for match play golf.

Talor Gooch – 66/1 – A popular bet this week is likely to be Talor Gooch.

In Group 9, he’s up against Bryson DeChambeau – he hasn’t played for eight weeks – and grizzled DP Tour veterans Lee Westwood and Richard Bland.

Both of those guys are tidy enough to be a handful around Austin CC, but Gooch’s premium ball-striking and penchant for shooting low numbers marks him out as arguably the betting favorite in Group 9 – in the bracket phase, who knows what will unfold?

Corey Conners – 66/1 – We’d earmarked Corey Conners as a potential bet before the draw had been made, and even now we are still bullish about his chances.

Louis Oosthuizen hasn’t posted a top-10 finish anywhere in 2022, with his putting improvements last year now a thing of the past. Paul Casey has only won 1.5 points in the last two Ryder Cups, while Alex Noren’s wayward driving may preclude him from success at Austin Country Club.

Conners, on the other hand, tends to stay out of trouble with his straight hitting, and his putting improvement – although marginal – has been enough to see him record a pair of T11 finishes on TOUR since the start of 2022.

Keith Mitchell – 80/1 – A guy that ranks eleventh on TOUR for Total Driving and 17th in Scoring Average could take some beating in the match play format.

Add into the mix that Keith Mitchell has been excellent on approach lately, and seems to raise his game when putting on Bermuda greens, and the all-round package is one of great confidence.

Although he doesn’t have an extensive match play resumé, it’s still hard to argue with the form of a man that has finished T13 or better in four of his last five TOUR starts.

Tom Hoge – 100/1 – A fine ball striker, the one thing that has historically held Tom Hoge back is the flat stick.

And yet here’s a guy who has racked up his maiden PGA TOUR title at Pebble Beach not long after finishing solo second at the American Express, so clearly improvements are being made – confirmed by the rolling stats provided by the ever-excellent Data Golf.

Hoge has gained strokes on the field on approach in eight of his last ten starts, and has been above the TOUR average for driving accuracy in six of his last seven. If he takes that to Austin, Big Tom will apply plenty of pressure to his more fashionable rivals.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2021-2022)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”3.00%” bar_text=”3 out of 105 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “17.14%” bar_text=”18 out of 105 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”20.00%” bar_text=”21 out of 105 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”4.76%” bar_text=”1 out of 21 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”4.76%” bar_text=”1 out of 21 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”52.30%” bar_text=”55 out of 105 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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