Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2023 Shriners Children’s Open

2023 Shriners Children’s Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

Not even those blessed with crystal balls would have foreseen the barmy conclusion to last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship.

Luke List, one of the worst putters (statistically) on the PGA TOUR, won this notorious putting contest from star-in-the-making Ludvig Aberg and the trio of Ben Griffin, Henrik Norlander and Scott Stallings – who have barely recorded a top-20 between them in months – in a first hole playoff.

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If you’d have called that before the off, you’d have been tried as a witch rather than lauded for your powers of prediction.

But these strange things can happen in golf, particularly during this Fall stretch, and so it’s all eyes on this week’s Shriners Childrens Open, a tournament that has been a proving ground for young stars of late.

Tom Kim, the defending champion, Sungjae Im and Patrick Cantlay have all won this event in their mid-20s or younger in recent times, while Bryson DeChambeau was also of that vintage when winning here in 2018. Will we see a repeat of that theme in 2023?

It helps, of course, that the quintet mentioned are thoroughbreds, and there’s a few of those in the mix to ponder this week too. Tom Kim will look to retain his trophy, while the likes of Aberg, Si-Woo Kim, Cam Davis and recent Ryder Cupper Nicolai Hojgaard will be thinking they have a strong chance of a trip to the winner’s enclosure.

One thing that most recent champions at TPC Summerlin share is quality off the tee. The likes of Bryson, Brooks Koepka and Matt Wolff have played well here – bombs away, but more considered sorts have also thrived: Kim, Cantlay, Im and Kevin Na would all have been in and around the top-50 on TOUR for Driving Accuracy at the time of their victory.

Fairways found, players will have an ideal chance to knock their ball close given the sizable Bentgrass putting surfaces, which have little in the way of protection. Indeed, save for some rasping desert winds and a 2,000ft altitude, there’s very little at all to inconvenience the players at TPC Summerlin – hence Kim’s winning mark of -24 a year ago.

So who are we turning to for this 2023 edition? Let’s find out with our Shriners Children’s Open sleeper picks: 

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Tom Hoge – 50/1 – Although he rarely gets the credit he deserves, there are few golfers involved in the Fall Series that can match the iron play brilliance of Tom Hoge.

He gained +1.29 strokes on the field on approach at the Sanderson Farms, and his T13 finish there follows a strong T14 in a classy renewal of the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship.

Although not always the tidiest off the tee, Hoge does seem to up his game when accuracy is the order of the day – he has top-10s in the PLAYERS and Sony Open, as well as an impressive formline of 4-14-24-MC-7 formline at TPC Summerlin.

Justin Suh – 55/1 – Playing out of Las Vegas, you wonder if Justin Suh would have something of an edge at TPC Summerlin – T8 as a little-known pro here a couple of years ago, followed by a missed cut last year, means that the jury is still out on that.

But what we do know is that Suh will find plenty of fairways this week – his default setting is accuracy off the tee, and pleasingly his approach play numbers are on the rise; when he finished T5 and T6 at the Honda Classic and PLAYERS Championship earlier this year, that skillset was fundamental.

One of those rare players that tends to putt well wherever he goes, Suh has the game to win multiple titles on the PGA TOUR. Will his first come on home soil?

Davis Thompson – 60/1 – Let’s take another chance on Davis Thompson in an environment that should suit.

The bomber does have traces of Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Matt Wolff to his game, and while that’s not to say he’s of their quality, the Shriners could provide him with a look at a PGA TOUR title (as it did for that big-hitting trio).

Thompson played very nicely on his way to T12 here last year, and he heads to Las Vegas with the encouragement of a T16 turn at the Sanderson Farms last week, where he gained +2.00 strokes on the field with his ball striking.

Doug Ghim – 66/1 – Ghim missed the cut at the Sanderson Farms Championship despite gaining strokes on the field off the tee, on approach and even around the green.

So, as you’ve probably guessed, he was pretty miserable on the greens – which, ironically, has been a relative area of strength in his game this summer.

But the real weapons in Ghim’s arsenal are his accurate driving and his excellent approach play, which had yielded six top-30 finishes in nine starts prior to the Sanderson Farms. 

Although somewhat unpredictable, Ghim’s performance ceiling is a high one.

Joel Dahmen – 150/1 – The sportsbooks seem to be giving short shrift to form shown at the Sanderson Farms Championship, with Joel Dahmen’s T13 at CC of Jackson seeing his odds lengthen just a week later.

Maybe they’re right in their assertion, but the confidence Dahmen would have taken from that strong turn will surely be felt this week at a track where he’s posted a top-10 finish before.

Ironically, Dahmen lost strokes to the field on approach – he gained them in all other departments, so with some regression to the mean, this fine iron player could go well again if his trademark accurate driving is on point.

He may not win the Shriners, but if you bet with sportsbooks that pay each way places, these are fantastic odds about a very talented individual. 

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

Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2023-2024)

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