Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2024 World Wide Technologies Championship

2024 World Wide Technologies Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

It’s business time as the 2024 PGA TOUR season reaches its climax.

There’s just three tournaments at which those currently ranked outside the top-125 in the FedEx Fall standings can retain their automatic playing rights for next season.

The World Wide Technology Championship, this week’s event in Mexico, gets us underway, followed by the Bermuda Championship and, finally, the RSM Classic. 

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Getting down to business is the name of the game at this juncture of the season, and it’s perhaps that motivation that drove Nico Echavarria to victory at the ZOZO Championship last time out.

He was languishing at 110 in the FedEx Fall standings before the trip out to Japan, but the Colombian wrapped up his immediate golfing future in style – seeing off Justin Thomas and Max Greyserman to land his second PGA TOUR title.

It just goes to show the opportunities available to the players in these overseas, low-quality fields – as well as for bettors, with Echavarria available at odds in the region of 200/1.

The nature of the host tracks used on the FedEx Fall Series lends itself to shock winners due to how easy they play, with El Cardonal – home of the World Wide Technology Championship this week – no different.

Tiger Woods was on design duties at El Cardonal – his first layout to be used on the PGA TOUR, but it plays nothing like you’d expect it might. Instead, Big Cat had both professional and recreational players in mind with this resort course, hence the wide-open fairways and expansive green complexes. 

The field can only really run into trouble on a couple of the holes, with a single water hazard and less than 50 bunkers on the premises. Unless the wind blows hard, which it’s not scheduled to this week, then El Cardonal is there for the taking.

And taken it was in 2023, with Erik van Rooyen scoring with a mammoth score of -27….in a weak field, remember. Nine players finished -20 or better, while four players in the field made 30 or more birdies-or-better for the week.

In short, we’re expecting an easy, putting shootout in Los Cabos this week.

These can be extremely difficult to predict, but the variance of birdie-fests also presents opportunities – particularly for bettors seeking out value plays at odds of 50/1 or longer.

So, with that in mind, who makes our sleeper shortlist for the 2024 World Wide Technology Championship?

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Michael Kim – 50/1 – One of the perks of playing at El Cardonal, if you’re not the straightest off the tee, is that you have plenty of room to work with.

That will likely come in handy for Michael Kim, whose game – aside from spraying his tee shots – is in good health.

His irons and wedges have been rock-solid on the Fall Swing, for the most part, and it only took a minor improvement on the greens (+0.57 on the field) at the Shriners last time out to finish T5.

Whether Kim has the ability and confidence to putt well for 72 holes remains to be seen, but previous form on Paspalum greens at the Puerto Rico Open and Puntacana Championship at least offers hope.

Joe Highsmith – 60/1 – Currently standing 126 in the FedEx Fall standings, Joe Highsmith knows that a good week in Mexico will claw him back into contention to retain his PGA TOUR card.

Whether by coincidence or design, Highsmith’s game has been improving in-line with the jeopardy he faces in staying on tour. Since the end of summer, he’s gained strokes on the field on approach in three of his last four outings, with some beefy putting gains in his last two, too.

With three top-20s in his last four starts, with a best of T6 at the Black Desert Championship, Highsmith is showing that he is capable of getting into the mix on the PGA TOUR.

Patton Kizzire – 66/1 – If you load up the OWGR page of Patton Kizzire, you note that of his 15 best career performances, three have come in classic resort conditions at Waialae and Kapalua, and two others have come on Mexican soil.

It’s a useful introduction to a player that won on the PGA TOUR just four starts ago, and whose approach play has remained solid ever since.

A cold putter, the first time that Kizzire had lost strokes to the field with the flatstick, cost him a weekend at the Shriners Children’s Open, but a couple of weeks off – and the good vibes for former glories in Mexico – should help to bring the best out of him once more.

Bud Cauley – 70/1 – If Bud Cauley can bring together all of the elements of his game in the same week, he’ll be flying.

He struck the ball beautifully last time out at the Shriners, gaining +1.31 on the field with his ball-striking alone. Alas, an ice-cold short game condemned him to a mid-pack finish.

But then you look at his putting form at the Sanderson Farms, where he finished T5, and the Black Desert Championship, where he made huge gains on the field on the greens, to suggest that Cauley isn’t far away from finding his best….if he can bring his all-round game together. 

Alex Smalley – 80/1 – A high grade ball striker, Alex Smalley’s short game is, perhaps, going to prevent him from maximizing his potential on the PGA TOUR.

So, in that regard, we’re looking for glimpses of positivity….and it may just come in the switch to Paspalum greens.

Why Smalley takes to these typically slow and grainy surfaces only he knows, but T2 and T6 at the Corales Puntacana Championship, as well as T6 at the Mexico Open, suggests that his best work comes outside of the United States. 

With considerable ball-striking gains on the field in two of his last three starts, let’s hope the wonder of Paspalum works once again for Smalley.

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

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