Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – Arnold Palmer Invitational

2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational Fantasy Sleeper Report

Barely two weeks after Viktor Hovland broke his PGA TOUR trophy duck, Sungjae Im finally cashed in on his undoubted potential by winning the Honda Classic last week.

The South Korean did just about enough to see off the challenge of Mackenzie Hughes, Tommy Fleetwood – who was eyeing his own maiden Tour title – and Brendan Steele, showing plenty of grit and courage as PGA National bared its teeth on a breezy Sunday.

Coincidentally, or perhaps not, Im is the fourth member of the International team at the Presidents Cup this season – who will be next? There’s certainly some strong contenders in Matsuyama, Ancer, An, Oosthuizen and co.

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So what is in store for the players in the second week of the Florida Swing?

We’re off to one of the classic golf courses on the PGA TOUR rotation, Bay Hill Country Club, that was lovingly renovated and restored by the late, great Arnold Palmer – hence the event’s name.

This doglegging Par 72 is a decent stretch at 7,419 yards, and it’s almost guaranteed that some of the holes will play into the fierce Floridan breeze.

Perhaps that why longer hitters have thrived here in recent times then – McIlroy, Leishman and Day are on the board of honor, while Francesco Molinari did things his way in winning 12 months ago, grinding it out for 54 holes before finishing like a train with a round of 64.

But this isn’t simply a bombs away track, and there has to be some nuance applied given that some of these fairways are doglegging and that sand and water lurks at every turn.

Factor in that the four Par 3s all measure 200 yards plus, and that the quartet of Par 5s are all scoreable, and you can see that length is an advantage at Bay Hill.

What other factors do we need to consider at the Arnold Palmer Invitational? Well, here’s an interesting thing about the eponymous seven-time major champion. He also designed TPC Boston, home of the Dell Technologies Championship, and there are plenty of correlating signs.

Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods have won at both courses – nothing unusual there, they can win anywhere, but there’s loads more that have won one at one and finished well in the other, so there’s a correlation that is perhaps worth exploring.

A proven champion who can hit it long and straight and thrive in east coast conditions. With that profile in mind, who makes it on to our shortlist of Arnold Palmer Invitational sleepers?

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Arnold Palmer Invitational Fantasy Sleeper Report

Bubba Watson – 50/1 – Bay Hill offers players a chance to gain a real advantage off the tee.

With that in mind, Bubba has to be on the radar when fading and drawing the ball is absolutely key.

He’s been in good heart recently, banking top-10s at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Phoenix Open, and quite how or why he missed the cut at his favorite course, Riviera, is anybody’s guess.

No matter, because he’s been gaining strokes from tee-to-green lately, and with four top-25s at Bay Hill – including a best of T4 – Bubba is certainly worth a second look.

Tyrrell Hatton – 55/1 – The Englishman has been in excellent form ever since winning the Turkish Airlines Open in November, and having some time off to nurse an injured wrist it was good to see the good vibes continuing.

That was the case at the WGC-Mexico, where he was in awesome form from tee-to-green in his T6 finish and hopefully that can continue this week.

He has always spoken of being more comfortable on Bermuda, and a T6 at Bay Hill a couple of years ago was perhaps evidence of that.

Abraham Ancer – 66/1 – We’ve already mentioned the charmed run of the International team from the Presidents Cup, and Abraham Ancer is another who has tested the theory hard.

The Mexican finished solo second at the Desert Classic and backed that up with T6 at the Saudi International and T12 at his home WGC-Mexico.

He’s certainly trending the right way then, and there’s plenty of form on Bermuda to excite his backers further.

To dot the i’s and cross the t’s, Ancer finished T7 at another Arnold Palmer design – TPC Boston – at last year’s Dell Technologies Championship.

Max Homa – 75/1 – This excellent young talent has given notice of his class lately.

Pleasingly for followers, Homa banked top tens at both Torrey Pines and Riviera – those are both courses where quality ball-striking wins the day.

He can play in the wind too – T6 at the Phoenix Open and T14 at Pebble Beach is testament to that, and don’t forget that Homa’s sole PGA TOUR victory so far (the Wells Fargo Championship) came in the east on Bermuda.

J.B. Holmes – 125/1 – Here’s a player who keeps popping up on leaderboards, and while he is renowned for his play on the West Coast it’s worth noting that two of his wins have come in Texas and South Carolina.

Three top-20s in his last four starts have brought J.B Holmes back onto the radar, and he does tend to thrive on layouts where plotting and strategy are key.

His record at Bay Hill is something of a mixed bag, but he does have a top-10 here and that is enough to get the juices flowing.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the Arnold Palmer Invitational here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2019-2020)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=1.05%” bar_text=”1 out of 95 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “5.26%” bar_text=”5 out of 95 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”33.68%” bar_text=”32 out of 95 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”5.26%” bar_text=”1 out of 19 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 19 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”66.32%” bar_text=”63 out of 95 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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Cover photo via Instagram