Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – Farmers Insurance Open

2020 Farmers Insurance Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

Fans of sleeper bets will be drawing huge red arrows on their 2021 calendar in readiness for the next edition of The American Express.

Just 12 months ago, Adam Long defied logic to win this event at handy sportsbook odds of 500/1.

Fast forward to last week, and once a champion emerged in La Quinta who few people – if anybody – could have predicted.

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Andrew Landry, a 175/1 chance before a ball had been struck, made light work of a string of form that read MC-MC-MC-MC-MC to triumph on the west coast, outdoing the fast-finishing Abraham Ancer to take the spoils by two shots.

Quite what clicked for Landry is anybody’s guess, but once he found something in his swing the relative ease of the three courses on the rotation allowed him to continue firing at pins with gay abandon.

That won’t be the modus operandi at Torrey Pines this week, home to the Farmers Insurance Open.

This tends to be one of the classier events on the calendar, with a tough host venue (Torrey Pines South, a decent assignment plays host to three of the four rounds, the easier North the other) that rewards length and accuracy off the tee, not to mention some laser-like approaches.

This is the proverbial ball strikers test, and these tend to bring the best out of the quality operators in the field – Rose, Rahm, Day and Snedeker are the most recent champions here.

So, this arguably isn’t the best of events for sleeper backers, although the likes of Scott Stallings and Ben Crane have won here, so let’s not give up the ghost just yet.

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Farmers Insurance Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

Joaquin Niemann – 50/1 – The Greenbrier champion has been coming in and out of form ever since, but the Chilean looks to be a young prospect that is here to stay at the elite-end of the sport.

He most appeals in events where ball striking is rewarded, rather than dropping bombs off the tee, and his thoughtful approach should yield dividends at Torrey Pines.

Comfortable on the west coast, Niemann is the match of many above him in the betting this week, which makes his 50/1 odds with the sportsbooks all the more appealing.

Marc Leishman – 55/1 – One of the most pathologically poor putters at the top end of golf, Marc Leishman is routinely a hot flat stick away from becoming one of the best players in the world.

His tee-to-green game is in fine fettle at the moment, so that’s half of the battle, and we can only assume he enjoys the putting surfaces at Torrey Pines given his fine performances here (four top-10s, including a pair of T2 finishes).

The Australian flushed it at the Sony Open a couple of weeks ago, and as a four-time winner on the PGA TOUR he is clearly somebody who can putt well when on a roll – can he bring the magic this week?

Lanto Griffin – 80/1 – Another who should thrive in a test of driving prowess is Lanto Griffin, whose strong form continues.

Since the Greenbrier, the Houston Open champion has played in ten PGA TOUR events and recorded eight top-20 finishes, including his win and another top-10 into the bargain.

So Griffin returns to the state of his birth in outstanding form and with the ingredients to really rather well at Torrey Pines. Could he add a second PGA TOUR victory to his resumé this week?

Bud Cauley – 80/1 – It’s a hot take, but it’s a real surprise that Bud Cauley doesn’t have multiple PGA TOUR wins under his belt, such is the strength of his all-round game.

You can see it in performances like his T4 at The American Express last week, where every facet of his game was in decent order. A third round of 71 ultimately prevented him from contending more closely.

Cauley likes it at Torrey Pines with a pair of T13 finishes, and if he can have another good week off the tee then he can let his money iron and wedge game take care of the rest.

Cameron Champ – 80/1 – One of the best drivers in the world, you wonder how well courses like Torrey Pines will serve Cameron Champ over the course of his career.

This is the dream layout in many ways for a player who smashes the ball long and straight, and he also has the advantage of hitting a driving iron or a wood on holes where others are throwing the kitchen sink at the ball off the tee with the big stick.

Of course, the other aspects of his game need to come up to the mark before Champ can really be classed as a world-beater in the making, but there’s a nice consistency to his game right now – he’s finished no worse than T33 in his last four starts – and lest we forget he’s already won twice in barely a year on the elite-level circuit.

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

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2019-2020)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 65 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “5.00%” bar_text=”3 out of 65 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”38.46%” bar_text=”25 out of 65 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 13 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 13 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”61.53%” bar_text=”40 out of 65 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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