Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – The AT&T Byron Nelson

2018 AT&T Byron Nelson Fantasy Sleeper Report

After the majesty of THE PLAYERS Championship, there is a feeling of ‘back to school’ about this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson.

Webb Simpson showed everyone that when quality tee-to-green merchants find a putter that works for them, magic has a habit of following. It is hard to remember anyone that has quite taken TPC Sawgrass apart like the former US Open champion did.

The PGA TOUR moves on to Texas once more with the Byron Nelson, an event normally held at the TPC Four Seasons track but that has this year been uprooted to Trinity Forest GC, ironically a Links-inspired stretch with little or no trees at all!

This lack of familiarity has proven to be the event’s undoing, by all accounts. A thin field as it was has been further depleted by withdrawals, and the field is now rather sparse to say the very least.

Jordan Spieth is a heavy favorite with the bookmakers and that’s fair enough: he loves playing Links golf and plays well in Texas every time he sets foot in his home state.

Jordan Spieth of the United States plays his shot from the fourth tee…

Jordan Spieth of the United States plays his shot from the fourth tee during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on May 13, 2018 in Ponte Vedra Beach,… Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

But when you have Matt Kuchar – that’s no win four years and counting – as a 12/1 second favorite, you know this is going to be a tricky betting heat to decipher.

Happily, there is some value down the field in among the sleepers, and punters will be looking to take advantage in a week that is as wide open as the Tour has been for quite some time.

So, what has scared of the field from playing Trinity Forest in its inaugural hosting? It’s an inland Links stretch that will surely be buffeted by the Texan winds, and with small Bermuda greens perched atop elevations and cambers in the land you can see why not everyone would fancy the job.

But for those still in the running this is a fantastic opportunity to land a tremendous payday and add a PGA TOUR title to the collection; or indeed get that hunt for silverware up and running.

So who makes our shortlist of sleepers to roster this week? Let’s have a look…

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AT&T Byron Nelson Fantasy Sleeper Report

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AT&T Byron Nelson Fantasy Sleeper Report

Charles Howell III – Vegas Odds 50/1 – If Charles Howell III is ever going to win again, you suspect it will come in a low-grade affair in Texas….and here we are!

With top-fives to his name in Dallas and Houston, Chucky Three-Sticks loves it in this neck of the woods, and he’s such a consistent performer that his game tends to travel across states too.

He’s banked T21 or better returns in three of his last four starts – and in better company than this, it must be added – and if you want to ensure a good run for your money how about this: CHIII has made the cut in 15/17 appearances this season!

Scott Piercy – Vegas Odds 66/1 – A tournament winner in penultimate start, it is not beyond crazy that Piercy could double-up in Dallas.

It would be fair to say that Billy Horschel did much of the heavy lifting in that Zurich Classic triumph, but Piercy certainly played his part courtesy of some sublime ball-striking from tee-to-green.

He can’t putt for toffee, we know that, but perhaps seeing his good friend Horschel offer up a masterclass a couple of weeks ago may just spur him on.

Ranking first on Tour for SG: Approach, nobody is better placed to find these tricky greens than Piercy, and if they are as complex as has been suggested then the advantage that the supreme putters have over the mere mortals will be tempered somewhat anyway.

Graeme McDowell – Vegas Odds 66/1 – When you look at the list of G-Mac’s PGA TOUR successes – US Open, RBC Heritage, OHL Classic – a clear theme emerges.

A fondness for playing in the wind isn’t a big surprise for a man born in Northern Ireland and who studied just along from Texas in Alabama, and so his game looks ideally suited to the test in Dallas this week.

Most intriguingly, McDowell seems to have found some form with the putter of late, ranking eighth for SG: Putting when finishing T27 at the Wells Fargo Championship last time out.

JB Holmes – Vegas Odds 90/1 – This week’s selection has a theme of taking chances about it, and JB Holmes certainly fits into that category.

He’s not finished inside the top-30 of an event in eleven attempts, but there is just something about his game that can come alive at the drop of a hat.

A former Houston Open champion, Holmes is also a proven sort on the Links too: he finished third in the 2016 British Open, and has shown up well at Pebble Beach on occasion.

With the proverbial ‘good touch for a big man,’ JB is deft enough around the greens to perfectly compliment his long hitting style, so perhaps Trinity Forest is the location where he finds the kind of form that saw him selected for the last Ryder Cup squad.

James Hahn – Vegas Odds 110/1 – In a field as lacking in proven PGA TOUR winners as this, it pays to back those that have been there, done it and gotten the trophies to prove it.

James Hahn is a two-time PGA TOUR champion who could well have made it three had he not lipped out on the eighteenth in this event 12 months ago; that ultimately prevented him from entering into the playoff against Horschel and Day.

In total, Hahn has racked up fourteen top-10 finishes, so quotes of 100/1+ are more than fair here.

The 36-year-old has a strong all-round game and seems to prosper in the wind; he was solo second in the Sony Open earlier this season, and T11 at the Phoenix Open too.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for AT&T Byron Nelson here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2017-2018)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”1.60%” bar_text=”2 out of 125 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent=”8.80%” bar_text=”11 out of 125 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”28.00%” bar_text=”35 out of 125 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”4.00%” bar_text=”1 out of 25 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”4.00%” bar_text=”1 out of 25 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”62.40″ bar_text=”78 out of 125 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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