Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – The Open Championship

The Sleeper Report: Fantasy Golf Sleepers, Long Shots, and Undervalued Picks for The Open Championship 2016

The Open Championship Fantasy Sleeper Preview

The PGA TOUR gets back on track in a big way this week as it heads to the Royal Troon Golf Club in South Ayrshire, Scotland for The Open Championship.  The third major of the year took root 156 years ago and is known for being played on some of the oldest, most beautiful courses that Europe has to offer.  The venue for this installment was last host in 2004 and another seven times before that, and this week’s players will once again face the par-71, 7,175-yard course that calls the rugged coast of Scotland home.

As with any major, the winners in this event have been some of the most prestigious in the game, and each of the last three victors–Zach Johnson, Rory McIlroy, and Phil Mickelson–are in the Top 20 of the current Official World Golf Rankings.  Johnson’s 2015 win was his second career major after first taking home the trophy at the 2015 Masters, and he needed to put in extra work to get it.

After 72 holes of golf and numerous weather delays, Johnson went into a Monday playoff with 2010 Open winner Louis Oosthuizen and Australian Marc Leishman.  Over the four holes, Johnson bested Oosthuizen by a single stroke.  His winning score of 15-under-par was better than the average of eight-under over the previous four seasons.  The last time this event took place at Royal Troon, it was American Todd Hamilton who bested Ernie Else in a playoff after going 10 shots under par over the four days.

The field will once again be tremendous, as everyone clamors to get their hands on one of the major trophies, and it will be led by a strong quartet of players the likes of which this game has not seen in a long time.

Coming into this week, OWGR No. 2 golfer Dustin Johnson has won in his last two outings, the U.S. Open and Bridgestone Invitational, and certainly seems to have gotten the big event monkeys off of his back, as he currently leads the FedExCup standings.  Behind him in the odds sits world No. 1 golfer Jason Day, who has eight wins since the start of the 2015 season, including his first major at the PGA Championship, two WGC events, and THE PLAYERS Championship.  Additionally, no one can forget No. 3 Jordan Spieth, who is looking to add the British Open to his 2015 Masters and U.S. Open victories, and four-time major winner Rory McIlory.  Following those big names are nearly all the golfers from the top 85 in the world, with two notables missing in No. 16 Brooks Koepka and No. 67 Jaco Van Zyl.

The majors are always a place for the best in the sport to shine brightest, but there certainly are some surprises that make their ways through the cracks and perform well above expectations in these big events.  Below are a handful of “sleeper” players with longer odds who could do just that over the four days at The Open.

The Open Championship 2016 Fantasy Sleeper Report

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Cover photo via Flickr.