Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – The RBC Canadian Open

2019 RBC Canadian Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

It’s been a long time coming, but you sense that Patrick Cantlay is ready to cash in on his undoubted talent.

The 27-year-old has had a checkered past, with a back injury costing him a couple of years of his career and a fatal car accident tragically costing the life of friend and caddie Chris Roth.

It’s taken time for him to find his feet as a PGA TOUR pro, but 2019 has been fantastic for him so far: there’s been an incredible eight top-10 finishes in just 14 starts, with T3 and T9 finishes in the Masters and PGA Championship respectively.

And so victory at the Memorial Tournament was both well deserved and heard earned last week. Cantlay certainly won the event, it wasn’t gifted to him, as a final round of 64 attests. It was a classy performance from one of the best iron hitters in the business.

Patrick Cantlay shakes hands with Jack Nicklaus after winning The…

Patrick Cantlay shakes hands with Jack Nicklaus after winning The Memorial Tournament Presented by Nationwide at Muirfield Village Golf Club on June 02, 2019 in Dublin, Ohio. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

He will return to his home state of California next week for the US Open at Pebble Beach, where he might just have designs on landing his first major.

This week, a high-quality field will assemble in Ontario for the RBC Canadian Open. You can understand why Dustin Johnson is in town – he is an RBC ‘ambassador’ – and Brooks Koepka will be wanting to follow the template that saw him win the PGA Championship after a tune-up the week before.

But seriously: why would you want to be 2,000 miles away from the site of the third major of the year? It’s slightly bizarre prep for what will surely be a tough test at Pebble Beach.

It’s not as if Hamilton Golf & Country Club, our host venue this week, has any similarities. A tree-lined, tight affair designed by Harry Colt, there is nothing of the Links about it – indeed, it’s the kind of layout where you might ‘lose’ form, such is the complexity of these greens and their contours.

Still, they say fortune favors the brave, and perhaps a good week in Ontario might prove the unlikeliest of catalysts for success on the west coast.

Anyway, here’s a shortlist of five sleepers who we’re expecting big things from at the RBC Canadian Open.

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RBC Canadian Open Fantasy Sleeper Report

Shane Lowry – 50/1 – The Irishman is known for his exploits on the Links and in the desert, having won both the Irish Open and the Abu Dhabi Championship.

So we know that Lowry likes wide open spaces, but he can also play on tree-lined tracks where there is an emphasis on shot shaping. That was confirmed by his top-10 effort at the PGA Championship a few weeks ago, which followed T3 at the RBG Heritage.

Lowry was born and raised on the Links, so it goes without saying that he has an excellent short game, and that could come in handy at a layout where greens may be missed due to the rapidly sloping surfaces.

And we don’t expect his lack of length off the tee to be exploited, either.

A winner in 2019, Lowry has reasserted himself as a definite ‘sleeper champ’ candidate on the PGA TOUR.

Jason Dufner – 55/1 – Like many on the PGA TOUR, Duf-man is excellent from tee-to-green but find the dark art of putting a tougher nut to crack.

And that’s why when improvements come with the flat stick, we have to sit up and take notice.

He gained +0.40 strokes on the field with the putter at the Memorial Tournament, and while that’s not a stratospheric amount it’s still healthy for a guy who was superb from tee-to-green.

Short off the tee but with a high GIR count, Dufner is another who should appreciate the bomb-free test of Hamilton, and who knows perhaps he can add to his collection of five PGA TOUR titles.

Austin Cook – 80/1 – When you look at the formlines of short hitters like Austin Cook, it’s easy to misconstrue missed cuts or lowly finishes as a lack of touch.

But the reality is that players like the 28-year-old from Little Rock can only shine at certain courses – like Hamilton G&CC.

Cook gained strokes on the field in all areas at Muirfield Village, and we particularly like him at layouts like Colonial, where he finished T19 with rounds of 65 and 67.

The form is improving, and we reckon Cook has the recipe for success at Hamilton.

Nick Watney – 125/1 – Looking to roll back the years this week is Nick Watney, who not many moons ago was one of the most impressive performers around.

Golf is littered with redemption stories – you only need to look at all the strife Cantlay has been through in his young life – and Watney is looking to add to the collection after his own injury woes.

He’s playing well – solo eighth at the Charles Schwab Challenge, T22 at the Memorial – and he also has the profile to thrive at Hamilton.

He’ll hit plenty of greens in regulation, all being well, and make birdie: it’s the perfect recipe for successful golf!

Mackenzie Hughes – 150/1 – While others in the field start thinking about the US Open, one player who won’t be short on motivation is Mackenzie Hughes.

He returns to the city of his birth in Hamilton, and that alone should serve as inspiration for a big performance in front of friends and family.

Hughes hasn’t been playing badly of late, with a T8 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, and as somebody who has won both the PGA and Web.com Tour in recent years we have no qualms about his ability to get the job done.

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

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2018-2019)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”6.29%” bar_text=”9 out of 143 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent=”16.78%” bar_text=”24 out of 143 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”34.97%” bar_text=”50 out of 143 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”6.89%” bar_text=”2 out of 29 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”17.24%” bar_text=”5 out of 29 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”65.03%” bar_text=”93 out of 143 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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Cover photo via Instagram