Sleeper Picks
Get sleeper picks from 50+ fantasy football experts. We compare expert rankings to ADP from Yahoo, ESPN and CBS to uncover NFLs hidden gems. Our default setting defines a Sleeper as a player that is being drafted outside of the Top 200 (ADP), but is ranked at least 30 rank spots better (Rank vs.
The new PGA Tour season is upon us and this will be a jam packed year with 50 events on the schedule most of them to be played in 2021. There are 6 majors in total and for all types of fantasy golf players there will be non-stop golf to watch.
Although I have shifted much of my fantasy golf to DFS playing mostly at DraftKings and FanDuel, I still have two year long fantasy golf leagues that I have been in for years and with every start to a new PGA Tour season I have to look at what guys underperformed the previous year and now would be considered sleeper picks for my fantasy golf league for the year.
This year is a bit different because I always include new PGA Tour card rookies into my sleeper picks. I have made some nice teams with rookies that graduate from the Korn Ferry Tour including last year with Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler and the previous year with Sungjae Im. Unfortunately this year the Korn Ferry 25 who qualified for a card don’t get to play on the PGA Tour except for a few tournaments and some sponsor exemptions because with Covid, many of the tour players from last year were affected so this year they got to keep their card and thus the rookies got put behind the top 150 money earners from last season.
The rookies get to return to the Korn Ferry Tour and play for next year and some alternate events however if any player wins 3 tournaments on the Korn Ferry Tour, they will get bumped up to PGA Tour status.
Regardless, I will only focus my sleeper picks on guys that were on the tour last year, have their card but underperformed in their money earnings and will be a great pick up for a yearlong fantasy golf team.
Many of the names below aren’t sleeper picks in the real sense of the word as they are still some of the better golfers in the world but because of the circumstances picking them will help you win your full season golf league
Top 2021 PGA Tour Sleeper Picks
Justin Rose
Justin Rose was bad last year Covid, or no Covid but Justin Rose isn’t this bad yet I don’t think. He is a major champion and still ranked in the Top 20 in the world as this is being written so he will get to enter all the majors and the WGC tournaments which are all the big money prize events. Rose may not be able to compete with some of the other big names on Tour but he will get back to respectability in 2021 and make more than the sub $1 Million he made last year.
Brooks Koepka
Koepka became a bigger sleeper pick for 2021 when he announced that he is skipping the first of the two US Open’s on the schedule to heal up some of his injuries. That is a bit concerning for a guy to skip a major but given how hard the Winged Foot course was going to be it may make some sense to skip it. Koepka is still a great golfer and like Rose will be in all the big events so him winning more than he did last year is almost a lock…if he is healthy enough to play this year.
Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood was about to start playing the big PGA Tour events when Covid hit and when golf started up again Fleetwood took his time returning from the UK and then had to quarantine for a couple of weeks. By the time all that was done, his season never really got on track. Listen, Fleetwood is a good young golfer and will one day win a major and many had predicted that he was poised for a breakthrough last year…so bank on the breakthrough to happen in 2021 instead.
Sam Burns
If you truly want a sleeper pick for the 2020-2021 PGA Tour season then look at Burns. Formerly an NCAA player of the year, Burns has been on Tour for a couple of years with so-so results. At this point in his career he will either make a jump to the next level or fight to keep his card in the future. I am banking on him playing in as many events as he can to get a more comfortable footing on the money standings by the end of the year and with more events played come more chances for a win.
Doc Redman
Sleeper Picks Mlb
Sleeper Picks
Redman has some decent showings in the second half of last season and makes me think that he could make the step up this year. For a season long fantasy golf league he is worth it to take a flier on in hopes that he plays in enough weaker field events that he has some big finishes or even a win.
Maverick McNealy
McNealy seems to have been around forever and yet he only had his first full season last year. He qualified at 18 into the 2014 US Open and had played in the odd event since but in his first full PGA season he had three Top 10’s and was OK. This kid has some talent and could make a jump this year to another level.
The final tune up before next week’s PLAYERS Championship tournament heads to Orlando to play in “Arnie’s Tournament” – The Arnold Palmer Invitational. This is a special tournament in so many ways and one of them being that it is by invite only so the field is smaller at 120 players with the Top 70 making the weekend cut with ties after two rounds. The MDF rule comes into effect if more than 78 golfers make the first weekend cut.
The field will have many top golfers in the world but there will be some low end players that will be some DFS players focus when looking for sleepers for the API but because the field is smaller and it is a more select field by invitation, most of the guys that you will consider for sleepers are still pretty good.
One of the most popular picks for fantasy golf fans is Tiger Woods who has won at Bay Hill 8…yes 8 times! If he plays (he has not committed yet) he will be a top fantasy golf pick. But we aren’t looking for top fantasy picks, we are looking for sleeper picks for the Arnold Palmer Invitational and we usually look first to GolfStats.com to see what their write up on the tournament is and who they like for their sleeper picks before we make our final lineups. We like the payouts that we get week in and week out so we suggest you give them a try and you’ll see over the course of a full PGA Tour year that you will end up with more money in your pockets than you’ve made trying to do it on your own. Use GolfStats Promo Code GOLFBONUS and get a discount when you join for a year.
Arnold Palmer Invitational Golf Course
Bay Hill Club & Lodge par 72 - 7,381 yards
The Bay Hill Club and Lodge is a Par 72 and almost 7,400 yards but even though it is long this is not a golf course that bombers go out a dominate. Length off the tee isn’t as important as staying out of trouble which is why good iron players tend to be the more successful crew for the week. Look for ball strikers that can hit it straight down the fairway but have a great iron game that will guide their second shot into the greens.
The key to winning at Bay Hill is hitting greens and being close to the pin on the second shot matters so proximity from 150 - 200 yards is an important stat to check out. Even the long hitters will find themselves 175-200 yards away. Which lends itself to looking at the Greens in Regulation stats. GIR will be extremely important since most holes are surrounded by bunkers and/or water and it will be that second approach shot that will determine if there will be a birdie try or a scramble for par on the hole.
There are four Par 5’s at Bay Hill which are the holes golfers will be looking at for scoring opportunities. Scores in the past vary from -10 to -19 so there are plenty of chances for birdies and eagles on this course. This also leads to looking for guys that are not only good on the greens putting but scrambling will be important since most guys will be chipping out of bunkers throughout the week. The greens are a Bermuda grass surface so watch to see how guys that have played the last couple of weeks putted since they’ve played on Bermuda since hitting the Florida coast.
Remember, there only 120 golfers in the field and not the usual 156 but a normal cut line of Top 70 and ties is still in effect. Around 58% of the players will make the cut and play the weekend so when looking for sleepers, your main focus is still to find 6/6 through the cut. The advantage is that you will be picking from a solid 120 players so even your sleeper picks will be pretty decent players that all will have a legit chance of winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Summary of key Stats:
Greens in Regulation percentage (GIR%)
Strokes gained off the tee
Strokes Gained Approach > 175 yards
Sleeper Picks Golf
Strokes Gained: Approach
Ball Striking
Sleeper Picks Fantasy Baseball
Scrambling
Par 5 Scoring
2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational Tournament Preview
Check out our 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational Preview.
2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational Sleeper Picks
Sam Burns - Came close a couple of weeks ago at the Genesis Invitational to picking up his first career PGA Tour victory. He led until Sunday but fell to 3rd place when others outplayed him. He is 3-3 at the Arnold Palmer tourney and should be a solid sleeper pick to pop into your DraftKings lineups this week.
Sleeper Picks Nhl
Ian Poulter - Poulter is a perfect 10-10 in cuts made at Bayhill and is more of a DFS sleeper pick this week than a bet to win outright. He started 2021 playing the European Desert swing where he was 43-MC-MC-18 in four events. He doesn’t come in riding high but his past performance here makes him a solid pick for lineups.
Byeong Hun An - An is a perfect 5-5 at Bayhill with two Top 15 finishes. He’s played a bit better since the turn of the calendar and makes another solid sleeper pick this week with his history at the tournament. He should be a bargain cost at DraftKings when entering contests.
For expert Arnold Palmer Sleeper Picks that could help you win money at DraftKings or FanDuel this week click on the graphic below: