Sleeper Picks: Fantasy golf advice for the WGC-HSBC ChampionsSleeper Picks: Fantasy golf advice for the WGC-HSBC Champions
Hao Tong Li … The lanky 23-year-old is the host nation’s highest-valued golfer at 54th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Each of the top seven Chinese talents are in the field of 78 at Sheshan International. Thanks most to his one-stroke victory over a deep pool of talent at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic nine months ago, he’s 21st in the Race to Dubai standings. Most recently, he’s added a T5 at the Dunhill Links and a T9 at the British Masters. This will be his sixth consecutive appearance in the WGC-HSBC Champions. His personal-best finish is a T7 in 2015. Lucas Bjerregaard … If you don’t pay attention to golf abroad, then this is for you. If you do, then it will feel like cheating to slot him on this page, but at 53rd in the Official World Golf Ranking, he qualifies … barely. While he captured his first European Tour title at the Portugal Masters in September of last year, 2018 has served as his breakout. In 16 starts since finishing sixth at the Volvo China Open, he’s connected for nine top 10s. The headliner was a one-stroke victory over two-time defending champion Tyrrell Hatton at the Dunhill Links. As a result, the 27-year-old Dane sits comfortably at 11th in the Race to Dubai. Matt Wallace … With his trajectory over the last three seasons, it was only a matter of when – not if – he was going to crash a World Golf Championship. The 28-year-old from London is 62nd in the Official World Golf Ranking. He made surreal news in 2016 by winning six times on the Alps Tour, including in five consecutive starts over a four-month period. Come mid-May of 2017, he went wire-to-wire at the Open de Portugal for his breakthrough victory on the European Tour in what was just his fourth career start. This year, he’s added three victories, the most recent of which in Denmark on the first Sunday of September. A T3 at the Volvo China Open in late April also contributes to his current spot at 20th in the Race to Dubai standings. Yuki Inamori … Just 24 years of age and making his PGA TOUR debut after lighting up the Japan Golf Tour with video-game numbers. In his last 15 starts going back six months, he’s finished outside the top 25 just once and ranks first in fairways hit, fourth in greens in regulation, first in scrambling and third in scoring. Currently second on his circuit’s money list with his breakthrough victory at the Japan Open Golf Championship two weeks ago. It included an exemption into the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush. Andrea Pavan … Francesco Molinari established the European record with a 5-0-0 slate at the Ryder Cup and won thrice earlier in the summer, but he’s not the most recent Italian to win on a major tour, Pavan is. The 29-year-old native of Rome secured his first European Tour victory by two strokes in the Czech Republic in late August. He was teammates with Bronson Burgoon at Texas A&M when they won the 2009 NCAA Championship. Pavan subsequently prevailed four times on the Challenge Tour before first scaling to the European Tour as a rookie in 2012. Currently 33rd in the Race to Dubai, this week’s appearance marks his debut in a World Golf Championship
