Sleeper Picks: Shriners Hospitals for Children Open

Chesson Hadley … If there’s a table on the PGA TOUR on which the 32-year-old is going to push all of his chips into its center, it’s in Vegas. Of course it is. Although he won the Puerto Rico Open in 2014, he’s earned more at the Shriners than at any other stop on the schedule. It’s the only tournament at which he’s recorded as many as three top 10s. That includes in each of the last two editions. He also has a streak of seven straight sub-70s on TPC Summerlin. And now he’s fresh off a T23 at Silverado where he scored par or better in every round and ranked highly in all ball-striking metrics. Nick Taylor … While not as impressive as Hadley’s résumé at TPC Summerlin, of all of the courses where the Canadian has made at least three appearances, this is the only site where he hasn’t missed a cut. And this is his sixth trip. His best finish is but a T25 in 2015, but his scoring average is a sporty 69.40. That kind of expectation defined his 2018-19 season during which he went 21-for-28 with four top 25s. He arrives having just polished off a front-loaded T10 at Silverado, his best individual performance in over 13 months. Denny McCarthy … Back already for another appearance on this page. He opened the season as a Sleeper for A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier and responded with a T31. He answered that with a T18 at the Sanderson Farms Championship before taking last week off. The 26-year-old paced the PGA TOUR last season in Strokes Gained: Putting. He’s seventh in the early going in 2019-20, but his ball-striking is measurably improved. It’s a small sample size to be certain, but no matter the data set, it’s always better than the alternative. Placed T15 at TPC Summerlin last year. Bronson Burgoon … Wait a sec. He arrived at the Safeway Open with a trio of top-six finishes and a pair of T19s in his previous six starts combined on two tours, and just now he’s appearing as a Sleeper? You betcha! He missed the cut at Silverado by two strokes, and he’s 0-for-2 at TPC Summerlin (2015, 2018), but if there’s one thing we’ve come to expect from him during his brief career, it’s that he possesses a propensity to pop with less notice than most of his peers. So, now that he’s been on a heater and fully exempt after meeting the terms of his medical extension at Greenbrier, he’s freer than ever before to get after it. Mark Hubbard … Others fresh off the Korn Ferry Tour Finals have made more noise early on, but he’s nipping on their heels. Currently 19th in the FedExCup standings with a T10 at Greenbrier and a T13 at Silverado. He’s connected for six top 25s in his last eight starts across two tours. His most important weapon has proven to be his putter, but he’s also well above average in splitting fairways. While his putting bails out poor approaches, when he hits greens in regulation, he goes for a high percentage of par breakers. Meanwhile, despite a seemingly deficient iron game, he led the KFT in par-3 scoring average in 2019. TPC Summerlin’s quartet of one-shotters is among the easiest set on the schedule, so the 30-year-old has all kinds of reasons to feels jolts of confidence in his fourth appearance in the tournament. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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