2015 Northern Trust Open Fantasy Sleeper Picks

By Danny Norris | Feb 17, 2015

The PGA Tour moves down south to Los Angeles, California this week for the Northern Trust Open. A tournament where Bubba Watson found his groove back and propelled him back to being one of the elite players on the PGA Tour.

This week’s fantasy picks are interesting considering the fact that they aren’t really deep sleepers. They are sleepers in a sense where they are cheap pick ups, but you wouldn’t necessarily think of them as sleepers, but they are according to DraftKings’ pricing. I’ll put it this way, finding cheap picks was very easy, almost too easy in fact.

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Anyway, enough talk about that, here are the 2015 Northern Trust Open fantasy sleeper picks.

K.J. Choi– So, we’ll start off with K.J. Choi, who is a pretty big name on Tour and he has a really solid course history here at Riviera, yet he is 6,500 this week. He’s a really cheap pick up and an extremely valuable pick when you factor everything all together.

Choi is in pretty decent form this year making the cut in all four events he has played in this season; Including, a T-22 and T-53 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and Farmers Insurance Open, respectively.

Plus, Choi has been really good at Riviera making the cut the last five years and never finishing worse than 33rd. If Choi finishes 33rd this year, that would be great considering where he’s at in terms of salary value.

Aaron Baddeley– Last week it was strange to see Aaron Baddeley so cheap and this week it’s pretty strange again. Baddeley was solid enough finishing in a tie for 54th. Considering where he was salary wise it was fine, but I was expecting more from Baddeley.

We’ll see if he bounces back a bit this week and maybe cracks the top 25-30. Which wouldn’t be too unexpected as Baddeley has finished inside the top 18 three of the last four years, including a win in 2011.

As I mention just about every week, I don’t care about the why in pricing, it just is and it’s all about trying to take advantage.

Kevin Chappell– For the third straight week I have Chappell on the list. One of the reasons is, of course, he is a sleeper under-the-radar pick. Two: He is a really good player, and three: He is a west coast kid familiar with these courses. Especially this one in Riviera.

Chappell went to school at UCLA and UCLA’s home course is the Riviera Country Club. A couple of years back fellow UCLA Bruin, John Merrick, won the Northern Trust Open.

This maybe the year another Bruin wins it and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Chappell hoist the trophy. Chappell is a really talented golfer who hasn’t quite put it all together yet.

Since turning professional on the PGA Tour, Chappell has played the Northern Trust Open the last three years, made the cut in two of them. Last year, he finished T-23, and in 2012 he finished T-24.

Brian Harman– Brian Harman’s game fits Riviera. Bombing it 350 yards isn’t a requirement – it helps just look at Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson last year – but it isn’t a high priority.

Harman strikes the ball really well, is very accurate, and putts well. The proof has been in the pudding the last couple of years. In 2013, Harman finished T-51, and last year he finished T-3.

Harman flies under-the-radar because he isn’t a big guy, he isn’t flashy, but when it’s all said and done, he’s usually right up there on the first couple of pages of the leaderboard. Watch out for Harman this week, he’s a very sneaky player.

Cameron Tringale– Cameron Tringale has been up-and-down so far this season. The pattern has been make the cut, miss the cut, make the cut, miss the cut, and so on. If you believe in patterns like that, you might not want to take him. But, he does have a rock solid course history.

Tringale has made the cut the last four years and has finished no worse than 24th. Last year, Tringale finished T-12, in 2013: T-21, 2012: T-24, and 2011: T-21.

Like, Choi and Harman, Riviera fits Tringale’s game. He doesn’t bomb it a long ways, but it just strikes the ball really well, and doesn’t make too many mistakes.

I’d recommend Tringale if you are trying to fit in Bubba Watson or Dustin Johnson into your lineup this week. As we’ve seen this year, the top guys are really, really, expensive.

Which kind of makes me a bit frustrated because getting Rory McIlroy in your lineup at the Masters is going to cost a pretty penny. Probably upwards to 15, 16 thousand. It’s going to be really hard, but anyway, that’s a topic for another day.

Next: Northern Trust Open Power Rankings