For PGATour.com’s Rob Bolton, one name immediately jumps into mind when it comes to the sleeper front for this week’s Greenbrier Classic. And that name is Scott Brown. He already has a pair of runner-up finishes this season, tying for second at the Genesis Open and Zurich Classic. The flat stick will be key for Brown this week. When he finished T2 at Riviera last February, Brown led the field in strokes gained: putting.
Robert Garrigus is another golfer who has caught the eye of Bolton. He delivered one of his best performances of the season at last week’s Quicken Loans National, setting the pace with a birdies-or-better percentage of 40.0. That’s Garrigus’ second-highest clip of 2016-17. If he can rack up the birdies once again this week, watch out!
Grayson Murray’s another guy who’s playing some solid golf as we speak. The 23-year-old heads into The Greenbrier Classic having survived 10 consecutive cuts and ranked 113th in the FedExCup standings. Murray is 46th in the PGA Tour in birdie-or-better percentage and that will be a crucial weapon for him at Old White TPC this week.
Rounding out Bolton’s sleeper picks are Tyrone Van Aswegen and Chris Stroud. Van Aswegen is fresh off a T26 at the Quicken Loans National where the South African ranked second in strokes gained: approach-the-green and tied for 10th in converting chances into par breakers.The 35-year-old is currently 117th in the FedExCup standings. Stroud, on the other hand, has recorded two top 10s in five trips to Old White TPC. He already has three top-15 finishes this season.
Sporting News (Alec Brzezinski)
Sleeper Picks
Charles Howell III
David Lingmerth
Looking for a worthy sleeper? How about Charles Howell III (+3,500)? The PGA Tour veteran came close to nabbing his first victory in more than 10 years, losing in a playoff at last week’s Quicken Loans National. With that showing, Howell notched his 16th career runner-up finish. Not bad for a guy who just returned from a rib injury last week.
Another guy who’s playing well at the moment is David Lingmerth (+2,200). He held the 54-hole lead at Quicken Loans before settling for a fifth-place finish. With that showing, Lingmerth now has six top-25 finishes in his last eight starts. He will look to keep the momentum going at the Old White TPC where he finished in the top-10 in both 2013 and 2015.
