2008 Fantasy PGA Golf Sleepers – Part I

I won’t get cute here. You know what a sleeper is, I know what a sleeper is, I know that you know what a sleeper is. Hence, let’s get started and check out some players you either don’t know about who might make an impact in 2008, or players you already know who might significantly exceed expectations.

Let’s start with a look at a handful of players who graduated from the Nationwide Tour to the Big Show this season.

Jason Day
Day, who has gotten so much pub recently that he only barely qualifies as a sleeper, was a decorated amateur in Australia before plying his trade a year ago on the Nationwide Tour. There, he became the youngest player ever to win a PGA-sanctioned event (yes, younger than Tiger) when he took the Legend Financial Group Classic Presented by Cynergies Solutions Niner Yadda Yadda Yadda in July. He followed that with three more top-five finishes in the next four events. His stated goal is to win twice on the pgatour this year (yes, just like Tiger), and everyone from fans to swing coaches to experts to yours truly has a serious crush on him. The kid can pound it off the tee, owns a deft short game, and can roll it in the cup on the short stuff. The only question is how much a wrist injury that befell him late last year will hamper him.

Nick Flanagan
Surprise, surprise – another Aussie. Flanagan would have been a shoe-in to lead the Nationwide circuit money list, only he was too good to stay on said Tour all season long. After winning his third Nationwide event of the season in August, Flanagan got a so-called “battlefield promotion” to the big leagues. He had to wait out the FedEx Cup Playoffs for a few weeks, then carded top-20 finishes in each of his first two events before finally running out of gas in October. The former U.S. Amateur champion has the game to thrive on Tour, and a victory in 2008 wouldn’t be surprising.

Richard Johnson
Troy Matteson, Zach Johnson, and Chad Campbell are among those who won the Nationwide Tour money title and went on to big things the following season on Tour. I’ll freely admit that I know next to nothing about Richard Johnson (I do know not to confuse him with “Little Richard” Johnson, the diminutive Swede who hasn’t amounted to much over the last several seasons on Tour), but the fact that he carded eight top-10 finishes and won two of his final four events a year ago is more than enough to convince me that he should factor into things one or way or another next year. Often, PGA Tour rookies are wildly inconsistent, but if you can catch them on a hot streak you can ride them for a month or more. I don’t know when that will happen for Johnson, but I’d be willing to bet that it will.

Jon Mills
Mills was having a solid campaign on the Nationwide circuit a year ago, then turned it into a great showing when he won the Albertsons Boise Open in late September, then followed that with three more top-10 finishes in his next four events. The Canadian native ranked second on the Nationwide Tour in All-Around ranking and third in scoring average, which may not impress you that much until you consider that Boo Weekley ranked first and fourth in those same categories in 2006, and he had a pretty amazing season last year. Also like Weekley, this will be Mills’ second season as a full-timer with the big boys, and his previous experience should suit him well.

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For more 2008 fantasy PGA golf sleepers, see Part II and Part III of the series.