Sleepers: Travelers Championship

Keegan Bradley … Given everything he accomplished so early in his career, he all but eliminated himself from consideration as a Sleeper no matter where he played, but it’s still subjective to one’s relative criteria. For example, he’s now 31 years of age and has gone nearly five years since his most recent of three PGA TOUR titles. He’s also 120th in the Official World Golf Ranking in which he hasn’t been inside the top 95 in over 15 consecutive months. The surge at the end of 2016 (just before he got married) all but secured his card for next season, but that’s noteworthy because he wasn’t yet exempt. Pouring the ball into the hole has been his greatest challenge since the anchoring ban went into effect, but you can’t rule out his comfort level back in the Northeast. The New England native is 6-for-6 at TPC River Highlands with a pair of top 25s and a scoring average of 68.58. He remains sturdiest tee to green, ranking T5 in total driving and 32nd in greens in regulation. Chad Campbell … It was just two weeks ago when he appeared in this space for the FedEx St. Jude Classic. He finished T10, best of his last 14 starts. And while you can draw a correlation between par-70 TPCs South and River Highlands, this week’s canvas is 400 yards shorter. Not that that mattered to the 43-year-old. As he embarks on his 11th consecutive appearance, he can tap into successful weeks that yielded a T5 in 2010 and a T7 in 2014 among seven cuts made. Always a threat on approach, he’s currently T35 on TOUR in greens in regulation, but he’s also third in scrambling. Both of those ranks improved as a result of his play in Memphis. Kyle Stanley … Like a Major League Baseball talent with an option remaining and thus returns to Triple-A frequently, he’s been a regular “call-up” to this section all season, at least when he hasn’t cracked the Power Rankings. A modest 3-for-7 record at TPC River Highlands doesn’t tell the entire story since two of those paydays went for a top 20. The more recent was in 2015 (T20). This season, he’s missed only three of 18 cuts and sits 39th in the FedExCup standings with four top 10s. He recorded two in his last four starts, including a season-best T4 at THE PLAYERS to coincide with his last appearance on this page. Ranks third in total driving, second in greens hit, third in proximity to the hole, fifth in strokes gained: tee-to-green and 11th in adjusted scoring. Harris English … The career arc is a funny thing regardless of pedigree. He was on cruise control during his first five seasons. A continuation of that this season could have been classified as a glass ceiling, but a professional golfer arguably learns more about who he is inside the ropes when facing adversity or achieving the culmination of the potential. In other words, stagnation may not be as valuable as a rut because clarity and refined focus can be a byproduct of failure. As he encroaches on his 28th birthday (July 23), the two-time PGA TOUR winner is out there battling for his card for 2017-18, and he’d be winning in a decision right now. With glimmers in his last three starts, including a T10 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, he’s 102nd in the FedExCup standings and poised to pile on at TPC River Highlands where he’s 4-for-4 with a T7 in 2014 and a T25 in 2015. Wyndham Clark … The wiry 23-year-old from Denver is making his PGA TOUR debut and might need to downshift right out of the gate on relatively short TPC River Highlands. He’s fresh off Player of the Year honors in the Pac-12 Conference won outright for the first time by his Oregon Ducks. He claimed the individual title by three shots. It was the perfect conclusion to a phenomenal and, at times, heartbreaking college career that began at Oklahoma State. While enrolled in Stillwater, he lost his mother to breast cancer. Oregon presented a fresh (re)start for his senior season. He’s since secured status on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada and a sponsor exemption into the John Deere Classic, just as he did for the Travelers Championship.

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