Sleeper Picks: World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship

Lucas Herbert … With a playoff victory at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic four weeks ago – his maiden title on the European Tour – and three more paydays in 2020, he’s totaled more Official World Golf Ranking points in the calendar year than every other PGA TOUR non-member, in the process climbing 121 spots to 80th. He can hang with anyone in terms of distance off the tee, but like so many Aussies before him, he also has soft hands for scoring. All three of his PGA TOUR appearances to date have been in majors, so the bright lights of a World Golf Championship won’t be unfamiliar. Kurt Kitayama … The native of California and UNLV product took a week off after finishing T18 on the Poa greens at Pebble Beach. That came two weeks after he placed T6 in Dubai. So, he’s simply piled on after a magnificent rookie season on the European Tour during which he logged two wins, a P2, a solo third, a solo fourth and finished 14th in the Race to Dubai. His firepower off the tee doesn’t play everywhere, but he’s learned how to harness it on the big stage. Michael Lorenzo-Vera … He occupied a spot on this page for the last World Golf Championship and delivered a T38 at the HSBC Champions. It was good, not great, but the Frenchman would go on to finish a career-best 19th in the Race to Dubai with a solo third at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship. It’s how he qualified for his debut at this week’s WGC, where his peerless touch around and on greens should yield a better result than his last WGC. His pair of cuts made in 2020 is highlighted by a T8 in Dubai. Still winless on the European Tour, the 35-year-old is embarking on his 198th career start. Marcus Kinhult … The 23-year-old probably couldn’t have hand-picked a better spot for his World Golf Championship debut. As one of the European Tour’s best putters – a Swede with a sharp short game, who knew? – he’s seemingly solidified a spot on the circuit for years to come. Since breaking through at the British Masters last May, he’s added seven top 20s, including a playoff loss (to Tommy Fleetwood) at the Nedbank Golf Challenge three months ago. Ryan Fox … The Kiwi is a regular on the European Tour but he’s in the field as the money leader from the Australasian Tour in 2019. That was boosted in earnest with a victory at the last edition of the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth a year ago this week. After months without making another headline, a dry spell that included a T67 in his debut at Club de Golf Chapultepec the week after his title in Australia, he returns having recorded five top 25s during an 11-for-12 stretch dating back to the last weekend in September. Most encouragingly, he finished second at the ISPS Handa Vic Open before taking last week off. Arguably best known in the U.S. as one of the longest hitters anywhere, the 33-year-old can throttle back at altitude and put his capable irons to work. 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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