Sleeper Picks: the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday – PGA TOUR

Will Zalatoris (+6000) … It’s like fishing, isn’t it? Cast the line, wait, and then yank! Setting aside the usual acknowledgment for the absence of traditional Sleepers in Signature Events, if it seems that he’s almost unfairly long at this value in a 73-man field and on a course where he finished T5 in his last appearance (in 2022), then take a bite for a full unit because you’re right. Recent soreness in his back thwarted a home game at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson but it also was his only break during a six-week stretch, so it’s fair to assume that he wouldn’t have committed if the tournament wasn’t in his backyard. He’s shown luster thrice this year with a T2 at The Genesis Invitational, a T4 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and a T9 at the Masters, so the 27-year-old wasted little time in shoving back to center stage after his microdiscectomy. Incidentally, as it concerns only the first six Signature Events, Genesis champ Hideki Matsuyama also was +6000 and only the third-longest winner of the series. However, the next-shortest is Rory McIlroy at but +750 pre-tournament at the Wells Fargo Championship, so there’s been a bit of all or nothing relative to the outrights