Predictions: St. Jude Classic

After missing last week due to some "off-the-course" issues, I'm back with my picks for the St. Jude Classic. I'll be reporting "live" from Memphis after the final two rounds, so stay tuned on Saturday and Sunday. The food and music will be great, and hopefully the weather will be better than last year!

Three players I'm watching closely this week:

* Heath Slocum. He had a top-10 here last year, and I'm expecting the same this year.

* David Toms. He's won twice here, and was runner-up last year. Hard not to pick him this week.

* Robert Allenby. Yes, I've got Allenby on the bench for the first round, instead of starting. Ordinarily, he'd be a sure-thing starter, with top-5's in the last two years here. However, I've got serious questions about his mental game at this point, and his two-day-only showing at Memorial did nothing to alleviate those concerns. If he turns it around early, he'll start in later rounds.

My Yahoo Fantasy Golf team for this week:

"Front 4": Heath Slocum, David Toms, Fredrik Jacobson, Paul Goydos
"Bench team": Jason Dufner, Robert Allenby, Brian Gay, John Senden

Current Yahoo Fantasy Golf standings: 3157 points, 81st percentile.

Best of luck to all!

Predictions: Zurich Classic

Laissez les bon temps roulez! Grab your beignets, etouffee, and a favorite beverage, because this week the Tour is in New Orleans for the Zurich Classic. Early-week favorites Steve Stricker and Ian Poulter have both withdrawn with injuries, so the field is set to yield up some surprising names at the top of the leaderboard.

My “spotlight players” for this week:

* Steve Marino. He had a top-5 finish here last year, and two top-5's so far this season. He’s got to win sometime, and it might as well be this week.

* Charles Howell III. He was runner-up here last year, and has three top-10's so far this season. He played well early at Hilton Head last week, before fading over the weekend.

* David Toms. He also finished in the top 5 here last year. He hasn’t made any waves so far this season, due in part to shoulder trouble, but this is a virtual home game for him, and I’d be surprised if he didn’t “show up”.

My Yahoo Fantasy Golf team for this week is:
“Front 4": Steve Marino, Charles Howell III, David Toms, Jerry Kelly
“Bench team”: Jason Dufner, Rory Sabbatini, Briny Baird, Ben Crane

Last week was a decent week for picks. Luke Donald came in 3rd, and my “dark horse” pick of Tim Wilkinson was a respectable 22nd. Defending Heritage champion Brian Gay’s 32nd-place finish was disappointing, however. My Yahoo Fantasy Golf standings: 2298 points, 80th percentile.

Best of luck to all!

Last week’s predictions

2009 ended on a low note, as far as my prognostications go, but as they say on the course, “that’s golf.” We’ll see what awaits in 2010.

Rickie Fowler: T-40
David Toms: T-29
David Duval: MC

Pre-Thanksgiving leftovers...

It's still a couple of weeks until Thanksgiving, but it's time for some leftovers.

First of all, leftover congratulations from Sunday go to Phil Mickelson, for winning the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai. Phil tends to let the latter part of the season slide, but with this win added to his Tour Championship title and success in the President's Cup, he's ending 2009 on a high note, at least on the course. Hopefully, the success and good fortune will also extend to Amy and to Phil's mother in their battles against breast cancer.

And now for some leftover picks. My picks for this week's PGA Tour Children's Miracle Network Classic are leftover from the rain-cancelled Viking Classic. Hopefully, they'll find better luck this week!

Rickie Fowler. Is there any player on the Tour who’s got more of the “hot hand” than Fowler right now? The 20-year-old, who has only played a handful of events as a professional, has two top-10's in his last two starts. If his form continues, he may join the elite ranks of players who are able to qualify for full Tour membership in their first full year without having to go to Q-school.

David Toms. Toms is one of the strongest players in this field. He has seven top-10's so far this year. Is there any reason not to pick him?

David Duval. Yes, you read that right. After several years as a punchline, Duval’s game is coming back, and he’s currently at 125th on the money list. But for those who analyze potentially meaningless trends, there’s another reason to pick Duval: two of the three Fall Series events so far have been won by Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (Matt Kuchar at Turning Stone, Troy Matteson at the Frys.com Open). Could DD make it three out of four for the Ramblin’ Wreck?

Picks: Viking Classic

Fall Series picks can be more challenging than the “regular season”. With a lot of the bigger names in the game shutting it down around September, the fields of the later events often elicit a lot of “who’s he?” That said, here are my three picks for this week’s Viking Classic in Mississippi.

Rickie Fowler. Is there any player on the Tour who’s got more of the “hot hand” than Fowler right now? The 20-year-old, who has only played a handful of events as a professional, has two top-10's in his last two starts. If his form continues, he may join the elite ranks of players who are able to qualify for full Tour membership in their first full year without having to go to Q-school.

David Toms. Toms is one of the strongest players in this not-so-strong field. He has seven top-10's so far this year. Is there any reason not to pick him?

David Duval. Yes, you read that right. After several years as a punchline, Duval’s game is coming back, and he’s currently at 125th on the money list. But for those who analyze potentially meaningless trends, there’s another reason to pick Duval: two of the three Fall Series events so far have been won by Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (Matt Kuchar at Turning Stone, Troy Matteson at the Frys.com Open). Could DD make it three out of four for the Ramblin’ Wreck?