2010 WGC-CA Championship Preview
| by Erik Planer |  |
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| March 8th, 2010 |  |
Beat the Expert (4 Comments) |
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Fantasy Golf Picks
I’m giving myself points for picking winners. Hopefully my picks can help you win your fantasy golf league this season. My goal is to get to 111 points for the season, or the equivlant of picking a Top 3 finisher or better each week, based on the point scale below:
Winner = 10 points
2nd Place = 5 points
3rd Place = 3 points
Top 10 = 1 point
2010 Fantasy Golf Picks Total: 25 Points
2010 Fantasy Golf Picks Weekly Average: 2.78 Points
Think you can pick better? Leave a comment with your 3 picks for the 2010 WGC-CA Championship. If you Beat The Expert in any week you will win a FREE 2010 Rotoff Golf Draft Kit (a $9.99 value) with one possible Grand Prize winner at the end of the FedEx Cup season. See here for official BTE rules.
| Rank | Name | Weeks | Weekly Win | Win (x10) | 2nd (x5) | 3rd (x3) | T10 (x1) | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | E. McClung | 7 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | 2 | 37 |
| 2 | E. Hamilton | 8 | 2 | 2 | - | 1 | 2 | 25 |
| 2 | E. Planer | 9 | 2 | 1 | 2 | - | 5 | 25 |
| 4 | Brad | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | 16 |
| 5 | J. Littlefield | 7 | 1 | - | - | 5 | 15 | |
| 6 | C. Giles | 5 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 13 | |
| 6 | J. Book | 8 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 13 |
| 8 | T. Whitehead | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | 10 | |
| 9 | R. Slaughter | 3 | - | - | - | 3 | 3 | |
| 9 | C. Cameron | 4 | - | - | - | 3 | 3 |
Last Week:
I almost looked like a genius. Until he reached the Bear Trap on Sunday, sleeper Vijay Singh looked poised for a 2nd place finish. Final hole colapse aside it was a great week for Vijay who got back to basics with fairways and greens. I’ll take the 1 point for his Top 10 finish and won’t mention that Robert Allenby missed the cut (so much for that) while Scott Piercy faded after the first round for a T56 finish.
Even in my “almost” glory I lose ground to our fearless leader McClung who was the only one that had the winner in Camilo Villegas. It’s his second weekly win of the year as his cushion at the top gets bigger with an addition of 10 more points. Well played.
This week:
Another week, another WGC event. This time on the famed Blue Monster of Doral. Expect to see lots of birdies this week as the best players in the world meet once again (seems like just weeks ago) to tune up their games for Augusta, not that the $1.4 million first place prize is anything to sneeze at. WGC tournaments always have a major feel to them and this week should be no different as Phil Mickelson returns to the course as defending champ. Speaking of major feel, it’s worth noting that the winners here the last three years have all won majors. But I will be bucking that trend a bit with my picks this week (or will I?).
1. Steve Stricker
We haven’t seen Steve Stricker since his disappointing first round exit at the WGC-Accenture Match Play. With three weeks to rest and recover I imagine Stricks will be rearing to go. Remember that whole bit earlier about major champions winning here, blah blah blah? This pick would seem to stray from that rule, except I really think we’re going to see him break through for his first major win this season. That not enough to convince ya? Well how about a T13 and a T6 in this event the last two years. Look for Stricker to be hanging around the top of the Leaderboard all weekend.
2. Stewart Cink
I Cink I can, I Cink I can. Stewart Cink doesn’t typically get going until the summer stretch. But even before spring he already has half a million in earnings and two Top 10s in four starts. Stewy hasn’t had a lot of success at Doral since 1999 when he finished T4. The key will be how he performs on Sunday as his +1.67 final round scoring average over the last three years here is nothing to brag about. But he did finish T5 in Match Play a few weeks back so I’m not completley pulling this one out of my ass.
3. Ian Poulter
Now that that pesky first PGA Tour win is behind him, watch Ian Poulter nab a few more victories over the next few years. He has four Top 20 finishes in this event in six career starts and came in tied for second back in 2006. There’s not a lot of golfers playing more consistent golf these days outside of Villegas and with just two starts on the PGA Tour in 2010 he’s only just 3rd on the money list. Can Ian make it two straight WGC wins? I’m hoping so.
