2009 PGA Championship Preview
| by Erik Planer | ![]() |
|||
![]() |
||||
| August 10th, 2009 | Beat the Expert (1 Comment) |
|||
In honor of “Glory’s Last Shot” I am putting up my private SPA Golf RC collection for auction. If you are a fan of golf cards and/or graded cards please check out my eBay Store.


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.
Winner = 10 points
2nd Place = 5 points
3rd Place = 3 points
Top 10 = 1 point
2009 Fantasy Golf Picks Total: 92 Points
2009 Fantasy Golf Picks Weekly Average: 2.97 Points
Last week:
Sometimes my job as a self proclaimed golf prognosticator is easy, so has it been the last few weeks where Tiger has continued to play well in events and courses where he has a dominant history of winning. I get 10 more points for Tiger’s win last week plus a point for Westwood’s Top 10. Goosen failed to contend all week, finishing T29. Don’t look now but my goal of picking 3rd place or better each week is a distinct possibility.
I know I throw around the “must see golf TV” phrase a lot but Sunday really was a joy to watch. Seems sometime on Wednesday of last week Paddy pulled his head out of his ass, only to put it back in on the 16th hole on Sunday. Up until then though it was quite a battle of major winners. That Paddy had a meltdown is probably more a testament to the pressure of being paired with Tiger then a commentary on Paddy’s ever changing golf game. It’s good to see Paddy playing well and I wish him well in defense of his PGA Championship title this week.
This week:
It’s starting to feel a bit like cheating in picking Tiger for a third straight week. So I won’t. There are reasons to think Tiger can cruise to a third straight win at Hazeltine but there are also signs that he won’t. Should Tiger fail to win in Minnesota it will be the first time he hasn’t won at least one major since 2004. While Tiger is scolding hot coming into the final major of the year it is interesting to note he has also entered each of the previous three majors this season coming off an impressive win. So just for kicks I’m not picking Tiger this week, even though I expect him to contend.
1. Phil Mickelson
Is anyone a bigger sleeper this week then Mickelson? Well probably not a sleeper, but coming off an abysmal performance last weekend (75 and 73 his last two rounds) don’t be suprised if Phil gets it right this week. You better believe that Phil will be up for this major. In two majors this season Lefty finished 5th and T2. He has eight Top 10s at the PGA Championship in sixteen starts including a win in 2005. In 2002 at Hazeltine Phil finished T34 that included a 68 on Sunday after a 78 on Saturday. Rumor has it that the Mickelson family will be in attendance in Minnesota. I can’t think of anything better then Phil winning another major with his family in tow, well maybe that he beat Tiger head-to-head on Sunday to do it. It would be a great story after the year the Mickelson family has had.
2. Robert Allenby
Allenby was T10 here in 2002 and is coming off his third Top 10 of the season (T2 at WGC-Bridgestone). He hasn’t impressed in the majors this year (T38 Masters, MC U.S. Open and T52 British) but that he is familiar with this course and playing well coming in is enough to think he’ll be in the mix. Allenby had arguably his best season on tour last year with nine Top 10s but adding a major trophy to his trophy case would easily make 2009 his best. Top 10 or bust.
3. Justin Leonard
I picked Leonard for the Masters and got burned with a missed cut so proceed with caution. Since also missing the cut at the U.S. Open Justin had a major Top 10 at the British and a T14 at the Buick Open. Leonard was in contention through most of the weekend the last time the PGA was at Hazeltine before a final round 77 derailed his title hopes. Still a T4 was not bad considering he was +5 on Sunday. In fourteen career starts in the PGA, he has six Top 10s and six missed cuts. I’m giving him a chance to redeem his Masters missed cut this week.
Sleepers: Alvaro Quiros, Boo Weekley
Happy PGA Championship Sunday to all!
In honor of “Glory’s Last Shot” I am putting up my private SPA Golf RC collection for auction. If you are a fan of golf cards and/or graded cards please check out my eBay Store.
No related posts.








August 19th, 2009 at 11:29 am
[...] RSS « 2009 PGA Championship Preview [...]