2010 Northern Trust Open Preview
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010


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: 12 Points
2010 Fantasy Golf Picks Weekly Average: 3.00 Points
Think you can pick better? Leave a comment with your 3 picks for the 2010 Northern Trust Open. 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 including Grand Prize information.
| 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:
No one Beat the Expert last week. My 5 points for Sneds‘ 2nd place finish was tops. Bubba Watson was not impressive, one week removed from an almost win he misses the cut with a bad showing on the South Course at Torrey Pines. Which brings me to Phil. What the heck was that? T5 thru 54 holes and starts bogey, bogey, bogey in the final round. Disappointing indeed but something us Phil fans are used to. I’ll take my 5 points which moves me into 2nd on the BTE Leaderboard.
This week:
The West Coast swing continues through Cali with a stop in La La Land and the historic Riviera Country Club. Past champions here include Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson and Hale Irwin. Two time defending champ Phil Mickelson will try to get back on track in the best field of the young year, with four of the World Top 10 in attendance. This will be our first look at both Jim Furyk (#5) and Padraig Harrington (#8) in 2010.
1. Phil Mickelson
Third times a charm right? Lets forget one bad day (even though it happened to be the most important final round) and move on. For three rounds last week Lefty was looking like he would get his first win in his first start and set the golf world on fire with something to talk about besides Tiger (BTW did you like CBS’ five minute opening monologue on Saturday?). Despite what we saw this last Sunday lets not forget that Phil has won this event the last two years and finished 2nd in 2007 (losing in a playoff). Phil will put in the work this week and anything outside of a Top 10 will be suprising for the World #2.
2. Padraig Harrington
Paddy returns to the PGA Tour for his first start of the season. In three career starts in this event he has two Top 10s and a missed cut coming in 2009. He hasn’t played since November where he finished T4 on the European Tour’s Dubai World Championship. Rust aside this is a good spot for Harrington to shine on a familiar course. Might be too early for a win but look for Paddy to contend well into the weekend.
3. K.J. Choi
It was a down year for K.J. in 2009 with only one Top 10 coming here at the Northern Trust. But so far so good for Choi in 2010. Last week he finished just outside the Top 10 at Torrey Pines. But most impressive is for Segment 1 over the last three years he has an average finish of 10th! When you add in that he has NEVER missed the cut at Riviera with three Top 10s in nine career starts this one is a no brainer.








