Tour Outsider: FBR Open

The US PGA Tour is in Arizona desert this week to play the FBR Open. Another big event is taking place along side the US PGA Tour event, and that is the NFL's Super Bowl. On a side note, it will be interesting to see if this enhances the spectator turn out for the FBR Open or if it will decrease the normally high spectator turn out for the tournament.

Let's look at the Golf CLi and see who the top 15 players are for the tournament ranked by the CLi figure.

Rank Player CLi 1 Justin Leonard 9.90 2 Mike Weir 16.00 3 Camilo Villegas 16.20 4 Kenny Perry 17.00 5 Hunter Mahan 17.40 6 Stewart Cink 17.60 7 Heath Slocum 18.60 8 Ryuji Imada 19.80 9 Steve Stricker 19.80 10 J.B. Holmes 20.00 11 Phil Mickelson 22.40 12 Fred Funk 23.60 13 Charles Howell III 24.50 14 Vijay Singh 24.60 15 Joe Durant 26.20

This week I am going to go with the top 2 players in the CLi list, skipping over Villegas, and am then picking the next three players.

I needed to skip a player in the top 5 as I wanted to pick Cink. I think Cink will carry is good form over from the Buick Invitational to this week's tournament in the desert.

The reason for skipping over Villegas is because I think Villegas could easily get caught up in the Super Bowl activities. Even though he is not an American, he still loves big parties and the Super Bowl has just those types of activities. However, not picking him could backfire as he could also draw energy off the crowds from the tournament which would make him play even better. We will have to see after the week is all said and done if it was a wise choice to not pick Villegas.

As for Weir, he did pull out of last week's Buick Invitational because of illness. However, I think he is over the illness and will play well this week in the Arizona desert.

So the Tour Outsider picks for the FBR Open:

Rank Player CLi 1 Justin Leonard 9.90 2 Mike Weir 16.00 3 Kenny Perry 17.00 4 Hunter Mahan 17.40 5 Stewart Cink 17.60

The Tour Insider's (Dave Shedloski) picks are:

• 1 Aaron Baddeley
• 2 Phil Mickelson
• 3 Jeff Quinney
• 4 Rocco Mediate
• 5 Vijay Singh

This week we have no players in common.

Tour Outsider: Buick Invitational Review

It is now time to review the picks for the Buick Invitational to see how the results turned out.

Here are the results of the Tour Outsider (my) picks.

Rank Player CLi Rank Earnings Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual 1 Tiger Woods 1.20 1 1 1 3 $936,000 2 Stewart Cink 13.35 3 2 3 7 $301,600 3 Charles Howell III 13.50 13 11 9 7 $91,866 4 Jesper Parnevik 16.70 MC MC 95 33 $0 5 Tim Clark 20.90 MC MC 106 71 $0

With Woods winning this week, and Cink playing well, had two top 3 picks. Howell III played well placing 13th. However, Parnevik and Clark couldn't get above the yellow cut line. Next time guys.

Here are the results of the Tour Insider (Dave Shedloski) picks.

• 1 Tiger Woods | 1 | $936,000
• 2 Phil Mickelson | 6 | $180,700
• 4 ?Lucas Glover | 67 MC | $9,880
• 3 Robert Allenby | 29 | $27,430
• 5 Stephen Marino | 125 MC | $44,980

Here is the comparison between the Tour Outsider and Tour Insider picks.

	Tour Outsider	Tour Insider	Winner
Total Earnings	$1,329,466	$1,198,990	TO
Avg Rank	43.6	26.4	TI
Made Cut	3	4	TI
Outcome	--	--	TI

The Tour Outsider won the Total Earnings category.

The Tour Insider won the Avg Rank category.

The Made Cut category was won by the Tour Insider.

The Tour Insider won this tournament. This is his first win of the year.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider year to date is, 3 wins to the Tour Outsider, 1 win to the Tour Insider, and 0 draws.

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The CLi top 15 looked like this (see below).

Rank Player CLi Rank Earnings Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual 1 Tiger Woods 1.20 1 1 1 3 $936,000 2 Mark Calcavecchia 10.45 MC MC 134 95 $0 3 Stewart Cink 13.35 3 2 3 7 $301,600 4 Charles Howell III 13.50 13 11 9 7 $91,866 5 Brandt Snedeker 16.10 MC MC 86 51 $0 6 Jesper Parnevik 16.70 MC MC 95 33 $0 7 Bubba Watson 19.20 47 57 48 71 $14,664 8 Tim Clark 20.90 MC MC 106 71 $0 9 Phil Mickelson 22.45 6 11 40 21 $180,700 10 Shigeki Maruyama 23.45 37 36 28 33 $22,360 11 Nick Watney 23.55 MC MC 106 71 $0 12 Ben Crane 25.20 MC MC 67 95 $9,880 13 Stephen Marino 26.05 23 36 48 95 $44,980 14 Jerry Kelly 28.10 MC MC 95 95 $0 15 Troy Matteson 28.70 11 27 9 1 $124,800

Tour Outsider: Buick Invitational

[ Sorry for being late in posting this week. I was tied up studying for and taking an exam --- the fun GMAT -- for my Ph.D. work. ]

The US PGA Tour is in southern California this week to play the Buick Invitational.

Let's look at the Golf CLi and see who the top 15 players are for the tournament ranked by the CLi figure.

Rank Player CLi 1 Tiger Woods 1.20 2 Mark Calcavecchia 10.45 3 Stewart Cink 13.35 4 Charles Howell III 13.50 5 Brandt Snedeker 16.10 6 Jesper Parnevik 16.70 7 Bubba Watson 19.20 8 Tim Clark 20.90 9 Phil Mickelson 22.45 10 Shigeki Maruyama 23.45 11 Nick Watney 23.55 12 Ben Crane 25.20 13 Stephen Marino 26.05 14 Jerry Kelly 28.10 15 Troy Matteson 28.70

This week there is only one player that has a CLi below 10, and that is Tiger Woods. His CLi is a low 1.20, whereas the next player in the list, Mark Calcavecchia, has a CLi of 10.45. So the CLi is basically saying that Woods has a very, very good chance of playing well. Go figure, he likes southern California and Torrey Pines. Therefore, it would be foolish not to pick Woods in this tournament. Other than that, I will have to use my judgment going down the CLi list to see who looks good this week.

I am going to skip Calcavecchia. He is playing well, but he might be a little tired having played 3 straight tournaments leading up to this tournament. Plus, he missed the cut at the Bob Hope last week. He played well the first round in that tournament, but then tailed off each round after that (he played 4 rounds before the cut was made).

After passing over Calcavecchia, I am going to go with Cink and Howell next in the list. Then I will skip over Snedeker as he doesn't have a whole lot of experience in this tournament -- even though he did place 3rd here last year. After skipping over Snedeker, I am going to pick Parnevik. Then I will skip Watson and make the gutsy Tim Clark my fifth pick.

So the Tour Outsider picks for the Buick Invitational:

Rank Player CLi 1 Tiger Woods 1.20 2 Stewart Cink 13.35 3 Charles Howell III 13.50 4 Jesper Parnevik 16.70 5 Tim Clark 20.90

The Tour Insider's (Dave Shedloski) picks are:

• 1 Tiger Woods
• 2 Phil Mickelson
• 3 Lucas Glover
• 4 Robert Allenby
• 5 Stephen Marino

This week we have one player in common: Woods.

Tour Outsider: Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Review

It is now time to review the picks for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic to see how the results turned out.

Here are the results of the Tour Outsider (my) picks.

Rank Player CLi Rank Earnings Rd5 Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual 1 Mike Weir 5.20 56 43 31 42 57 $11,373 2 Justin Leonard 6.15 2 1 2 3 23 $550,800 3 Scott Verplank 7.55 22 13 12 5 57 $51,000 4 Chad Campbell 8.65 50 65 94 104 125 $12,206 5 Pat Perez 21.85 WD WD WD WD WD $0

Well, Pat Perez did what I was I afraid he would do: he withdrew. I shouldn't have taken a chance with him knowing his personality. His personality doesn't bode well with long rounds that happen in a pro-am like the Bob Hope (even though he does play well at the Hope and at the AT&T Pro-Am in Pebble Beach).

Aside from Perez, Justin Leonard played well. He was leading by 4 shots going into the final round and one would have thought he would win. However, this is golf and anything can happen. This time around D.J. Trahan fired a low final round to leap frog Leonard.

Here are the results of the Tour Insider (Dave Shedloski) picks.

• 1 Mike Weir | 56 | $11,373
• 2 Scott Verplank | 22 | $51,000
• 4 Chad Campbell | 50 | $12,206
• 3 Jesper Parnevik | 29 | $32,428
• 5 David Duval | 125 MC | $0

Here is the comparison between the Tour Outsider and Tour Insider picks.

	Tour Outsider	Tour Insider	Winner
Total Earnings	$624,579	$107,007	TO
Avg Rank	51.6	56.4	TO
Made Cut	4	4	DRAW
Outcome	--	--	TO

The Tour Outsider won the Total Earnings category.

The Tour Outsider won the Avg Rank category.

The Made Cut cateogry was a draw.

The Tour Outsider won this tournament.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider year to date is, 3 wins to the Tour Outsider, 0 wins to the Tour Insider, and 0 draws.

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The CLi top 15 looked like this (see below).

Rank Player CLi Rank Earnings Rd5 Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual 1 Mike Weir 5.20 56 43 31 42 57 $11,373 2 Justin Leonard 6.15 2 1 2 3 23 $550,800 3 Scott Verplank 7.55 22 13 12 5 57 $51,000 4 Chad Campbell 8.65 50 65 94 104 125 $12,206 5 Mark Calcavecchia 18.35 MC 105 75 21 13 $0 6 Troy Matteson 18.55 MC 96 110 111 127 $0 7 Heath Slocum 22.05 44 30 63 34 40 $15,419 8 Jesper Parnevik 25.55 29 22 23 56 13 $32,428 9 Lucas Glover 27.05 62 65 50 56 57 $10,863 10 Stewart Cink 29.75 26 30 12 34 23 $39,270 11 Tim Herron 30.95 MC 122 124 104 57 $0 12 Billy Mayfair 31.10 MC 77 94 77 23 $0 13 Charles Warren 31.60 29 22 31 88 123 $32,428 14 Rod Pampling 32.25 44 35 31 56 77 $15,419 15 Chris DiMarco 34.35 MC 96 75 34 96 $0

Tour Outsider: Bob Hope Chrysler Classic

The US PGA Tour moves to the mainland for this first time this year to play the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Let's look at the Golf CLi and see who the top 15 players are for the tournament ranked by the CLi figure.

Rank Player CLi 1 Mike Weir 5.20 2 Justin Leonard 6.15 3 Scott Verplank 7.55 4 Chad Campbell 8.65 5 Mark Calcavecchia 18.35 6 Troy Matteson 18.55 7 Pat Perez 21.85 8 Heath Slocum 22.05 9 Jesper Parnevik 25.55 10 Lucas Glover 27.05 11 Stewart Cink 29.75 12 Tim Herron 30.95 13 Billy Mayfair 31.10 14 Charles Warren 31.60 15 Rod Pampling 32.25

The first 4 players look good with their CLi figures below 10. After the 4th player in the list the CLi figures jump up to 18.35. So, for the 5th player, I am going to look down the list and pick Pat Perez. He played well towards the end of last season and placed 4th last week in the Sony Open. Hopefully he won't withdraw because of some injury.

So the Tour Outsider picks for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic:

Rank Player CLi 1 Mike Weir 5.20 2 Justin Leonard 6.15 3 Scott Verplank 7.55 4 Chad Campbell 8.65 5 Pat Perez 21.85

The Tour Insider's (Dave Shedloski) picks are:

• 1 Mike Weir
• 2 Scott Verplank
• 3 Chad Campbell
• 4 Jesper Parnevik
• 5 David Duval

This week we have three players in common: Weir, Verplank and Campbell.