FBR Open

This week the USA PGA Tour is in Arizona to play the FBR Open.

1	S	David Toms	8.75
2	S	J.B. Holmes	14.95
3	S	Kenny Perry	16.25
4	S	Camilo Villegas	16.25
5	S	Kevin Na	16.40
6	S	Phil Mickelson	16.85
7	S	John Merrick	16.90
8	S	Kevin Sutherland	17.95
9	S	Justin Leonard	20.05
10	S	Scott Verplank	20.60
11	S	Charlie Wi	22.10
12	S	Mike Weir	22.70
13	S	Brandt Snedeker	23.65
14	S	Scott Piercy	23.80
15	S	Charles Howell III	24.45

Can't spend much time on this post as I have lost power 5 times in trying to get this posting completed. Am in the middle of a rain-ice-snow storm in Kentucky that is knocking out trees left and right, and thus power lines. So will provide explanation for my picks later.

Below are my 5 picks for the FBR Open:

1	S	David Toms	8.75
2	S	J.B. Holmes	14.95
3	S	Camilo Villegas	16.25
4	S	Phil Mickelson	16.85
5	S	John Merrick	16.90

Bob Hope Chrysler Classic

This week the USA PGA Tour pulls into the mainland to play the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in California.

Rank Player CLi 1 S Anthony Kim 8.40 2 S Justin Leonard 9.20 3 S Tim Clark 10.10 4 S Dustin Johnson 14.05 5 S David Toms 14.55 6 S Chez Reavie 16.25 7 S Ryuji Imada 17.50 8 S Scott Verplank 17.95 9 S Bob Estes 18.70 10 S Bill Haas 20.20 11 S Chad Campbell 22.30 12 S D.J. Trahan 23.35 13 S Tim Herron 23.60 14 S Charlie Wi 23.70 15 S Charley Hoffman 27.00

I am going to go with the top 3. Then am going to skip over Dustin Johnson. I just don't know if he can hold it together for 5 rounds. He is playing well coming into this tournament, but it is hard to tell if he will be able to focus come the weekend if he makes the cut.

My 4th pick is David Toms. He is hungry for a win, and he is is focused. That should bode well for him this week during the 5 day tournament.

My 5th pick is Chez. I have the same reservation with Chez as I have with Dustin Johnson. However, I feel good about Chez's playing and mental game right now. So hopefully that will pay dividends in the Hope.

Below are my 5 picks for the Bob Hope:

Rank Player CLi 1 S Anthony Kim 8.40 2 S Justin Leonard 9.20 3 S Tim Clark 10.10 4 S David Toms 14.55 5 S Chez Reavie 16.25

Since it doesn't look like the Tour Insider (Dave Shedloski) will be making picks this year, I will definitely need to find another public opponent. Several people posted suggestions last week. Thanks for doing that. I will look through them and make comments this week. Then hopefully by next week there will be an opponent selected.

===== UPDATE 2009-01-20 07:20PM =====

Anthony Kim has withdrawn from the Bob Hope. Since was one of my picks (actually my top pick), I have removed him and in his place will pick Bill Haas. Bill Haas, Jay Haas' son, has played well in this tournament over the past 3-4 years. He must be use to the celebrity style of the tournament having grown up with it with his dad's popularity. So even though he is a young buck, he is strong mentality.

Sony Open in Hawaii

This week is the first full field event for the US PGA Tour's 2009 Season. Last week was a restricted field event in Hawaii, with this week the pros staying in Hawaii to play the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Rank Player CLi 1 S Ernie Els 3.80 2 S Steve Stricker 4.20 3 S Davis Love III 5.65 4 S Geoff Ogilvy 10.70 5 S Rory Sabbatini 12.00 6 S Stewart Cink 16.50 7 S J.B. Holmes 21.45 8 S Boo Weekley 21.85 9 S George McNeill 22.55 10 S Steve Marino 23.20 11 S K.J. Choi 25.55 12 S Pat Perez 26.35 13 S Ryuji Imada 27.35 14 S Troy Matteson 27.45 15 S David Toms 29.05

The top 5 in the CLi look good this week. So I am going to stick with them.

Below are my 5 picks for the Sony Open:

Rank Player CLi 1 S Ernie Els 3.80 2 S Steve Stricker 4.20 3 S Davis Love III 5.65 4 S Geoff Ogilvy 10.70 5 S Rory Sabbatini 12.00

The Tour Insider (Dave Shedloski) is still a no show. As someone mentioned last week in the comments of this blog, Helen Ross did a pseudo Tour Insider for pgatour.com for the Mercedes event last week. However, there were no picks in her post. So I will probably need to find another public figure to compete with this season. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know by posting a comment to this blog entry. Thanks.

Mercedes-Benz Championship

Tomorrow starts the first tournament of 2009 for the US PGA Tour. The event is in Hawaii, where 33 players will be at the select-field event, the Mercedes-Benz Championship.

Rank Player CLi 1 S Vijay Singh 2.90 2 S Zach Johnson 8.05 3 S Davis Love III 8.05 4 S Ernie Els 8.55 5 S J.B. Holmes 8.90 6 S Stewart Cink 9.50 7 S Kenny Perry 9.75 8 S Justin Leonard 10.00 9 S Trevor Immelman 10.65 10 S Boo Weekley 11.40 11 S Adam Scott 13.95 12 S K.J. Choi 14.25 13 S Geoff Ogilvy 14.45 14 S Will MacKenzie 14.55 15 S Ryan Palmer 14.70

Below are my 5 picks for the Mercedes-Benz Championship:

Rank Player CLi 1 S Vijay Singh 2.90 2 S Ernie Els 8.55 3 S J.B. Holmes 8.90 4 S Stewart Cink 9.50 5 S K.J. Choi 14.25

I am not sure if the Tour Insider (Dave Shedloski) will post his picks for this tournament or not. We will have to wait and see. However, at the time of this posting, he had not posted them on pgatour.com.