Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Northern Trust Open

The US PGA Tour stays in California this week to play the Northern Trust Open in L.A.

Rank Player CLi
1 S Mike Weir 11.90
2 S Steve Stricker 16.70
3 S Chad Campbell 17.55
4 S Tim Clark 18.30
5 S Lucas Glover 22.60
6 S Zach Johnson 23.35
7 S Jim Furyk 25.30
8 S Padraig Harrington 26.65
9 S Matt Kuchar 27.15
10 S Luke Donald 29.30
11 S Rory Sabbatini 30.90
12 S Ernie Els 31.75
13 S Shigeki Maruyama 31.80
14 S Scott Verplank 32.25
15 S Nick Watney 35.85

This week the CLi figures are rather high. None of the players have a CLi figure less than 10. That usually means that there are no clear favorites this week, which makes picking players tough.

I am going to skip over Stricker (even though I am a fan of Stricker and he is a fellow UofI alum). In addition I am going to skip over Clark and Johnson.

Below are my 5 picks for the Northern Trust Open:

Rank Player CLi
1 S Mike Weir 11.90
2 S Chad Campbell 17.55
3 S Lucas Glover 22.60
4 S Jim Furyk 25.30
5 S Padraig Harrington 26.65

9 comments:

  1. Hey John,

    I like Weir, Stricker, Clark, Zach Johnson, and Harrington this week. Although, Furyk is very difficult to leave off the list.

    Baummer

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  2. I like Weir, Clark, Glover, Brian Gay and Bubba Watson. Gotta have those lefties.

    Jay

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  3. When did the pga change from 2somes to 3somes on the weekend?

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  4. Twosomes is still the standard for the US PGA Tour on the weekends. However, they switch to threesomes when there is a threat of bad weather or some other issue that might delay them from finishing the round on the same day.

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  5. Yes, but this weekend has been great weather and 3somes both days.

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  6. Then in this case, it could be because of the US PGA Tour's TV contract. CBS selects the time slot they wanted the tournament to finish in (e.g. 6pm EST USA) because they have other shows they need to put on their channel after 6pm (e.g. 60 minutes, etc.) and in prime time. CBS doesn't want to have golf take their prime time spots.

    That said, I am not the expert on this subject. I am just going off the top of my head, not through research and direct knowledge of talking with the US PGA Tour administration or tournament operations.

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  7. Ok thanks! I did not know who to ask. Just seems very different this year from years past. Appreciate it sir!

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  8. It looks like the main viewing show tonight will be "The Oscars" (http://www.oscar.com/). It will be on in prime time. So I have a feeling that CBS didn't want to compete against the audience that ABC will have for the Oskars tonight. Thus, CBS (who is showing the Northern Trust Open on TV today) asked the US PGA Tour to move up the time the last group finished. The US PGA did this by adjusting the tee times by moving them earlier in the day and having the players play in threesomes.

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  9. Baummer, nice pick in Stricker. He had the tournament won until he bogeyed the last hole and Phil came back to live with birdies on the 16th and 17th.

    It was nice to see Phil bring it back together on the closing holes. Even though Stricker is a fellow UofI alumn, Phil is tied closer to the family.

    - JM

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