Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Review

It is now time to review the picks for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial to see how the results turned out.

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

1. Phil Mickelson | 113 (MC) | $0
2. Jeffrey Overton | 3 | $359,600
3. Jason Day | 50 | $14,839
4. Tim Clark | 56 | $14,012
5. Ben Crane | 3 | $359,600

Here are the results for the Tour Insider's (Bolton's) picks.

1. Phil Mickelson | 113 (MC) | $0
2. Tim Clark | 56 | $14,012
3. Ben Crane | 3 | $359,600
4. Matt Kuchar | 56 | $14,012
5. Scott Verplank | 5 | $235,600

Here is the comparison of the results for our picks.

	Tour Outsider	Tour Insider	Winner
Total Earnings	$748,051	$623,224	TO
Avg Rank	45.0	46.6	TO
Made Cut	4	4	DRAW
Outcome	--	--	TO

The Total Earnings category was won by the Tour Outsider.

The Avg Rank category was won by the Tour Outnsider.

The Made Cut category was won by the Tour Outsider.

This tournament overall was won by the Tour Outsider.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider is 7 wins to the Tour Outsider, 11 wins to the Tour Insider, and 1 draw.

I am glad I got this win, as it made sure that I was not "swept" in the tournaments played in my native state of Texas. As well, it was nice to have 2 of the top 4 players on my team this week. Bolton also did well with 2 of the top 6 players on his team this week.  It was a close outing, but I was able to stay one rank ahead of him with two of my players...the two players that were different between our two picks since we had 3 of the same players on both of our "teams".

The poor showing on the team was Mickelson, who missed the cut and only bettered 1 player in the field that finished the first two rounds (i.e. not including the players that withdrew).Not a very good showing for him. It must have been the press that got to him...telling him that he could become the number 1 ranked player in the world if he won the tournament....

Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

This week the US PGA Tour stays in Texas for a 3rd straight week, moving from Dallas to Fort Worth to play the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Below is the list of the top 15 players in the CLi rankings for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

#	Player	CLi
1	Phil Mickelson	2.80
2	Jeffrey Overton	8.15
3	Jason Day	8.30
4	Tim Clark	10.20
5	Ben Crane	10.35
6	Jim Furyk	20.40
7	Corey Pavin	22.75
8	Matt Kuchar	23.60
9	Bo Van Pelt	23.65
10	Fredrik Jacobson	25.90
11	Scott Verplank	26.95
12	Brian Gay	27.40
13	Kenny Perry	27.60
14	Steve Marino	29.75
15	Heath Slocum	30.35

This week, there is a clear 5 players that are the favorite based upon the CLi figures and rankings. Mickelson, Overton, Day, Clark, and Crane all have CLi figures that are 10.x or below. Then the next player after Crane has a CLi figure 10 points above Crane's CLi figure. That seems like a clear delineation between the top 5 players and the next 10 players in the list shown above. So I am going to stick with the top 5 in the CLi rankings.

Below are my 5 picks for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial:

#	Player	CLi
1	Phil Mickelson	2.80
2	Jeffrey Overton	8.15
3	Jason Day	8.30
4	Tim Clark	10.20
5	Ben Crane	10.35

Below is the top 5 players in the Power Rankings from Rob Bolton:

1. Phil Mickelson
2. Tim Clark
3. Ben Crane
4. Matt Kuchar
5. Scott Verplank

Here is a link to Bolton's Power Rankings so that you can read more about his thoughts on his top players in this week's Power Rankings:

Bolton's Power Rankings: Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

We have 3 players in common this week: Mickelson, Clark, and Crane.

Below are the settings for the CLi calculation I used for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial:

Number of Past Tournaments Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA1)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA1)
5	25%	25%
Number of Days Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA2)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA2)
30	5%	5%
Number of Tournaments Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA3)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA3)
4	20%	20%

HP Byron Nelson Championship Review

It is now time to review the picks for the HP Byron Nelson Championship to see how the results turned out.

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

1. Brian Davis | 136 (MC) | $0
2. Brett Wetterich | 32 | $35,317
3. Charley Hoffman | 72 (MC) | $0
4. Greg Chalmers | 123 (MC) | $0
5. Heath Slocum | 12 | $131,625

Here are the results for the Tour Insider's (Bolton's) picks.

1. Hunter Mahan | 50 | $16,423
2. Ben Crane | 7 | $189,150
3. Heath Slocum | 12 | $131,625
4. Charlie Wi | 72 (MC) | $0
5. Rickie Fowler | 96 (MC) | $0

Here is the comparison of the results for our picks.

	Tour Outsider	Tour Insider	Winner
Total Earnings	$166,942	$337,198	TO
Avg Rank	75.0	47.4	TI
Made Cut	2	3	TI
Outcome	--	--	TI

The Total Earnings category was won by the Tour Outsider.

The Avg Rank category was won by the Tour Insider.

The Made Cut category was won by the Tour Insider.

This tournament overall was won by the Tour Insider.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider is 6 wins to the Tour Outsider, 11 wins to the Tour Insider, and 1 draw.

It is not very good when more than half of your players miss the cut. That was me in this case with this tournament. Having 3 players miss the cut is not a good showing.

With this loss, I am back to being close to being "halved" again by Bolton (i.e. 6 wins vs 11 wins). As well, there have been 3 tournaments played in my native state of Texas. I have lost to Bolton in 2 of the 3 tournaments (Valero Texas Open and the HP Byron Nelson Championship), and it was a draw in the third tournament (Shell Houston Open). If I don't pull a win out this week at the Colonial, I will be have a big 0 next to my name for tournaments in Texas this year.....hmmmm.

HP Byron Nelson Championship

This week the US PGA Tour stays in Texas and will be in Dallas to play the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

Below is the list of the top 15 players in the CLi rankings for the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

#	Player	CLi
1	Brian Davis	17.35
2	Brett Wetterich	17.65
3	Charley Hoffman	19.40
4	Greg Chalmers	22.90
5	Heath Slocum	22.90
6	Ben Crane	26.30
7	Ken Duke	27.45
8	Corey Pavin	30.60
9	Tommy Armour III	32.90
10	Rory Sabbatini	33.10
11	Shaun Micheel	34.60
12	Jimmy Walker	35.10
13	Ricky Barnes	37.45
14	Sean O'Hair	37.80
15	Scott Verplank	39.10

There are no players with a CLi less than 10, and only 3 players that have a CLi less than 20. It is unusual to have only 3 players have a CLi less than 20. That is definitely telling me that there are no clear cut favorites this week. Picking players will thus be difficult, and more of an art than a science.

The first player in the CLi rankings is Davis. When looking at his finishes at this tournament, he is all over the board. Of the last 4 times he has played the tournament, he has missed the cut twice (half of the time). And when he has missed the cut, he has not been close to making the cut. However, in the 2 times he made the cut, he finished in the top 8, with the a 2nd place finish last year. He has missed the cut in the last two tournaments he has played in. However, he placed 2nd a month ago at the Verizon Heritage, losing out in a playoff against Furyk --- calling a penalty on himself during the playoff, resulting in him not winning the tournament. With all of that information, it is difficult to decide to pick him or not. I am going to take a chance and look at the bright side of his record at this tournament, and thus will include him in my picks.

Wetterich is the next player in the list. Taking out his 108th place last year, he has tended to play well in this tournament. Along with his good showing at the Valero Texas Open last week (13th place), I think he will have a good week. Thus, he is my 2nd pick.

Both Chalmers and Hoffman have been playing well of late, and I look to see that trend continue this week. Slocum is the 5th player in the list. He doesn't play well here, having missed the cut 4 out of the last 5 times he has played the tournament since 2002. However, the one time he made the cut, in 2005, he placed 18th. He has been playing well lately, having finished no worse than 30th in the past 4 tournaments he has played in. That is a good sign. Thus, these 3 players will round out my 5 picks. It looks like I have stuck with the CLi rankings...even though I said it was going to be an art more so than science (the CLi is the science part). Hmmmm...we will have to see how things turn out this week.

Below are my 5 picks for the HP Byron Nelson Championship:

#	Player	CLi
1	Brian Davis	17.35
2	Brett Wetterich	17.65
3	Charley Hoffman	19.40
4	Greg Chalmers	22.90
5	Heath Slocum	22.90

Below is the top 5 players in the Power Rankings from Rob Bolton:

1. Hunter Mahan
2. Ben Crane
3. Heath Slocum
4. Charlie Wi
5. Rickie Fowler

Here is a link to Bolton's Power Rankings so that you can read more about his thoughts on his top players in this week's Power Rankings:

Bolton's Power Rankings: HP Byron Nelson Championship

We have 1 players in common this week: Slocum.

Below are the settings for the CLi calculation I used for the HP Byron Nelson Championship:

Number of Past Tournaments Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA1)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA1)
5	25%	25%
Number of Days Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA2)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA2)
30	5%	5%
Number of Tournaments Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA3)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA3)
4	20%	20%

Valero Texas Open Review

It is now time to review the picks for the Valero Texas Open to see how the results turned out.

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

1. Fredrik Jacobsen | 2 | $658,800
2. Bo Van Pelt | 28 | $44,225
3. J.J. Henry | 121 (MC) | $0
4. Chris Stroud | 77 (MC) | $0
5. Charley Hoffman | 13 | $114,375

Here are the results for the Tour Insider's (Bolton's) picks.

1. Bo Van Pelt | 28 | $44,225
2. John Rollins | 113 (MC) | $0
3. Ernie Els | 3 | $317,200
4. Matt Jones | 22 | $56,628
5. Chad Campbell | 34 | $30,151

Here is the comparison of the results for our picks.

	Tour Outsider	Tour Insider	Winner
Total Earnings	$817,400	$448,204	TO
Avg Rank	48.2	40.0	TI
Made Cut	3	4	TI
Outcome	--	--	TI

The Total Earnings category was won by the Tour Outsider.

The Avg Rank category was won by the Tour Insider.

The Made Cut category was won by the Tour Insider.

This tournament overall was won by the Tour Insider.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider is 6 wins to the Tour Outsider, 10 wins to the Tour Insider, and 1 draw.

With a 2nd place finish with Jacobsen, I thought that I would better Bolton in this tournament. However, having two players missed the cut knocked me out this round. Ugh.

Looking at the results from the top 15 players in the CLi, I should have stuck with the Kris Blanks and Aron Price. They both made the cut, and placed well. Blanks placed 30th, and Price placed 17th.

Valero Texas Open

This week the US PGA Tour heads to San Antonio, Texas to play the Valero Texas Open.

Below is the list of the top 15 players in the CLi rankings for the Valero Texas Open.

#	Player	CLi
1	Fredrik Jacobson	11.10
2	Bo Van Pelt	18.25
3	Kris Blanks	23.00
4	J.J. Henry	24.60
5	Chris Stroud	27.90
6	Aron Price	28.80
7	Charley Hoffman	31.85
8	Zach Johnson	34.05
9	Mathias Gronberg	35.90
10	Matthew Jones	36.05
11	Justin Leonard	36.80
12	Shaun Micheel	38.55
13	Tom Pernice Jr	39.60
14	Dean Wilson	41.50
15	Chris Riley	42.85

This week I am going to go with Jacobsen, Van Pelt, Henry, Stroud, and Hoffman. I skipped over Blanks and Price. Even though they have played well in their last two tournaments, their lack of experience in this tournament leaves me a little hesitant in picking them.

Below are my 5 picks for the Valero Texas Open:

#	Player	CLi
1	Fredrik Jacobson	11.10
2	Bo Van Pelt	18.25
3	J.J. Henry	24.60
4	Chris Stroud	27.90
5	Charley Hoffman	31.85

Below is the top 5 players in the Power Rankings from Rob Bolton:

1. Bo Van Pelt
2. John Rollins
3. Ernie Els
4. Matt Jones
5. Chad Campbell

Here is a link to Bolton's Power Rankings so that you can read more about his thoughts on his top players in this week's Power Rankings:

Bolton's Power Rankings: Valero Texas Open

We have 1 players in common this week: Van Pelt.

Below are the settings for the CLi calculation I used for the Valero Texas Open:

Number of Past Tournaments Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA1)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA1)
5	25%	25%
Number of Days Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA2)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA2)
30	5%	5%
Number of Tournaments Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA3)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA3)
4	20%	20%

The PLAYERS Championship Review

It is now time to review the picks for the PLAYERS Championship to see how the results turned out.

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

1. Phil Mickelson | 17 | $133,000
2. Jim Furyk | 47 | $25,118
3. Ernie Els | 99 (MC) | $0
4. Tiger Woods | 145 (WD) | $0
5. Luke Donald | 26 | $68,875

Here are the results for the Tour Insider's (Bolton's) picks.

1. Phil Mickelson | 17 | $133,000
2. Anthony Kim | 145 (WD) | $0
3. Ian Poulter | 70 (MC) | $0
4. Jim Furyk | 47 | $25,118
5. Rory McIlroy | 99 (MC) | $00

Here is the comparison of the results for our picks.

	Tour Outsider	Tour Insider	Winner
Total Earnings	$226,993	$158,118	TO
Avg Rank	66.8	75.6	TO
Made Cut	3	2	TO
Outcome	--	--	TO

The Total Earnings category was won by the Tour Outsider.

The Avg Rank category was won by the Tour Outsider.

The Made Cut category was won by the Tour Outsider.

This tournament overall was won by the Tour Outsider.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider is 6 wins to the Tour Outsider, 9 wins to the Tour Insider, and 1 draw.

For a tournament that is usually easy to select players that will NOT withdraw, this year was different for the PLAYERS Championship. Bolton had Kim pull out before the tournament started, and I had Wood withdraw during the final round. Along with several players that missed the cut, our overall results didn't not turn out very well. Let's see if the Valero Texas Open this coming week will be better for both the Tour Out/Insiders. In the meantime, I will savor the win on my part before moving to make picks for the tournament in my native state of Texas.

Oh, before signing off for the evening, I must add that it was very enjoyable seeing the South African bulldog, Tim Clark, win his first US PGA Tour event. Congrats!!!!

The PLAYERS Championship

This week the US PGA Tour is back on the East coast playing the PLAYERS Championship.

Below is the list of the top 15 players in the CLi rankings for the PLAYERS Championship.

#	Player	CLi
1	Phil Mickelson	5.65
2	Jim Furyk	7.50
3	Ernie Els	10.10
4	Tiger Woods	18.55
5	Luke Donald	19.50
6	Stephen Ames	22.50
7	Ian Poulter	22.90
8	Kevin Na	30.25
9	Matt Kuchar	30.45
10	Lee Westwood	31.70
11	Brian Davis	32.00
12	K.J. Choi	33.00
13	Fred Couples	35.80
14	Kevin Stadler	37.90
15	Charl Schwartzel	43.40

This week I am going to go with the top 5 in the CLi rankings. The question mark that I had was with Woods. With him missing the cut last week, namely because he couldn't keep it out of the trees on certain holes, made me hesitate in including him in my 5 picks. As well, several players down the list (i.e. Ames, Poulter, etc.) would be good picks. However, one can not discount Woods' mental game and how he steps up in the big tournaments. This tournament is considered the 5th major, so it is a big tournament. That was the deciding factor in including Woods in my picks this week.This week the CLi did a turn around. The top 5 players all have a CLi figure less than 10. This will make it easier to pick players for this tournament...I will go with the top 5 players.

Below are my 5 picks for the PLAYERS Championship:

#	Player	CLi
1	Phil Mickelson	5.65
2	Jim Furyk	7.50
3	Ernie Els	10.10
4	Tiger Woods	18.55
5	Luke Donald	19.50

Below is the top 5 players in the Power Rankings from Rob Bolton:

1. Phil Mickelson
2. Anthony Kim
3. Ian Poulter
4. Jim Furyk
5. Rory McIlroy

Here is a link to Bolton's Power Rankings so that you can read more about his thoughts on his top players in this week's Power Rankings:

Bolton's Power Rankings: PLAYERS Championship

We have 2 players in common this week: Mickelson and Furyk.

Below are the settings for the CLi calculation I used for the PLAYERS Championship:

Number of Past Tournaments Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA1)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA1)
5	25%	25%
Number of Days Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA2)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA2)
45	5%	5%
Number of Tournaments Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA3)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA3)
5	20%	20%

Quail Hollow Championship Review

It is now time to review the picks for the Quail Hollow Championship to see how the results turned out.

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

1. Anthony Kim | 7 | $175,964
2. Tiger Woods | 140 (MC) | $0
3. Jim Furyk | 7 | $175,964
4. Phil Mickelson | 2 | $702,000
5. Jason Bohn | 78 (MC) | $0

Here are the results for the Tour Insider's (Bolton's) picks.

1. Camilo Villegas | 57 | $14,365
2. Phil Mickelson | 2 | $702,000
3. Anthony Kim | 7 | $175,964
4. Tiger Woods | 140 (MC) | $0
5. Jim Furyk | 7 | $175,964

Here is the comparison of the results for our picks.

	Tour Outsider	Tour Insider	Winner
Total Earnings	$1,053,928	$1,068,293	TI
Avg Rank	46.8	42.6	TI
Made Cut	3	4	TI
Outcome	--	--	TI

The Total Earnings category was won by the Tour Insider.

The Avg Rank category was won by the Tour Insider.

The Made Cut category was won by the Tour Insider.

This tournament overall was won by the Tour Insider.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider is 5 wins to the Tour Outsider, 9 wins to the Tour Insider, and 1 draw.

This was a close tournament. The three of the four players that we both had on our books played. Mickelson, Furyk, and Kim all placed in the top 7. Woods missed the cut. The difference between us was the one player that we had different (duh). I had Bohn, who missed the cut by one. Bolton had Villegas, who was playing well until the last day. But he made the cut, and that was the difference between winning and losing this week for me.