Tour Outsider: Sony Open in Hawaii

The US PGA Tour stays in Hawaii this week for the Sony Open.

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 Steve Stricker 3.00 2 Vijay Singh 4.60 3 Charles Howell III 8.20 4 Stephen Ames 8.55 5 Jim Furyk 9.30 6 Bubba Watson 11.75 7 Jerry Kelly 12.40 8 Aaron Baddeley 13.70 9 Boo Weekley 15.20 10 George McNeill 15.35 11 Shigeki Maruyama 15.60 12 Chad Campbell 17.20 13 Fred Funk 21.25 14 Mark Calcavecchia 21.80 15 Rory Sabbatini 23.80

I am going to stick with the top 5 for this tournament. All 5 of these players have CLis under 10.

So the Tour Outsider picks for the Sony Open:

Rank Player CLi 1 Steve Stricker 3.00 2 Vijay Singh 4.60 3 Charles Howell III 8.20 4 Stephen Ames 8.55 5 Jim Furyk 9.30

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

• 1 Aaron Baddeley
• 2 Steve Stricker
• 3 Vijay Singh
• 4 Jim Furyk
• 5 Charles Howell III

This week we have four players in common: Stricker, Singh, Furyk and Howell. So Shedloski is banking on Aaron Baddeley and I am banking on Stephen Ames.

Tour Outsider: Mercedes-Benz Championship Review

It is now time to review the picks for the Mercedes-Benz Championship 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 Jim Furyk 4.00 5 6 17 16 $218,000 2 Vijay Singh 5.80 12 10 17 16 $130,000 3 Mike Weir 6.70 4 1 1 6 $310,000 4 Zach Johnson 6.90 20 16 13 26 $81,000 5 Stephen Ames 7.60 3 5 2 8 $410,000

Picking Weir looked like a winner when he was leading heading into the final round. However, he could not hang on to make it to the playoff with Daniel Chopra and Steve Stricker --- Chopra ended up winning the playoff over Stricker.

In any event, having 3 players in the top 5 with Ames, Weir and Furyk made for a good week in this limited field event.

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

• 1 Vijay Singh | 12 | $130,000
• 2 Jim Furyk | 5 | $218,000
• 4 Scott Verplank | 18 | $86,000
• 3 Chad Champbell | 12 | $130,000
• 5 Rory Sabbatini | 17 | $90,000

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

	Tour Outsider	Tour Insider	Winner
Total Earnings	$1,149,000	$654,000	TO
Avg Rank	8.8	12.8	TO
Made Cut	5	5	DRAW
Outcome	--	--	TO

The Tour Outsider won the Total Earnings category.

The Tour Outsider won the Avg Rank category.

Since there was not a cut in this tournament, and no players withdrew, the Made Cut category was a draw.

The Tour Outsider won this tournament to start the 2008 season.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider year to date is, 1 win 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 Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual 1 Jim Furyk 4.00 5 6 17 16 $218,000 2 Vijay Singh 5.80 12 10 17 16 $130,000 3 Justin Leonard 6.00 8 6 6 11 $175,000 4 Woody Austin 6.10 18 22 25 11 $86,000 5 Mike Weir 6.70 4 1 1 6 $310,000 6 Zach Johnson 6.90 20 16 13 26 $81,000 7 Stephen Ames 7.60 3 5 2 8 $410,000 8 Aaron Baddeley 8.70 12 16 6 3 $130,000 9 Mark Calcavecchia 11.20 10 13 6 21 $155,000 10 Fred Funk 11.40 25 24 21 21 $72,000 11 Rory Sabbatini 12.20 17 19 21 8 $90,000 12 Charles Howell III 12.40 8 13 17 16 $175,000 13 K.J. Choi 14.60 28 30 29 29 $67,500 14 Steve Stricker 14.70 2 6 11 11 $630,000 15 Jonathan Byrd 14.80 15 3 2 3 $105,000

Tour Outsider: Mercedes-Benz Championship

The US PGA Tour starts their 2008 season in Hawaii this week. Their first tournament of the year is a limited field event, the Mercedes-Benz Championship.

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 Jim Furyk 4.00 2 Vijay Singh 5.80 3 Justin Leonard 6.00 4 Woody Austin 6.10 5 Mike Weir 6.70 6 Zach Johnson 6.90 7 Stephen Ames 7.60 8 Aaron Baddeley 8.70 9 Mark Calcavecchia 11.20 10 Fred Funk 11.40 11 Rory Sabbatini 12.20 12 Charles Howell III 12.40 13 K.J. Choi 14.60 14 Steve Stricker 14.70 15 Jonathan Byrd 14.80

The top 8 in the CLi list all look good. They all have CLis under 10. So in that regards, I am going to focus on these top 8 players (rather than looking at all 15 players).

In these top 8 players, I am going to skip over Justin Leonard and Woody Austin. I personally like both of these players. However, I have a feeling that they both will be a little more rusty playing in this event than other players in the field, and will rather want to enjoy the atmosphere of Hawaii rather than playing to win. Actually, most players in the field for the Mercedes will want to enjoy the atmosphere of Hawaii more so than playing to win in the tournament.

So the Tour Outsider picks for the Mercedes-Benz Championship:

Rank Player CLi 1 Jim Furyk 4.00 2 Vijay Singh 5.80 3 Mike Weir 6.70 4 Zach Johnson 6.90 5 Stephen Ames 7.60

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

• 1 Vijay Singh
• 2 Jim Furyk
• 3 Scott Verplank
• 4 Chad Campbell
• 5 Rory Sabbatini

This week we have two players in common: Singh and Furyk.

On Vacation

I am on vacation until the beginning of 2008, at which time I will start posting again for the 2008 US PGA Tour season. Happy holidays everyone.

2007 Season Wrap-up

The 2007 US PGA Tour season is now finished. As everyone knows who reads this blog, that this year I have been competing against the Tour Insider, Dave Shedloski, in terms of player picks each week. Below are the final results for this year:

Tour Outsider:	14 Wins
Tour Insider:	11 Wins
Draws:	4

Tour Outsider: Children's Miracle Network Classic Review

It is now time to review the picks for the Children's Miracle Network Classic 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 Tim Clark 5.50 2 9 16 5 $496,800 2 Cameron Beckman 7.00 20 9 5 2 $49,833 3 Mark Calcavecchia 10.00 MC MC 117 106 $0 4 Lucas Glover 13.30 63 70 67 13 $9,568 5 Scott Verplank 15.80 3 1 1 2 $239,200

Had a winner for most of the tournament in Verplank. He was leading going into the final round, but fell back to 3rd with a final round score of 71. Tim Clark did good this week, placing 2nd. So even though Verplank didn't pull through to win, did have a 2nd and 3rd pick in Verplank and Clark.

Those picks, however, were mirrored by Shedloski this week so they were offset.

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

• 1 Lucas Glover | 63 | $9,568
• 2 Tim Clark | 2 | $496,800
• 4 Scott Verplank | 3 | $239,200
• 3 Joe Durant | 26 | $30,025
• 5 Frank Lickliter | 78 | $8,280

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

	Tour Outsider	Tour Insider	Winner
Total Earnings	$795,401	$858,401	TI
Avg Rank	40.8	34.4	TI
Made Cut	4	5	TI
Outcome	--	--	TI

The Tour Insider won the Total Earnings category.

The Tour Insider won the Avg Rank category.

The Made Cut category was won by the Tour Insider the sweep of all 3 categories this week.

The Tour Insider won this tournament to wrap up the US PGA Tour season.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider year to date is, 14 wins to the Tour Outsider, 11 wins to the Tour Insider, and 4 draws.

With the US PGA Tour complete for the 2007 season, I can claim this year a victory, even though I would have liked to have had more wins. Hopefully next year will be an improvement over this year as I look to refine my picks via the Golf CLi. Until January 2008, enjoy the rest of 2007.

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

Rank Player CLi Rank Earnings Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual 1 Tim Clark 5.50 2 9 16 5 $496,800 2 Cameron Beckman 7.00 20 9 5 2 $49,833 3 Mark Calcavecchia 10.00 MC MC 117 106 $0 4 Lucas Glover 13.30 63 70 67 13 $9,568 5 Scott Verplank 15.80 3 1 1 2 $239,200 6 Ryan Moore 16.35 41 31 25 44 $14,561 7 Jesper Parnevik 16.35 26 41 35 44 $30,025 8 Stewart Cink 16.85 13 9 16 27 $92,000 9 Marco Dawson 17.25 70 77 67 72 $9,062 10 Heath Slocum 18.20 9 8 16 13 $119,600 11 Briny Baird 18.75 83 77 58 106 $7,912 12 Daniel Chopra 20.00 52 47 58 93 $10,672 13 Bill Haas 20.05 MC MC 95 93 $0 14 Sean O'Hair 20.45 15 41 5 13 $73,600 15 Nick Watney 21.70 9 31 16 13 $119,600

Tour Outsider: Children's Miracle Network Classic

The US PGA Tour heads to Disney World for the Children's Miracle Network Classic. It is the last regular season event for the US PGA Tour, and the last event that I will be making picks until 2008 rolls around.

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 Tim Clark 5.50 2 Cameron Beckman 7.00 3 Mark Calcavecchia 10.00 4 Lucas Glover 13.30 5 Scott Verplank 15.80 6 Ryan Moore 16.35 7 Jesper Parnevik 16.35 8 Stewart Cink 16.85 9 Marco Dawson 17.25 10 Heath Slocum 18.20 11 Briny Baird 18.75 12 Daniel Chopra 20.00 13 Bill Haas 20.05 14 Sean O'Hair 20.45 15 Nick Watney 21.70

I will stick with the top 5 in the CLi rankings to make it simple this week, even though I would have liked to have dipped down to the 6th player in the list: Ryan Moore. Maybe next time. Just will keep it simple this week.

So the Tour Outsider picks for the Children's Miracle Network Classic:

Rank Player CLi 1 Tim Clark 5.50 2 Cameron Beckman 7.00 3 Mark Calcavecchia 10.00 4 Lucas Glover 13.30 5 Scott Verplank 15.80

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

• 1 Lucas Glover
• 2 Tim Clark
• 3 Scott Verplank
• 4 Joe Durant
• 5 Frank Lickliter

This week we have three players in common: Glover, Clark, and Verplank.