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.

Tour Outsider: Sony Open in Hawaii Review

It is now time to review the picks for the Sony Open in Hawaii 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 Steve Stricker 3.00 4 9 20 63 $208,688 2 Vijay Singh 4.60 45 41 47 54 $15,518 3 Charles Howell III 8.20 MC MC 69 52 $9,805 4 Stephen Ames 8.55 10 14 47 54 $113,571 5 Jim Furyk 9.30 20 41 47 28 $59,572

Choi ended up winning the tournament wire-to-wire. I would have of expected Choi to place in the top 15, but not to win. So that is a surprise to me.

2 of my players ended upon in the top 10, which is not bad.

Howell is shown as missing the cut even though he didn't officially "miss the cut" as defined in the new cut rules for the US PGA Tour. This is a new one as he actually made the cut based upon the US PGA Tour's new cut rules, but didn't play on the weekend. He earned money as you see. However, to keep things simple, I am going to still say the definition making the cut (vs. missing the cut) means playing every round of the tournamentand not based upon if the player earns money from the tournament. So this week, I had one player miss the cut even though all 5 of my players earned money.

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

• 1 Aaron Baddeley | 87 MC | $0
• 2 Steve Stricker | 4 | $208,688
• 4 Vijay Singh | 45 | $15,518
• 3 Jim Furyk | 20 | $59,572
• 5 Charles Howell III | 69 MC | $9,805

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

	Tour Outsider	Tour Insider	Winner
Total Earnings	$407,658	$293,583	TO
Avg Rank	29.6	45	TO
Made Cut	4	3	TO
Outcome	--	--	TO

The Tour Outsider won the Total Earnings category.

The Tour Outsider won the Avg Rank category.

The Tour Outsider won the Made Cut category to complete a sweep of all 3 categories for the tournament.

The Tour Outsider won this tournament.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider year to date is, 2 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 Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual 1 Steve Stricker 3.00 4 9 20 63 $208,688 2 Vijay Singh 4.60 45 41 47 54 $15,518 3 Charles Howell III 8.20 MC MC 69 52 $9,805 4 Stephen Ames 8.55 10 14 47 54 $113,571 5 Jim Furyk 9.30 20 41 47 28 $59,572 6 Bubba Watson 11.75 50 30 58 54 $12,784 7 Jerry Kelly 12.40 3 14 6 13 $360,400 8 Aaron Baddeley 13.70 MC MC 87 52 $0 9 Boo Weekley 15.20 MC MC 87 52 $0 10 George McNeill 15.35 17 52 58 28 $79,500 11 Shigeki Maruyama 15.60 25 21 20 28 $39,599 12 Chad Campbell 17.20 10 5 12 5 $113,571 13 Fred Funk 21.25 10 9 4 42 $113,571 14 Mark Calcavecchia 21.80 68 67 58 28 $10,812 15 Rory Sabbatini 23.80 2 5 12 5 $572,400

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.