Tour Outsider: The PLAYERS Championship

The US PGA Tour heads home to Ponte Verda Beach, Florida to what some call the 5th major on this circuit. The PLAYERS Championship is the gem of the US PGA Tour. The twist this year is that the tournament has moved dates from March (before the Masters) to May (after the Masters).

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 Phil Mickelson 14.70 2 Tiger Woods 14.70 3 Vijay Singh 20.35 4 Jerry Kelly 21.95 5 Ernie Els 23.50 6 Bo Van Pelt 25.75 7 Vaughn Taylor 28.95 8 Tom Lehman 30.75 9 Adam Scott 30.80 10 Scott Verplank 30.80 11 Luke Donald 31.05 12 Retief Goosen 39.00 13 Jeff Maggert 39.05 14 Padraig Harrington 40.00 15 Robert Allenby 40.35

This week I am going to go with the top 5 in the CLi, as Phil Mickelson (placed 3rd in the past two tournaments), Tiger Woods (won last week at the Wachovia), Vijay Singh (Sawgrass is his home course), Kelly (plays well at Sawgrass), and Ernie Els all look like good picks. Easy picks; let's hope the CLi formula did it's job.

So the Tour Outsider picks for the PLAYERS Championship are:

Rank Player CLi 1 Phil Mickelson 14.70 2 Tiger Woods 14.70 3 Vijay Singh 20.35 4 Jerry Kelly 21.95 5 Ernie Els 23.50

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

• 1 Tiger Woods
• 2 Retief Goosen
• 3 Steve Stricker
• 4 Adam Scott
• 5 Henrik Stenson

The only pick in common is Tiger Woods this week.

Tour Outsider: Wachovia Championship Review

It is now time to review the picks for the Wachovia 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 Vijay Singh 6.60 7 3 1 2 $196,350 2 Vaughn Taylor 10.20 MC MC 86 65 $0 3 Tiger Woods 15.85 1 2 1 15 $1,134,000 4 Luke Donald 23.05 MC MC 86 65 $0 5 Bo Van Pelt 24.35 61 81 70 120 $13,419

Nice, picked a winner in Tiger Woods (not hard to do, as he is a hard player to pick against). However, Ouch! Two (2) players missed the cut in my picks (Taylor and Donald). That is not a strong showing in the "Made Cut" line item. As well, Singh dropped from 3rd to 7th with his triple boegy on the last hole during the final round. That didn't help my cause much either. However, the Tour Insider had Singh in his picks, so we netted zero as both of us were affected in the same manner.

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

• 1 Vijay Singh | 7th | $196,350
• 2 Jim Furyk | 100 (MC)| $0
• 3 Ian Poulter | 85 (MC) | $0
• 4 Rory Sabbatini | 3 | $365,400
• 5 Nick Watney | 24 | $46,620

The Tour Insider was hit with two missed cuts as well (Furyk and Poulter).

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

	Tour Ousider	Tour Insider	Winner
Total Earnings	$1,343,769	$608,370	TO
Avg Rank	47.8	43.8	TI
Made Cut	3	3	DRAW
Outcome	--	--	DRAW

The Tour Outsider won the Total Earnings category with the help of Tiger Woods' win.

The Tour Insider won the Avg Rank category.

The Made Cut category was a draw, with both of us having 3 players making the cut.

This tournament was a draw.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider to date is, 1 win to the Tour Outsider, 0 wins to the Tour Insider, and 2 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 Vijay Singh 6.60 7 3 1 2 $196,350 2 Vaughn Taylor 10.20 MC MC 86 65 $0 3 Tiger Woods 15.85 1 2 1 15 $1,134,000 4 Nick Watney 16.30 24 49 26 47 $46,620 5 Ken Duke 20.45 7 5 6 15 $196,350 6 Stephen Leaney 20.60 79 74 42 95 $11,340 7 Scott Verplank 22.40 MC MC 129 79 $0 8 Luke Donald 23.05 MC MC 86 65 $0 9 Bo Van Pelt 24.35 61 81 70 120 $13,419 10 Phil Mickelson 26.15 3 7 7 15 $365,400 11 D.J. Trahan 27.50 MC MC 101 111 $0 12 John Senden 31.25 10 11 15 47 $151,200 13 Sergio Garcia 34.55 14 14 15 34 $116,550 14 Retief Goosen 35.15 43 56 55 47 $18,774 15 Jeff Maggert 35.50 52 63 15 4 $14,774

Tour Outsider: Wachovia Championship

The US PGA Tour heads to Charlotte, North Carolina after playing in Texas last week.

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 Vijay Singh 6.60 2 Vaughn Taylor 10.20 3 Tiger Woods 15.85 4 Nick Watney 16.30 5 Ken Duke 20.45 6 Stephen Leaney 20.60 7 Scott Verplank 22.40 8 Luke Donald 23.05 9 Bo Van Pelt 24.35 10 Phil Mickelson 26.15 11 D.J. Trahan 27.50 12 John Senden 31.25 13 Sergio Garcia 34.55 14 Retief Goosen 35.15 15 Jeff Maggert 35.50

Vijay Singh, Vaughn Taylor, and Tiger Woods look like good picks. All three are playing solidily at this time.

I will pass on Nick Watney, as he is a little green for this tournament. He played well several weeks ago when he won the Zurich Classic. However, this tournament is a little different than the Zurich Classic.

I will also pass on Ken Duke. As with Watney, Duke has played well over the past several weeks. As well, he had a good showing here last year. However, it is hard to see his top 10 finishes continue this week.

I will pass on Leaney and Verplank, and pick Luke Donald and Bo Van Pelt to round out my 5 picks.

So the Tour Outsider picks for the Wachovia Championship are:

Rank Player CLi 1 Vijay Singh 6.60 2 Vaughn Taylor 10.20 3 Tiger Woods 15.85 4 Luke Donald 23.05 5 Bo Van Pelt 24.35

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

• 1 Vijay Singh
• 2 Jim Furyk
• 3 Ian Poulter
• 4 Rory Sabbatini
• 5 Nick Watney

The only pick in common is Vijay Singh this week.

Tour Outsider: EDS Byron Nelson Championship Review

It is now time to review the picks for the EDS Byron Nelson 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 Sean O'Hair 3.25 25 28 2 1 $50,243 2 Stephen Leaney 11.10 29 28 18 38 $36,729 3 Vijay Singh 15.05 13 5 7 21 $111,300 4 Jerry Kelly 18.50 3 10 30 21 $302,400 5 Luke Donald 31.45 2 1 1 4 $680,400

Nice to see all players make the cut, with the highest rank of a player (Leaney) being 29th. Definitely, Donald and Kelly played well, placing 2nd and 3rd respectively. Donald was leading after the 2nd and 3rd rounds, having a chance to tie Verplank (the ultimate winner) with a 10 foot birdie on the last hole. He, however, missed it to finish in a strong 2nd place. Kelly played solidly on the weekend, while birding the last hole to get into 3rd place.

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

• 1 Sergio Garcia | 70th | $12,726
• 2 Luke Donald | 2nd | $680,400
• 3 Shigeki Maruyama | 44th | $18,594
• 4 Rory Sabbatini | 3rd | $302,400
• 5 Brett Wetterich | 10th | $157,500

For the Tour Insider, Donald, Sabbatini, and Wetterich all played well.

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

	Tour Ousider	Tour Insider	Winner
Total Earnings	$1,181,072	$1,171,620	TO
Avg Rank	14.4	25.8	TO
Made Cut	5	5	DRAW
Outcome	--	--	TO

The Tour Outsider won the Total Earnings category, but just barely, by less than $10,000

The Tour Outsider won the Avg Rank category.

The Made Cut category was a draw, with both of us having all of our players make the cut this time.

This tournament was won by the Tour Outsider, with the score 2-to-0.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider to date is, 1 win to the Tour Outsider, 0 wins to the Tour Insider, and 1 draw.

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

Rank Player CLi Rank Earnings Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual 1 Sean O'Hair 3.25 25 28 2 1 $50,243 2 Stephen Leaney 11.10 29 28 18 38 $36,729 3 Vijay Singh 15.05 13 5 7 21 $111,300 4 Bo Van Pelt 17.05 13 28 45 9 $111,300 5 Jerry Kelly 18.50 3 10 30 21 $302,400 6 Luke Donald 31.45 2 1 1 4 $680,400 7 John Senden 31.50 39 16 7 4 $25,830 8 Robert Allenby 37.00 39 16 18 9 $25,830 9 Jason Bohn 38.00 MC MC 136 137 $0 10 Jonathan Byrd 39.35 25 10 18 21 $50,243 11 Sergio Garcia 40.60 70 62 58 61 $12,726 12 Bob Estes 40.75 MC MC 74 21 $0 13 Brett Wetterich 41.40 10 10 2 2 $157,500 14 Briny Baird 41.70 MC MC 74 61 $0 15 Tommy Armour III 41.85 25 28 58 84 $50,243

Tour Outsider: EDS Byron Nelson Championship

The US PGA Tour heads to Irving, Texas, just outside of Dallas (as well as being just outside of Ft. Worth). The tournament is being played on two courses: TPC at Las Colinas and Cottonwood Country Club.

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 Sean O'Hair 3.25 2 Stephen Leaney 11.10 3 Vijay Singh 15.05 4 Bo Van Pelt 17.05 5 Jerry Kelly 18.50 6 Luke Donald 31.45 7 John Senden 31.50 8 Robert Allenby 37.00 9 Jason Bohn 38.00 10 Jonathan Byrd 39.35 11 Sergio Garcia 40.60 12 Bob Estes 40.75 13 Brett Wetterich 41.40 14 Briny Baird 41.70 15 Tommy Armour III 41.85

Sean O'Hair looks like a good pick. He has been playing well of late, and has played well at this tournament in tbe past.

Stephen Leaney hurt me last week at the Zurich in New Orleans, missing the cut. However, he is playing well, and these two course this week suit his game. So I will stick with him again this week. [ this pick could hurt me again, but hopefully not ]

Vijay Singh plays well here. I will pick him as well.

Bo Van Pelt looks like a good pick. However, I am liking two players behind him more (Jerry Kelly and Luke Donald). So i will have to pass on Van Pelt this time (I picked him last week in the Zurich).

Jerry Kelly is playing well and is a fighter. I can see him playing and placing well this week, however, I do not see him winning. I still feel good about him, so I will include him in my picks this week.

Luke Donald likes these courses, and he is playing well. So I will round out my 5 picks with him.

So the Tour Outsider picks for the EDS Byron Nelson Championship are:

Rank Player CLi 1 Sean O'Hair 3.25 2 Stephen Leaney 11.10 3 Vijay Singh 15.05 4 Jerry Kelly 18.50 5 Luke Donald 31.45

Note: I also picked O'Hair and Leaney last week in the Zurich. O'Hair was a good pick last week (placed 15th); Leaney was not a good pick last week (he misssed the cut). Hopefully both of them play to their strengths this week.

Some of the strong players that are in the top 15 of the CLi which I left out of my picks, but have a good chance to play well this week include Robert Allenby, Jonathan Byrd, Sergio Garcia, Bob Estes, Jason Bohn (birthday boy this week), and Brett Wetterich (last year's winner).

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

• 1 Sergio Garcia
• 2 Luke Donald
• 3 Shigeki Maruyama
• 4 Rory Sabbatini
• 5 Brett Wetterich

So the only pick in common is Luke Donald. As with last week, when we ended up in a draw, it will be interesting to see how our picks compare at the end of the tournament.