Verizon Heritage

I hope Phil Mickelson really is as good of a family man as everybody has been saying, because it's being laid on pretty thick right now.  I love Phil, but...some of this may be a little over the top.  Anyway, huge win at Augusta for Mickelson, who once again conquers the major that suits his game like no other.

Now, onto the very anti-climatic Verizon Heritage at Hilton Head.  For some reason I always think of DL3 and Stew Cink as monsters on this course, and they have won four and two times respectively here, but none of those wins have come since 2004.  Also, those two guys aren't playing well enough to pick this week anyway.

So, who does that leave?  Well, Brian Gay won by ten last year, which was a stunner considering he has only one other top ten and has been cut six times in ten tries.  Aaron Baddeley has nothing worse than a 21st and has won this tournament as well in one of his four tries.  Boo Weekley has two wins and a 13th in three tries as well, but both Badds and Boo have been subpar in 2010.

If you're looking for stars, my former mancrush Ian Poulter has withdrawn after running out of steam on the weekend at Augusta.  Paul Casey and Jim Furyk are going to tee it up though and both have posted well here before.  Casey has an 11th in his only start, and Furyk has two seconds and a fourth in his last five tries (but what was that 80 all about Thursday??????).  Matt Kuchar has been incredilbly solid in every event he has entered in 2010.  Lucas Glover hasn't, but he's a South Carolina boy...

A few more options come from the international contingent with Villegas, Allenby and Choi, who is clearly all the way back after a terrible 2009.  None of these three have any good history here, but Choi is a solid pick this week.

Sleepers?  Vaughn Taylor is coming off a playoff loss to Kim in Houston and has a third and a fourth here in five tries....Scott Verplank is coming off a T18 at Augusta and has three top tens and zero missed cuts here since 2000...and how about Rickie Fowler?  He said on his Twitter feed that he loves this course.  He's going to break through sometime in 2010, why not here?

Most Talent
Garcia?
Villegas
Casey
Furyk
Allenby

Course History
Weekley
Furyk
Cink
Gay
Love

Who's Hot
Choi
Kelly
Kuchar
Casey
Allenby

Who's Not
Garcia
Cink
Glover
Karlsson
Campbell

My Picks
Choi
Kuchar
Casey
Verplank
Fowler

Cheers,
TFAM