Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Waste Management Phoenix Open

I'm going to need the title sponsor to chase after what I've been dumping on you golf readers the last couple of weeks.  I was feeling pretty good about Tiger after Thursday, then he fell apart...kinda like....John Daly.  Maybe Tiger should try and bomb a couple over the falls?

This week, we head to Phoenix, where Tiger won't be seen, but many of the top Americans will be in play.  Watney, Mickelson, DJ, Kim, Fowler and Bubba are all in the field.  Mahan is the defending champ, and Sean O'Hair is making his season debut.  I was huge on O'Hair last year, and still think he has a lot of game.  2011 is likely a bounceback.  The international field isn't as strong, though it does feature major champions Angel Cabrera, Vijay Singh, Steve Elkington, Trevor Immelman, YE Yang and Geoff Ogilvy.  Other contenders include the surprisingly entertaining Johnny Vegas, Jeff Overton, and JB Holmes, who has won twice in Phoenix in the last four years.

Who do I like?  Basically all the Americans listed above.  You can't go wrong with any of them and the whole first group I listed is playing well, but I'm going Dustin JohnsonDJ has no meaningful history in Phoenix but length plays well here and DJ has top tens in his last two starts.  He's the man to beat this week.  Mickelson has also won twice here and looked really good as the runner up to Watson last week.  Fowler placed second here last year too and Watney is coming off a Sunday 63.  It's going to be an American landslide Sunday prior to the Super Bowl.

Sleeper picks include Kevin Na, who has three top fives in five starts here, Robert Allenby, who has become very undervalued for someone of his talent, and Elkington, who just may have a little left in the tank afetr a solid showiug at the Hope and a great finish to last year at Whistling Straits.

Most Talent
Mickelson
D. Johnson
Watney
Kim
Mahan

Course History
Holmes
Mickelson
Mahan
Na
Singh

Who's Hot?
Vegas
Watson
D. Johnson
Haas
Mickelson

Who's Not?
Petterson
Glover
Leonard
Toms
Sim

My Picks
D. Johnson
Watney
Mickelson
Kim
Holmes

Cheers,
TFAM

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