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JoePa's AT&T NATIONAL PICKS
JOEPA'S UPDATED YTD
+42.50 UNITS
Scored another Top 5 last week with John Rollins. The guy nearly gave me a heart attack down the stretch with missing legit birdie chances and then rolls in a 20+ footer on the 18th to grab a share of a T4th with the field coming back to him on the back nine. A win nonetheless and now it's on to the AT&T National at Congressional a course with a lot of length to it.
JIM FURYK 9/2 E.W. - EL LUPI makes his first appearance since a T4th at the U.S. Open, his second finish of fourth or better in his last three starts---not to mention---in the three years the tournament was previously played at Congressional he has finished seventh or better. That's three top 10s in as many starts at Congressional in AT&T. He shared the 36- and 54-hole leads at Olympic Club two weeks ago en route to his T4th and has 7 top 15s in his last 9 starts this year, including 3 Top 5s, 4 Top 10s with his last three starts garnering a 4th @ the Crowne Plaza, 13th @ The Memorial and T4th @ the U.S. Open. Ranks 22nd on TOUR in greens hit, 4th in driving accuracy, 3rd in scoring average and 9th in sand saves. I like him.....
KJ CHOI 8/1 E.W. - Choi, the 2007 AT&T Champ, plays difficult courses well and has 4 top-25 finishes this season, all tough tests on links the likes of Muirfield Village, The Olympic Club and Riviera. Winner of the inaugural AT&T National in 2007, he recently ended a drought of seven consecutive starts without a top 30 with top 20s at the Memorial and U.S. Open. He closed out each with his low round of the tournament. Hasn’t been a stellar season for the likeable South Korean but he does have that T15th @ the U.S. Open, a T19th @ The Memorial and is ranked 36th in driving accuracy.
RYAN PALMER 8/1 E.W. - You can probably make a case for Palmer as one of if not the hottest player without a victory on tour this season. In his last 5 starts, he's posted 4 Top 10s including in each of his last three outings with a T9th @ the HP Byron Nelson, T5th @ the Crowne Plaza and T3rd @ the FedEx St. Jude. In those four starts, he's an aggregate 33-under with a birdie average of 3.74. He T21st at the 2011 U.S. Open and it's almost impossible to ignore his recent string of successes. He also has Top 25 finishes in his last two visits to Congressional. On tour he ranks T13th in driving distance, 9th in strokes gained putting, 16th in birdie average, 11th in scoring average, 9th in par 3 birdie or better average, 34th in par 4 birdie or better average. Once again, I hate having long layoffs between starts but the guy is on fire.
BRIAN DAVIS 14/1 E.W. - Recorded his third T4 of the year at the Travelers Championship where he shared the 54-hole lead with rounds of 67-67-64 before a final round 70. He also has a T9th @ the Wells Fargo, 13th @ the RBC Heritage and a T4ths @ the Arnie Palmer and Shell Houston. Ranked inside the top 10 in fairways, greens and birdies at TPC River Highlands last week and currently ranks 29th on the tour in the all-around ranking, 6th in driving accuracy, 49th in strokes gained putting, 41st in scoring average, 15th in par 4 birdie or better average, 17th in scoring average before the cut, 17th in total birdies, and 7th in approaches from 225-250 yards---the latter being very important since Congressional has been lengthened 314 yards to 7,569 yards. Not great in most of the pretty stat numbers but he's been very effective on the course.
+42.50 UNITS
Scored another Top 5 last week with John Rollins. The guy nearly gave me a heart attack down the stretch with missing legit birdie chances and then rolls in a 20+ footer on the 18th to grab a share of a T4th with the field coming back to him on the back nine. A win nonetheless and now it's on to the AT&T National at Congressional a course with a lot of length to it.
JIM FURYK 9/2 E.W. - EL LUPI makes his first appearance since a T4th at the U.S. Open, his second finish of fourth or better in his last three starts---not to mention---in the three years the tournament was previously played at Congressional he has finished seventh or better. That's three top 10s in as many starts at Congressional in AT&T. He shared the 36- and 54-hole leads at Olympic Club two weeks ago en route to his T4th and has 7 top 15s in his last 9 starts this year, including 3 Top 5s, 4 Top 10s with his last three starts garnering a 4th @ the Crowne Plaza, 13th @ The Memorial and T4th @ the U.S. Open. Ranks 22nd on TOUR in greens hit, 4th in driving accuracy, 3rd in scoring average and 9th in sand saves. I like him.....
KJ CHOI 8/1 E.W. - Choi, the 2007 AT&T Champ, plays difficult courses well and has 4 top-25 finishes this season, all tough tests on links the likes of Muirfield Village, The Olympic Club and Riviera. Winner of the inaugural AT&T National in 2007, he recently ended a drought of seven consecutive starts without a top 30 with top 20s at the Memorial and U.S. Open. He closed out each with his low round of the tournament. Hasn’t been a stellar season for the likeable South Korean but he does have that T15th @ the U.S. Open, a T19th @ The Memorial and is ranked 36th in driving accuracy.
RYAN PALMER 8/1 E.W. - You can probably make a case for Palmer as one of if not the hottest player without a victory on tour this season. In his last 5 starts, he's posted 4 Top 10s including in each of his last three outings with a T9th @ the HP Byron Nelson, T5th @ the Crowne Plaza and T3rd @ the FedEx St. Jude. In those four starts, he's an aggregate 33-under with a birdie average of 3.74. He T21st at the 2011 U.S. Open and it's almost impossible to ignore his recent string of successes. He also has Top 25 finishes in his last two visits to Congressional. On tour he ranks T13th in driving distance, 9th in strokes gained putting, 16th in birdie average, 11th in scoring average, 9th in par 3 birdie or better average, 34th in par 4 birdie or better average. Once again, I hate having long layoffs between starts but the guy is on fire.
BRIAN DAVIS 14/1 E.W. - Recorded his third T4 of the year at the Travelers Championship where he shared the 54-hole lead with rounds of 67-67-64 before a final round 70. He also has a T9th @ the Wells Fargo, 13th @ the RBC Heritage and a T4ths @ the Arnie Palmer and Shell Houston. Ranked inside the top 10 in fairways, greens and birdies at TPC River Highlands last week and currently ranks 29th on the tour in the all-around ranking, 6th in driving accuracy, 49th in strokes gained putting, 41st in scoring average, 15th in par 4 birdie or better average, 17th in scoring average before the cut, 17th in total birdies, and 7th in approaches from 225-250 yards---the latter being very important since Congressional has been lengthened 314 yards to 7,569 yards. Not great in most of the pretty stat numbers but he's been very effective on the course.