Date: May 6th-9th, 2010 TPC Sawgrass
by Evergreen of Predictem.com
By the time anyone reads this, yours truly will be on an airplane and likely at least one cocktail into a well deserved vacation. While you wont get the standard preview this week, you will still get my picks to win for THE PLAYERS Championship. We are a bit early for the golf wagering websites to have their odds out, but these three players should fall somewhere in our normal format of short, middle and long odds pick.
Short Favorite: Jim Furyk
Leave out the Masters and Jim has been inside the top-11 in his previous four starts including two wins in that span. A first round 75 spoiled any real chance to win at Quail Hollow, but Furyk fought back nicely and notched a T7. A T9 in 2009 and T3 in 2006 prove he can get it done at Sawgrass and Jim is currently in the top-15 in fairways, putting average, putts per round, scrambling and scoring average.
Middle of the Road: Anthony Kim
Even though Kim is battling a torn thumb ligament that will eventually need surgery, the injury is hardly affecting his results. The last five starts have produced a win, a runner up, a third and two more in the top-22. Kim owns the best scoring average on Tour and ranks in the top-5 in both putts per round and birdies per round. Anthony ranks 27th in greens hit and the rest of the stat sheet is good enough for the 8th best all around mark.
Longshot: Dustin Johnson
The Pebble Beach Pro-Am champ was in the hunt at Quail Hollow until a final round 77 dropped him a bit, but he looks to be playing well enough to win. There are only two on Tour that have a better driving distance mark than Dustin and his 54th rank in GIR% is a good complement to his length. Johnson is best on Tour with 11 eagles so far and is 21st in total birdies to come in 1st par breakers. D.J. is also among the best on the par-5s, coming in at an aggregate 64-under on those holes in 2010.
Good Luck!!