Arnold Palmer Invitational
What a great two-week stretch for the PGA Tour. This week, it's the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where Tiger Woods will be in action and Vijay Singh will be trying to defend his title. Then it's on to the WGC-CA Championship at Doral, where Woods is the defending champ.
Even with Ernie Els taking the week off, 30 of the top 50 players in the world will tee off at Bay Hill on Thursday. With this field, fantasy players may not be the only ones watching.
Bay Hill Picks
Tiger Woods: Despite his recent struggles at Bay Hill, we still like Woods to have a good week. He's a four-time winner there, and he's only missed the cut once. Woods just passed Arnie on the career wins list. Think he won't give Palmer a little needling?
Vijay Singh: Don't know if he'll win, but the guy hardly misses a cut, he's the defending champion and he hasn't finished worse than seventh at this event in three years.
Stuart Appleby: We should probably get off the Appleby train since he doesn't have a great record at Bay Hill, but he hasn't let us down yet: Five tournaments, five top 10s. It's hard to pick against him.
Luke Donald: Only Tiger Woods has a better scoring average than the Donald this season. Ok, so Luke's only played three events, but he has two top-three finishes and a T17 at the WGC Match Play. Last year was his first trip to Bay Hill since 2003, and he finished eighth.
Ryuji Imada: He missed the cut last year in his first appearance, but Imada is having a great year so far. He finished second at Torrey Pines; withdrew from the FBR Open; then chalked up two straight top fives at the Northern Trust and the PODS Championship.
(Note: Imada was disqualified Wednesday after John Daly missed his pro-am tee time.)
John Senden: Senden quietly shot a 67 on Sunday at the PODS and finished in a six-way tie for second. In three appearances at Bay Hill, he has missed two cuts, but we're willing to overlook his past performances based on last week's showing.
Sleeper
Nathan Green: Green's record at Bay Hill isn't stellar, but he carded a third-place finish at the Honda Classic two weeks ago, and he ranks third in putts per round behind Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald.
Players to Avoid
Phil Mickelson: Phil's like a good rollercoaster - he'll take you up to breathtaking highs, then drop you in a second. He finished second at the FBR after losing a playoff to J.B. Holmes, then he missed the cut at Pebble Beach, and he won at Riviera. He has played well at Bay Hill over the years, although he dropped it from his schedule in 2003. Too many question marks for Phil this week. Save him for the Shell Houston Open.
Sergio Garcia: He has an impressive record at Bay Hill - five top 10s in eight appearances - but his putting has been so bad that he carried two putters at the WGC Match Play. Yikes.
