Sunday, June 29, 2008

No Picks for Buick Open - Traveling

I did not get my picks out for the Buick Open this past week as I was traveling. I was not on a computer very much, much less hooked up to the Internet. Therefore, I did not post a blog entry with my picks for the Buick Open. I should be more on my game this coming week for the AT&T National.

BallHype: hype it up! 

Tour Outsider: Travelers Championship Review

[ Again, I am late in posting the review for a tournament. I was traveling all last week and wasn't around a computer very much, much less on the Internet. ]

It is now time to review the picks for the Travelers Championship to see how the results turned out.

Here are the results of the Tour Outsider (my) picks.

Rank Player CLi Rank Earnings
Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual
1 S Kenny Perry 7.70 6 3 8 12 $194,250
2 S Nick O'Hern 15.05 19 24 54 53 $65,250
3 S Heath Slocum 16.70 4 2 8 28 $288,000
4 S Rod Pampling 17.50 MC MC 99 129 $0
5 S David Toms 21.75 27 15 38 28 $40,800

This week I had 4 top players in the top 30. Just one player missed the cut (Pampling). That was the eye sore in my picks.

Here are the results of the Tour Insider (Dave Shedloski) picks.

Here is the comparison between the Tour Outsider and Tour Insider picks.

Tour Outsider Tour Insider Winner
Total Earnings $588,300 $788,840 TI
Avg Rank 31.0 31.0 DRAW
Made Cut 4 4 DRAW
Outcome -- -- TI

The Total Earnings category was won by the Tour Insider.

The Avg Rank category was a draw.

The Made Cut category was a draw.

This tournament overall was won by the Tour Insider.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider year to date is, 14 wins to the Tour Outsider, 8 wins to the Tour Insider, and 5 draws.


The CLi top 15 looked like this (see below).

Rank Player CLi Rank Earnings
Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual
1 S Kenny Perry 7.70 6 3 8 12 $194,250
2 S Nick O'Hern 15.05 19 24 54 53 $65,250
3 S Heath Slocum 16.70 4 2 8 28 $288,000
4 S Rod Pampling 17.50 MC MC 99 129 $0
5 S David Toms 21.75 27 15 38 28 $40,800
6 S Briny Baird 28.10 19 31 54 28 $65,250
7 S Corey Pavin 28.10 10 40 12 53 $150,000
8 S Vijay Singh 28.85 5 3 12 12 $240,000
9 S Kevin Sutherland 31.20 27 40 5 28 $40,800
10 S Ryan Moore 31.60 MC MC 132 78 $0
11 S Carl Pettersson 33.30 37 49 27 105 $25,800
12 S Jerry Kelly 34.05 MC MC 83 78 $0
13 S Nathan Green 35.95 MC MC 83 53 $0
14 S Joe Ogilvie 39.30 37 49 54 105 $25,800
15 S Bob Tway 39.65 MC MC 83 78 $0

BallHype: hype it up! 

Monday, June 23, 2008

Traveling

I am traveling this week and will have limited access to a computer. So I will post the review of the Travelers Championship and the picks for the Buick Open when I can get on a computer over the next couple of days.

BallHype: hype it up! 

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Tour Outsider: Travelers Championship

This week the US PGA Tour cools off after last week's U.S. Open to head to the north east coast to play the Travelers Championship.

Let's look at the Golf CLi and see who the top 15 players are for the tournament ranked by the CLi figure.

Rank Player CLi
1 S Kenny Perry 7.70
2 S Nick O'Hern 15.05
3 S Heath Slocum 16.70
4 S Rod Pampling 17.50
5 S David Toms 21.75
6 S Briny Baird 28.10
7 S Corey Pavin 28.10
8 S Vijay Singh 28.85
9 S Kevin Sutherland 31.20
10 S Ryan Moore 31.60
11 S Carl Pettersson 33.30
12 S Jerry Kelly 34.05
13 S Nathan Green 35.95
14 S Brad Faxon 37.95
15 S Joe Ogilvie 39.30

This week I am going to keep it simple and am going to go with the top 5 in the CLi rankings. I thought about dropping Toms (as he is still recovering from an injury) and picking Pettersson (who is playing well of late). However, will trust the CLi this week completely and stick with the top 5.

So the Tour Outsider picks for the Travelers Championship are:

Rank Player CLi
1 S Kenny Perry 7.70
2 S Nick O'Hern 15.05
3 S Heath Slocum 16.70
4 S Rod Pampling 17.50
5 S David Toms 21.75

The Tour Insider's (Dave Shedloski) picks are:

We have 1 player in common in this tournament: Perry.

BallHype: hype it up! 

Tour Outsider: U.S. Open Review

[ I am late in posting the review this week. Things have been hectic the past several days as GolfInvestors has gotten close to 10,000 users visting the site to get the results of the U.S. Open. ]

It is now time to review the picks for the U.S. Open Championship to see how the results turned out. It was a wonderful tournament, for spectators, fans and the press alike. It was very good for the sport of golf worldwide.

Here are the results of the Tour Outsider (my) picks.

Rank Player CLi Rank Earnings
Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual
1 S Phil Mickelson 7.40 18 47 35 12 $87,230
2 S Vijay Singh 13.70 65 70 65 12 $16,514
3 S Sergio Garcia 17.00 18 11 35 85 $87,230
4 S Stewart Cink 20.90 14 47 22 19 $122,159
5 S Geoff Ogilvy 21.50 9 4 9 3 $160,769

I didn't pick the winner, who was Woods. But the overall results were nice for the picks. I had one top 10 (Ogilivy - 9th), 3 of them were in the top 25 (which is good for a major), and all the players made the cut (this is very good for the difficult U.S. Open).

Here are the results of the Tour Insider (Dave Shedloski) picks.

Shedloski got hurt when Donald withdrew in the final round due to a wrist injury. Donald was in the top 10 starting the final round. WD put Donald back in 156th place.

Here is the comparison between the Tour Outsider and Tour Insider picks.

Tour Outsider Tour Insider Winner
Total Earnings $473,902 $2,161,131 TI
Avg Rank 24.8 37.8 TO
Made Cut 5 4 TO
Outcome -- -- TO

The Total Earnings category was won by the Tour Insider.

The Tour Outsider won the Avg Rank category.

The Made Cut category was won Tour Outsider.

This tournament overall was won by the Tour Outsider.

I won the event because Shedloski's Donald pick withdrew in the final round. If Donald just finished the final round, Shedloski would have won all of the categories this week. Instead, I take home the trophy this week.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider year to date is, 14 wins to the Tour Outsider, 7 wins to the Tour Insider, and 5 draws.


The CLi top 15 looked like this (see below).

Rank Player CLi Rank Earnings
Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual
1 S Phil Mickelson 7.40 18 47 35 12 $87,230
2 S Vijay Singh 13.70 65 70 65 12 $16,514
3 S Anthony Kim 14.90 26 24 65 49 $61,252
4 S Sergio Garcia 17.00 18 11 35 85 $87,230
5 S Justin Leonard 20.20 36 47 42 64 $35,709
6 S Stewart Cink 20.90 14 47 22 19 $122,159
7 S Geoff Ogilvy 21.50 9 4 9 3 $160,769
8 S Stephen Ames 23.50 58 70 49 49 $18,664
9 S Jim Furyk 27.60 36 19 22 49 $35,709
10 S Robert Allenby 28.70 18 6 9 7 $87,230
11 S Ryuji Imada 29.80 18 24 65 49 $87,230
12 S Tim Clark 30.10 48 24 22 31 $23,985
13 S Boo Weekley 31.20 26 24 65 31 $61,252
14 S Mike Weir 31.20 18 11 42 31 $87,230
15 S Tiger Woods 32.00 1 1 2 19 $1,350,000

BallHype: hype it up! 

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Tour Outsider: U.S. Open

This week the US PGA Tour is moving to the west coast to play the second major of the year. We will see Torrey Pines host the U.S. Open Championship. Torrey Pines will play different than it has during the regular season event, the Buick Invitational.

Let's look at the Golf CLi and see who the top 15 players are for the tournament ranked by the CLi figure.

Rank Player CLi
1 S Phil Mickelson 7.40
2 S Vijay Singh 13.70
3 S Anthony Kim 14.90
4 S Sergio Garcia 17.00
5 S Justin Leonard 20.20
6 S Stewart Cink 20.90
7 S Geoff Ogilvy 21.50
8 S Stephen Ames 23.50
9 S Jim Furyk 27.60
10 S Robert Allenby 28.70
11 S Ryuji Imada 29.80
12 S Tim Clark 30.10
13 S Boo Weekley 31.20
14 S Mike Weir 31.20
15 S Tiger Woods 32.00

The cream rises to the top. That is the case with the Golf CLi rankings this week with all of the strong veteran players in the top 10. The two exceptions would be Tiger Woods and Anthony Kim. Woods is not in the top 10 (he is 15th) and Kim is not a veteran but is in the top 10. It will be interesting to see how Woods does after his knee surgery and how Kim does being a young buck.

This week I am going to go with the top 2 (Mickelson and Singh), skip over Kim, grab Garcia, skip over Leonard, and pick Cink and Ogilvy.

Mickelson knows Torrey Pines like the back of his hand having grown up in San Diego. He currently lives within 30 minutes of the course. Singh had been nursing an injury, but has seen his play improve as he gets over the injury. Garcia has been very consistent the last couple of months. As well, it helps that he won the Players Championship last month. That will give him some confidence in a major type of tournament. Cink and Ogilvy are very consistent in majors, especially on hard courses.

As for passing over Kim, I just don't feel comfortable in picking him with little experience in the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open is just a different animal than other tournaments. He might play well, but he could be very well shoot a high score in the first round and have no chance making the cut after that. And for passing over Leonard, he did win last week at the Stanford St. Jude Championship and is playing well. However, many players don't play well in the U.S. Open when they have won the week before. Therefore, I passed over him.

Then there is the reasoning for passing over Tiger Woods. It is very hard to not pick Woods in any tournament. But the CLi doesn't project him finishing higher than 32nd. He is 15th in the CLi rankings, but his CLi is 32. He has finished 1st twice and 2nd twice in the past 7 years. However, the knee surgery is a question mark and this pushes his CLi ranking down. He could play well the first couple of days, but the strain on his knee in the U.S. Open environment could tire him out in the 3rd round.

So the Tour Outsider picks for the U.S. Open Championship are:

Rank Player CLi
1 S Phil Mickelson 7.40
2 S Vijay Singh 13.70
4 S Sergio Garcia 17.00
6 S Stewart Cink 20.90
7 S Geoff Ogilvy 21.50

The Tour Insider's (Dave Shedloski) picks are:

We have 3 players in common in this tournament: Garcia, Mickelson and Ogilvy.

BallHype: hype it up! 

Monday, June 9, 2008

Tour Outsider: Stanford St. Jude Championship Review

It is now time to review the picks for the Stanford St. Jude Championship to see how the results turned out.

Here are the results of the Tour Outsider (my) picks.

Rank Player CLi Rank Earnings
Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual
1 S David Toms 9.95 37 51 53 56 $27,000
2 S Stephen Ames 14.15 13 7 14 11 $109,200
3 S Brian Gay 14.55 60 37 41 124 $13,020
4 S Camilo Villegas 22.80 18 37 33 39 $75,600

I am happy that all 4 of my picks made the cut (note: only 4 picks again this week as Shedloski only made 4 picks). However, 2 of the 3 players I passed over to pick Villegas placed 1st and 2nd. Leonard won the tournament and Allenby placed 2nd (lost in a playoff to Leonard). Oh well, at least the CLi did well this week.

Here are the results of the Tour Insider (Dave Shedloski) picks.

Here is the comparison between the Tour Outsider and Tour Insider picks.

Tour Outsider Tour Insider Winner
Total Earnings $224,820 $214,445 TO
Avg Rank 32.0 52.5 TO
Made Cut 4 3 TO
Outcome -- -- TO

The Total Earnings category was won by the Tour Outsider.

The Tour Outsider won the Avg Rank category.

The Made Cut category was won Tour Outsider.

This tournament overall was won by the Tour Outsider.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider year to date is, 13 wins to the Tour Outsider, 7 wins to the Tour Insider, and 5 draws.


The CLi top 15 looked like this (see below).

Rank Player CLi Rank Earnings
Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual
1 S David Toms 9.95 37 51 53 56 $27,000
2 S Stephen Ames 14.15 13 7 14 11 $109,200
3 S Brian Gay 14.55 60 37 41 124 $13,020
4 S Justin Leonard 15.50 1 7 26 4 $1,080,000
5 S Robert Allenby 19.15 2 23 33 39 $528,000
6 S Heath Slocum 19.60 24 44 14 69 $43,445
7 S Camilo Villegas 22.80 18 37 33 39 $75,600
8 S Ryan Palmer 25.05 MC MC 92 24 $0
9 S Bob Tway 29.05 24 23 41 56 $43,445
10 S Paul Goydos 31.80 MC MC 92 150 $0
11 S Steve Lowery 33.65 MC MC 139 106 $0
12 S Bob May 34.05 49 44 53 106 $14,660
13 S Retief Goosen 34.15 MC MC 131 106 $0
14 S Vijay Singh 35.05 11 7 7 3 $144,000
15 S Charles Howell III 36.75 MC MC 112 69 $0

BallHype: hype it up! 

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Tour Outsider: Stanford St. Jude Championship

This week the US PGA Tour is in Memphis, Tennessee to play the Stanford St. Jude Memorial Tournament. This is the last tournament before the U.S. Open (at Torrey Pines -- California).

Let's look at the Golf CLi and see who the top 15 players are for the tournament ranked by the CLi figure.

Rank Player CLi
1 S David Toms 9.95
2 S Stephen Ames 14.15
3 S Brian Gay 14.55
4 S Justin Leonard 15.50
5 S Robert Allenby 19.15
6 S Heath Slocum 19.60
7 S Camilo Villegas 22.80
8 S Ryan Palmer 25.05
9 S Bob Tway 29.05
10 S Paul Goydos 31.80
11 S Steve Lowery 33.65
12 S Bob May 34.05
13 S Retief Goosen 34.15
14 S Vijay Singh 35.05
15 S Charles Howell III 36.75

I will go with the top 3 players in the CLi rankings. Then I will skip down to Camilo to see if the "spiderman" can tackle the TPC course in Tenessee. And since Shedloski again only made 4 picks, I will have to stick with 4. If I was going to make a 5th pick, I would have picked Slocum.

So the Tour Outsider picks for the Stanford St. Jude Championship are:

Rank Player CLi
1 S David Toms 9.95
2 S Stephen Ames 14.15
3 S Brian Gay 14.55
4 S Camilo Villegas 22.80

The Tour Insider's (Dave Shedloski) picks are:

We have 1 player in common in this tournament: Toms.

BallHype: hype it up! 

Tour Outsider: Memorial Tournament Review

It is now time to review the picks for the Memorial Tournament to see how the results turned out.

Here are the results of the Tour Outsider (my) picks.

Rank Player CLi Rank Earnings
Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual
1 S Phil Mickelson 4.50 20 18 35 36 $65,000
2 S Kenny Perry 4.95 1 2 1 2 $1,080,000
3 S Stewart Cink 13.75 30 18 47 20 $34,133
4 S Jim Furyk 18.10 39 25 22 20 $24,000

All right, I got a winner this week in Perry. He was playing well the past month and was due to win. Also, it helped that he has the drive these days to play well. He wants to make the U.S. team for the Ryder Cup with the Ryder Cup is being held in his backyard later this summer, Kentucky. [ Kentucky is also where I will be moving to soon to start my doctorate ]

Another good note this week was that all of my picks made the cut. Now, there were only 4 picks as Shedloski only made 4 picks, but still that is good when all players make the cut.

It was a good week to say the least with all players making the cut and picking a winner.

The top 15 players in the CLi rankings did good as well. Only one player missed the cut (Weekley).

Here are the results of the Tour Insider (Dave Shedloski) picks.

Here is the comparison between the Tour Outsider and Tour Insider picks.

Tour Outsider Tour Insider Winner
Total Earnings $ 1,203,133 $1,285,467 TI
Avg Rank 22.5 19.0 TI
Made Cut 4 4 DRAW
Outcome -- -- TI

The Total Earnings category was won by the Tour Insider.

The Tour Insider won the Avg Rank category.

The Made Cut category was a draw.

This tournament overall was won by the Tour Insider.

The overall results between the Tour Outsider and the Tour Insider year to date is, 12 wins to the Tour Outsider, 7 wins to the Tour Insider, and 5 draws.


The CLi top 15 looked like this (see below).

Rank Player CLi Rank Earnings
Rd4 Rd3 Rd2 Rd1 Actual
1 S Phil Mickelson 4.50 20 18 35 36 $65,000
2 S Kenny Perry 4.95 1 2 1 2 $1,080,000
3 S Fred Couples 10.00 46 36 11 36 $16,046
4 S Ryan Moore 12.10 10 28 18 47 $120,667
5 S Bart Bryant 13.50 46 43 63 78 $16,046
6 S Stewart Cink 13.75 30 18 47 20 $34,133
7 S Rod Pampling 17.90 20 25 9 4 $65,000
8 S Jim Furyk 18.10 39 25 22 20 $24,000
9 S Boo Weekley 22.60 MC MC 89 78 $0
10 S Sergio Garcia 25.60 45 57 58 36 $19,800
11 S Carl Pettersson 27.50 10 18 11 6 $120,667
12 S Nick O'Hern 27.70 10 7 5 14 $120,667
13 S Jeff Quinney 28.30 30 43 63 20 $34,133
14 S Ryuji Imada 28.70 39 28 35 69 $24,000
15 S Richard Green 31.65 46 57 35 36 $16,046

BallHype: hype it up! 

Current Week's Golf CLi