JoePa's John Deere and Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic

[joepa66]

JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

KENNY PERRY 7 / 1 - This guy is certainly the hottest player on tour this season. He's been "mowing" them down like nobody's business! Perry has 2 wins in his last 6 starts on the PGA Tour along with a playoff runnerup....add up all the coulda, shoulda, wouldas, and he'd be a 4 time winner this season! Amazing! He has 4 Top10s in 7 starts in the JDC which ties for most of players in this weeks field, and his average finish here is 11th place which second only to Tim Clark who is 1 for 1 having only played here once in 2007 when he finished 2nd. Perry is also 3rd in the FedEx Cup standings and with a Top3 finish he'll pass Phil, and with 2nd or win he'll force Phil to win twice to overtake him. Perry is currently just 7pts. behind Phil and we all know who stands at numero uno but won't be eligible to play in the FedEx. Nothing runs like a Deere, except Kenny Perry!


HEATH SLOCUM 20 / 1 - Tyler, his real name, is 2 for 5 in Top10s at the John Deere, with a T6th in 2007 finishing at -13, a T3 in 2006 at -16, and was 13th in 2005 with a -11 card. No doubt he can score on this course! Heath has 5 Top10s this year---4th in the Travelers, T5th in the Wachovia, T8th in the AT&T, T9th in the U.S. Open, and T10th in the Sony. He's an impressive 8th on tour in driving accuracy at 73.26%, 37th in GIR at 65.78%, and 31st in scoring average at 71.04. His final round 65 in the U.S. Open was the lowest round in The Open since Vijay shot a 63 in 2003.


WOODY AUSTIN 33 / 1 - Summertime and backing Woody is easy cause his 3 tour wins have come in the summertime! Woody almost got his 4th tour win two weeks ago in The Buick but stumbled with two bogeys down the home stretch to finish 2nd to Kenny Perry....never fear, I had Perry picked to win as well but Woody's odds were much better. His best finish here was T8th in 2001, he tied for 50th last year. I'm just thinking the momentum he generated at The Buick carries over for this sleeper pick!


LPGA JAMIE FARR OWENS CORNING CLASSIC


MI HYUN KIM 10 / 1 - Kim is 4/8 in Top10s in the JFOCC with an average finishing place of 19.8 and a win in 2006 but two strokes with a -18. He best finish on the 2008 LPGA Tour was 3rd in The Corning, she has 4 Top10s which includes a T10th at the McDonalds, T6th at the Kraft Nabisco, and a T6th at the U.S. Open where a final round implosion with a 75 knocked her from the ranks of serious contention. She seemed disinterested last week as she was cut from the P&G NW Arkansas Championship, but this is a great course for her to rebound on.


SE RI PAK 12 / 1 - One sole reason for this pick....it's her tournament! She's owned the thing with 9/11 in Top10s as a 5-time winner (2007, 2003, 2001, 1999, 1998), and she was 4th in 2006 despite going very low at -16. While she's certainly the prohibitive favorite on this course, 2008 has been a very disappointing year for her with just 2/8 Top10s, she's missed the cut 4 times including the U.S. Open after opening rounds of 76-78, has a withdrawal, and her best finish of the year is a 9th place in The Ginn Tribute. Her stats bear out her struggles as she ranks 70th in scoring, 154th in driving accuracy, 58th in GIR, and 86th in putting. However, you can't count her out due to her track record here and that's got to be a real confidence boost for her this week. I'm just surprised the odds weren't a little longer for her uphill climb.


LAURA DIAZ 25 / 1 - Diaz is another golfer who seems to fair well in NW Ohio. Her average finish in 9 starts in this tournament is 14.8 (that's ranks 3rd in the field of players with more than one start in the JFOCC), with 4 Top10s to her credit and her best finish being a T3rd in 2007 and T3rd in 2002. She has 3 Top10s on tour this season with her best a T2nd in the SBS Open. In her last three tournaments she's finished well, placing 5th at the McDonalds, T10th at the Wegman's, and T27th at the U.S. Open. She has 2 career victories, and this week the Wake Forest Hall of Famer is primed to grab her third on course that she's very familiar with.