JoePa's The Player's Championship @ TPC Sawgrass

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THE PLAYER'S CHAMPIONSHIP


PHIL MICKELSON 10/1 TO WIN - Again, not one of my favorite golfers but Lefty has been a solid performer this year. He's got two wins and it's early in the season (Northern Trust and WGC - CA Championship), was 5th at The Masters, T5th at Quail Hollow last week, finished T9th at the WGC - Accenture Match Play. His recent form is enough to take a good look at and his stats bear out his lofty status this year: 2nd in FedEx Cup Standings, 1st on the Money Leaders list, 8th in par breakers, 7th in birdie average, 10th in eagles, 14th in putting average and 18th in driving distance. He tied for 21st at the TPC Sawgrass in '08, won in '07 and T14th in '06.....this is a stadium course that he hasn't had great luck on in the past with just 3 Top 10s in 15 starts. He's on a roll early this year and keeps the momentum going!


JIM FURYK 6/1 TOP FIVE FINISH - Furyk has also been having a great season with 7/9 cuts made and three Top10 finishes. He T9th at the WGC Accenture Match Play, T10th at The Masters, and was 3rd at the WGC - CA Championship. He finished in that log jam of -8s last week at Quail Hollow. TPC Sawgrass has been less than kind to him in the past as he only has 2 Top 10s in 13 starts, but they come in recent years. He T3rd in '06 and T4th in '03. Last year he finished T27th, T28th in '07 and missed the cut in '05. You can't argue with his fortitude or his rankings in putts per round - 3rd, and driving accuracy - 21st.

HUNTER MAHAN 7/1 TOP FIVE FINISH - Mahan is another golfer who is on fire this year! He's a perfect 10 for 10 in cuts made in '09, has finished in the Top10 twice and the Top25 seven times. In his last three starts, the Wachovia at Quail Hollow, The Masters, and The Shell Houston he's finished T22nd, T10th, and T6th. Earlier in the season he T11th at The Buick. At Quail Hollow last week he lost his focus in the third round and shot 75 which took some of the shine off his bookend 68s in the first and fourth rounds. He still managed to finish -5 and just three strokes from a log jam at -8! With its long par 5s (583, 532, 558, and 523) TPC Sawgrass is a course that suits his Par 5 tour average of 4.59 He's 6th in driving percentage, 7th in ball striking, 7th in birdie average, 10th in GIR, and 11th in par breakers. His par 3 average is 3.01 and his par 4 average is 4.04.

STEVEN AMES 12/1 TOP FIVE FINISH - Ames was 5th at TPC Sawgrass in '08, won in '06 and was cut in '07. He has three Top10 finishes in 10 tries here. He's one of those lurkers who always seems to be near. He's made 6/9 cuts on the season with one Top10 and four Top25s. Ames is 17th in birdies per GIR, 36th in GIR, and 18th in par breakers. I just think the guy has lots of unrealized potential and plays well in certain spots, this being one of them.

MARTIN KAYMER 16/1 TOP FIVE FINISH - Kaymer is a first-time TPC Sawgrasser! He's been a pretty good performer on the European Tour, but let's see how his success has translated on this side of the pond. In five PGA Tour events he's made four cuts. His best finishes were T11th at Quail Hollow last week and T17th at the WGC Accenture Match Play. That's two Top25 finishes in five events....not bad! On the Euro side, he T2nd at the Abu Dhabi and T4th at the Dubai Desert Classic so he's been near the top of the leaderboards there too. When I looked at the stats of the young German's career, I found that he's vastly improved this season. He's enjoying the lowest stroke (by nearly 1.5 strokes) average of his career @ 69.86, his GIR has improved from 71% to 73%, his average putts is 28.62 (down slightly) and putts per GIR 1.72 (down from 1.81) has really stepped up his game.

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A 5th place finish by Furyk!