Woods/Scott Pairing Highlights 1st Day of Presidents Cup

No problems here.

Get it out of the way. Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker will face Adam Scott and KJ Choi in the first round of foursomes matches in the 2011 Presidents Cup. Much ado about nothing this Average Golfer says as the firestorm created by caddy Williams' comments last week have largely died out, save perhaps for the Brit and Aussie tabloid rags. Let's examine the pairings on their own merit...

Woods/Stricker v Scott/Choi - Hard to argue with the US combo's success in the past. Should be a US win.

Watson/Simpson v Ishikawa/Els - Interesting International squad pairing of young and old. Els may be the determining factor with his experience. Watson the birdie maker here. Should be close, Pick - Draw.

Haas/Watney v Ogilvy/Schwartzel - Watney's tough as nails, but so are both International players. Rookie Simpson should decide. International win.

D. Johnson/Kuchar v Baddeley/Day - Go with the hottest sticks, which would be the International squad.

Mickelson/Furyk v Goosen/Allenby - Allenby forgot how to putt and Goosen's not having a career year. Phil's not a great team player and Furyk hasn't been his best. US win, but close.

Mahan/Toms v KT Kim/YE Yang - Toss up in my opinion. Mahan might be the difference. He's probably the best player here. Kim could surprise. Internationals in a mild upset.

By my reckoning Day 1 should end Internationals 3.5 - US 2.5.

*Bet early and often.

Balls in the Air - '09 Mercedes-Benz Championship - Picks and Pans

Gentleman, start your drivers. The '09 PGA season launches with a tiny field, missing superstars, but a decent purse and an indescribable setting. Yup, that would be the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Championship at the Plantation Course, Kapalua, Maui. So, with our usual assistance from international odds makers, Ladbrokes, let's handicap the top of the field.....

Vijay Singh, 5/1 - Rumor has Vijay getting knee surgery soon. Still, he's at home here. Should win.

Anthony Kim, 7/1 - Kim's no veteran on these diabolical greens. Won't win.

Ernie Els, 8/1 - Els loves this place and is regaining his form. No Tiger or Phil to spook him. Could win.

Camilo Villegas, 10/1 - Hot player at the end of '08. Might win.

Adam Scott, 12/1 - Injury rumors are exaggerated. Still no assassin closer. Could win.

Geoff Ogilvy, 14/1 - Threat to win every time out. Like him here.

Kenny Perry, 16/1 - Plays his best in the heartland. This is a trip. Won't win.

K.J. Choi, 20/1 - Loves the early season in Hawaii and California. Could win.

Trevor Immelman, 20/1 - Still riding Masters win regarding odds. Can't win. Not that good.

The Field, ?/1 - Field won't win here. Too much local knowledge about wind and greens required.

So, the top three ????

1. Vijay
2. Els
3. Choi

Average Golfer Dark Horse, Daniel Chopra. Obviously he can win here. He defends.

As usual, thank me in advance. Watch the tourney and enjoy the paradise that is Hawaii.


Til' next,

90th PGA Championship - Odds and Insight.

Boy I sure wish some golfer would jump out and proclaim themselves as the clear cut favorite for the 90th PGA Championship. It's like trying to pick the best dog from a litter of 156. You almost have the feeling that a club pro could break through. Almost. Will Phil come apart again like a $30.00 suit? Will Sergio choose the wrong putter from his extensive collection? Will Vijay continue to miss the cup from inside five feet? Will Kenny Perry manage to stay white hot? Average Golfer breaks down their chances and predicts a winner. Here's the top odds favorites from Ladbrokes' oddsmakers.......

Mickelson, 10/1 ..... Odds based on talent, not shot selection or execution under pressure. Can win, won't win. Still shaken from WGC.

Harrington, 20/1 ..... Has major experience obviously. Can close the deal. Short game helps here. Can win.

Garcia, 20/1 ..... Same old story. You know the tune. If he builds a lead by Saturday, could win.

Singh, 20/1 ..... Gee, I wonder what he's been practicing in his hotel room. Although, he made the putt that mattered last week. Could win.

A. Kim, 25/1 ..... Boy, hard to figure. Game's not in question, his youth is. Could win, tough to pick him though.

Els, 25/1 ..... Should win based on his talent vs theirs. Long running story with Ernie. Have to wait and see. Too risky to pick.

Furyk, 25/1 ..... Ideal set up for the straight, but long enough, hitter. Can win, may pick him.

Westwood, 25/1 ..... Hottest player not to win in the last month. Hard to not pick him. Obviously capable.

Goosen, 25/1 ..... Nasty greens and areas surrounding greens are his specialty. Can win with a hot putter, which is true of a lot of the field.

Scott, 33/1 ..... Get the feeling he's happy with top 10s. May be wrong, but lacks the killer instinct to finish guys off. Can win, won't win.

Ogilvy, 40/1 ..... Mediocre lately for a US Open winner. Regardless though, have to consider him a threat every time he tees it up. Can win.

Mahan, 40/1 ..... Dissed the Ryder Cup without ever having played in it. Bad Karma. Won't win.

Stenson, 40/1 ..... RoboGolfer. Has the tools, seemingly lacks the passion. Could win, probably won't.

KJ Choi, 40/1 ..... Hot earlier in the year. Can't question his tools. Tough guy to figure out. Capable of winning. No call here. Wouldn't be surprised to see him 1st or 61st.

Perry, 40/1 ..... Should be the fan's choice. Achieved his goal, but I'm sure he'd love to win a major to shut up the naysayers. Could win.

Cink, 40,1 ..... Another enigma. Wicked hot six weeks ago. Now, who the &#$* knows? Could win I reckon, long and straight enough. Best with the wacky putter.


Sleeper Picks....

A little tough to call these "sleepers", but for lack of a better name..... Ames, Appleby, Chad Campbell, Cejka, Tim Clark, Leonard, O'Hair, and Jeev Milkha Singh.

Without further ado, the winner of the 2008 PGA Championship is.....

1st - Lee Westwood, He's due, overdue.

2nd - Retief Goosen

3rd - Robert Allenby

There you have it again. Now all you have to do is watch!

Til' next,


*Average Golfer noteworthy pick. We picked Ya-Ni Tseng to win last week's Women's British Open. She finished 2nd. We're due.

Sergio Garcia Surges to THE PLAYERS Championship Lead After Round #1.

Sergio Garcia's putter didn't desert him in the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship today. He maintained his reputation for being one of the, if not the best, ball strikers on tour by nailing 71% of the fairways and hitting 89% of the greens in regulation. Put that together with 29 putts and you have a 66 and a two shot lead over Paul Goydos and Kenny Perry, both at -4. One more shot back is a five way tie for 3rd with resurgent Steve Elkington, Niclas Fasth, former Open Championship winner Todd Hamilton, peacock imitator Ian Poulter, and Heath, "Not the Candy Bar", Slocum. One round doesn't a championship make, but I'm sure Sergio must feel some relief to be able to capitalize on his tee to green play. Too early here to make assumptions and see trends, so tomorrow will separate some wheat from chaff.

Some notables and scores from favorites we mentioned yesterday. Fred Couples and Phil Mickelson locked at -2. Both are in great shape. Also at -2 are Anthony Kim and Jose Maria Olazabal. Nice to see Ollie coming around after a spate of injuries. Padraig Harrington and Ernie Els are glued together at even par. Jim Furyk's at +2. Average Golfer's pick Adam Scott and and course regular Vijay Singh are knotted at +3 needing 31 and 32 putts respectively to complete their rounds. Both those boys at nine shots off the lead need to go low on Friday to hang around for the weekend.

In the "What the hell happened to my golf game" category are Justin Rose at +6, K.J. Choi at +7 and Chucky Three Sticks at +7.

Tomorrow divides the pretenders from the contenders. Should at least be interesting.

Til' next,

THE PLAYERS Championship - Winner Predicted.

Let's get one thing straight. Average golfer in no way supports or encourages illegal wagering of any type or form. The comments here are for amusement purposes only! Average golfer has never "knowingly" placed a wager on any type of sporting event, although he's been known to randomly profit from wagers he made after the fact or had no knowledge of before the event took place. There was certainly no alcohol involved in any of the aforementioned wagers.

That being said, here's the top players listed at the 2008 PLAYERS Championship with their current Ladbrokes odds listed. Armed with only that information we'll ferret out a winner. We're due, we had Geoff Ogilvy winning the Masters. Here we go.....

Phil Mickelson, 10/1....Defending champ. Playing well. Hard to go against. Recent putter change may tell all. Sprayed a lot of shots last week.

Adam Scott, 12/1....Won here in '04. No real weaknesses. Strong contender at least.

Jim Furyk, 16/1....Fairway hitting machine. Great irons. Comes down to the putter which has been uncharacteristically uneven of late.

Padraig Harrington, 20/1....Playing well. Won't be intimidated. 6/6 cuts this year. 69.78 scoring average.

Vijay Singh, 20/1....Home course advantage along with Furyk. Ball striking has been great after swing changes settled in. At 20/1 I see great value here.

Geoff Ogilvy, 25/1....Consistent all year. Stared down Woods earlier. Real shot here to validate US Open win.

Stewart Cink, 25/1....Seemingly 2nd to Woods all year. Great putting keeps him in any tournament.

Anthony Kim, 33/1....Riding high after last week. Possible, he's a great player, but two in a row's asking a lot from a youngster.

Ernie Els, 33/1....Playing on rep alone. Don't know what's distracting Ernie. Don't see him winning this.

Retief Goosen, 33/....Expected much more this year from Goose. Who knows? We'll see.

Sergio Garcia, 33/1....If the game was just tee to green he'd be undefeated. If he pretends it's the Ryder Cup, he'll win. Putter makes or breaks him.


After disseminating all the available data Average Golfer predicts the winner of the 2008 PLAYERS Championship is............Adam Scott. He's played beautifully all year and has the complete game to conquer a tough course and a strong field.

Others with a chance................Vijay, Furyk, Harrington, Cink.

There you go! THE PLAYERS Championship winner on the house, courtesy of me. You're welcome in advance.

Til' next,


*Average Golfer not responsible for reader's loss of home, wife, kids, car(s), pets, reputation, disposable income, or any other financial loss associated with trusting this column.