Feb. 24, 2009
The top 64 players in the Official World Golf Ranking will play in the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship this week. Here's who the PGATOUR.COM experts selected as sleeper picks:
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SLEEPER PICKS
How it works: Our 10 experts from PGATOUR.COM select any player who isn't ranked in the top 20 of the FedExCup rankings, the top 30 of the Official World Golf Rankings and hasn't won that season. By using a draft process, no two picks can be the same.
EXPERT PICKS
Who do our experts think will capture the Accenture Match Play Championship? Here's who they've picked to win. Click here
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| Sleeper picks: Accenture Match Play Championship |
Mike
McAllister |
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IAN POULTER After seeing him at Valhalla in '08, the Englishman certainly has the chops to win at match play. His T21 at the Johnnie Walker Classic last week is a good indication that he's seeing things clearly after corrective eye surgery. |
Brian
Wacker |
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SOREN KJELDSEN. A 16 seed has never downed top seed in college basketball, but it's happened at Accenture. This gritty, diminutive Dane drew a rusty Vijay Singh. He's also had two wins in Europe, including the prestigious Volvo Masters. |
T.J.
Auclair |
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SEAN O'HAIR. He has a tough match against Adam Scott in the first round, but O'Hair has proved to be one of the stronger young guns on TOUR. A nice week in Tucson could put an exclamation point on that. |
Lauren
Deason |
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LUKE DONALD. His Accenture record isn't stellar -- two T9s and two T17s -- but he's playing better than most of the eligible dark horse candidates. Plus, he was my sleeper pick last week and didn't disappoint, so why mess with a good thing? |
Mark
Spoor |
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BOO WEEKLEY. He proved his match-play chops in the Ryder Cup, even though he may not have a firm handle on all the rules. Plus, wouldn't that be a great story? |
Ryan
Smithson |
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GRAEME MCDOWELL. He's not even the highest ranked Ulsterman (not sure what that word means, but it sounds cool) in the field, but I don't care. No one picks better sleepers than me. Well, except for Helen Ross.
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Ceri
Mobley |
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RORY SABBATINI. I like the way he's playing right now, and there's always a chance those skull belt buckles of his will do some Match Play voodoo on his opponent.
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Win
McMurry |
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PAT PEREZ. This No. 16 seed has never picked a better time to be in the Match Play Championship. He's obviously playing very well, and he won't be intimidated.
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Helen
Ross |
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AARON BADDELEY. The young Aussie has reached the third round each time he's played in the Accenture Match Play Championship. Not to mention, he took Tiger Woods to 20 holes before losing last year. |
John
Swantek |
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ANGEL CABRERA. He will bomb it around this monstrous desert course, as he did last year into the quarterfinals at the Gallery. Expect a first-round upset of Mickelson, who has never been a serious threat in this tournament.
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LAST WEEK: Mark Spoor, Lauren Deason and T.J. Auclair all gained big points after their sleepers all tied for sixth last week at the Northern Trust Open. Each week, we'll update the standings based on the FedExCup points accumulated by the players selected by our experts. Here's how it stands after Week 7:
| Standings after Week 7 |
| 1 |
Helen Ross
Chief of Correspondents, PGATOUR.COM |
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1 |
1 |
1 |
466.5 |
| 2 |
Ryan Smithson
Site Producer, PGATOUR.COM |
- |
1 |
1 |
2 |
431.75 |
| 3 |
Win McMurry
Host, PGA TOUR Today |
- |
- |
1 |
1 |
258.5 |
| 4 |
Mark Spoor
Coordinating Producer, PGATOUR.COM |
- |
- |
1 |
1 |
258.42 |
| 5 |
Lauren Deason
Editorial Coordinator, PGATOUR.COM |
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- |
1 |
3 |
245.5 |
| 6 |
Mike McAllister
Managing Editor, PGATOUR.COM |
- |
1 |
1 |
2 |
231.25 |
| 7 |
John Swantek
Fantasy Insider, PGA TOUR Productions |
- |
- |
- |
3 |
229.5 |
| 8 |
Brian Wacker
Site Producer, PGATOUR.COM |
- |
- |
- |
2 |
221.60 |
| 9 |
Ceri Mobley
Associate Producer, PGATOUR.COM |
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- |
1 |
1 |
191.5 |
| 10 |
T.J. Auclair
Interactive Producer, PGATOUR.COM |
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- |
1 |
1 |
182.99 |
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