Sleeper Picks: THE PLAYERS
 
May. 9, 2007

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Which player will win this weekend's PLAYERS Championship? Our experts weigh in:

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T.J. Auclair
PGATOUR.com Interactive Producer
Pick: Peter Lonard
The Aussie has missed the cut in three of his last five events. Over that stretch his best finish was a tie for 36th at the Verizon Heritage, the site of his lone PGA TOUR win. After following him around for a bit at TPC Sawgrass on Tuesday, though, Lonard seems to be hitting the ball great. Following his practice round, Lonard looked very good on the practice green. He had a couple of practice devices with him, including a ticking gadget that was attached to his hat. It literally ticked like a clock -- a tool he said he used to get the tempo of his stroke down. If that helped him achieve tempo instead of a migraine, I'm convinced he'll be a player to watch this week.

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Lauren Deason
PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator
Pick: Camilo Villegas
Since his tie for second at The Honda Classic, where he, Jose Coceres and Boo Weekley lost in a Monday playoff to Mark Wilson, Villegas hasn't done so well. Villegas tied for third in 2006, his only start at THE PLAYERS, so maybe he thrives off playing in Florida. The former Gator could buck the six-year trend of the tournament winner alternating between an American and International champ -- last year Canadian Stephen Ames won, so it's an American's turn -- and take THE PLAYERS this week.

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Melanie Hauser
PGATOUR.com Correspondent
Pick: Steve Elkington
I thought about Lucas Glover and Sean O'Hair. I considered a few off-the-planet choices. Then settled on -- believe it or not -- Steve Elkington. He's all about suprises here and, well, this could be one of them. He's won a pair of these -- the second one 10 years ago. He's been a round away from a really good finish a couple of times this year. Rain? Wind? So what? He's way too old to let that kind of stuff bother him at this point. And before you laugh, he tied for fifth in 2005.

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John Maginnes
PGATOUR.com Contributor
Pick: Charl Swartzel

Charl Swartzel is a great darkhorse this week. So what if you haven't heard of him. He won two weeks ago in Europe. He has three top-three finishes over there this year. In addition to that he has Ricci Roberts on the bag. Ricci, you may recall, was the long time caddy for Ernie Els. Last year it was Henrick Stenson who emerged at THE PLAYERS. This year it will be Charl.

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Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents
Pick: Carl Pettersson

The self-described Swedish redneck, who makes his home now in North Carolina, could break the European victory drought at THE PLAYERS Championship. He's three weeks away from his title defense at the Memorial Tournament, and he's playing well, with a tie for eighth at the Verizon Heritage and nothing lower than 22nd in his next two starts. Not to mention, he shared eighth at THE PLAYERS last year.

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Dave Shedloski
PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent
Pick: Carl Pettersson
A streaky player, Pettersson has been on a little bit of a run in the last few weeks with finishes of 22nd or better, including his only top-10 finish of the season at the Verizon Heritage. His two TOUR titles have come amid similar streaks of good play and last year's tie for eighth in the PLAYERS after two missed cuts suggests that he might be more comfortable on Pete Dye's design.

Wondering how our experts are doing so far this season? Here's a look:

How they're doing
The 2007 record of PGA TOUR.com experts after last week's Wachovia Championship
PGATOUR.com Experts 1st 2nd 3rd Top 10s Missed Cuts Total FedExCup Points
T.J. Auclair 3 3 2 9 8 29546.2
Dave Shedloski 3 2 1 8 7 29512.7
Melanie Hauser 4 2 0 8 12 28067.3
Helen Ross 3 1 1 8 5 27306.3
Dave Lagarde 3 1 0 9 10 23554.0
Brett Avery 2 1 1 7 6 21252.3
John Maginnes 3 1 0 5 8 20474.9
Lauren Deason 1 3 1 7 4 18625.3

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