Expert picks: Travelers Championship

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The Travelers Championship will take place at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., this week. Here's how the PGATOUR.COM experts sized up the top contenders:

EXPERT PICKS How it works: Our 10 experts from PGATOUR.COM select the player they think will win this week's event. By using a draft process, no two picks can be the same. SLEEPER PICKS Of the players who didn't make the cut for our top 10 picks, which have the best chance as sleepers? Here's how our experts see it. Click here

Expert picks: Travelers Championship

Expert   Pick order Player selected   Ryan Smithson HUNTER MAHAN. Winner at TPC River Highlands in 2007, he finished a mere shot back of Stewie in 2008. Hopefully he can get some rest after a draining U.S. Open.   Mark Spoor SERGIO GARCIA. He tied for 10th last week at Bethpage Black with a very consistent performance -- three even-par 70s and a 2-over 72 in the third round. Perhaps this will prove to be a confidence builder in what has been a disappointing '09 for Sergio. If Spoor had the top pick ... Mahan John Swantek STEWART CINK. I usually steer away from defending champions, but Stew's record in Hartford is too good to ignore; two victories among five top-10s. Sharp performances at Memorial and the U.S. Open have him ready to repeat. If Swantek had the top pick ...Cink Lauren Deason DAVID TOMS. He's had six top-10 finishes this year, plus he tied for sixth at Travelers in 2007. Toms' stats are impressive, too -- he is first in driving accuracy and second in the all-around ranking for 2009. After two T2s this year, he will finally get a win this week. If Deason had the top pick ... Mahan Helen Ross LUCAS GLOVER. True, he'll be tired and drained and emotionally spent from the U.S. Open victory, but who says there's no magic left? If Glover didn't think he could do well this week, he wouldn't play; that's how major champions operate. If Ross had the top pick ... Glover Ceri Mobley KENNY PERRY. Let's see: He's already won once this year. He almost won a major. He made the cut at Bethpage. And he's playing in a tournament this week in which he has seven top 10s -- two of them top-fives. I like Kenny's chances. If Mobley had the top pick ... Mahan Win McMurry ANTHONY KIM. A top-20 finish at the U.S. Open tells me whatever's been bothering the young star in 2009 is finally starting to pass. He won in his first start after the national championship last year (AT&T National), so why not again this season? If McMurry had the top pick ... Mahan T.J. Auclair BRIAN GAY. He's enjoying the best season of his PGA TOUR career with two victories already in 2009 and stands at No. 6 in the FedExCup standings. His missed cut at the U.S. Open means nothing to me. He was nursing a win hangover. If Auclair had the top pick ... Mahan Brian Wacker STEVE MARINO. The way Marino lost at Colonial would be cause for concern with a lot guys, but he's done an excellent job of taking the positives from it. He's also proven it's only a matter of time with three top-10s this season. If Wacker had the top pick ... Mahan Mike McAllister VIJAY SINGH. OK, he hasn't won this year, but I'm still surprised he's available with the last pick (Ben Curtis would've been a good choice here, too). Singh's starting to come around, and he likes the course -- top-fives in each of the last two years. If McAllister had the top pick ... Singh

LAST WEEK: A tie for second from Phil Mickelson finally moved Ryan Smithson out of the bottom spot in the standings, but there wasn't any other movement last week. 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 24: