Expert Picks: Buick Invitational

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T.J. Auclair
PGATOUR.com Interactive Producer
Pick: Tiger Woods
Who else was I going to pick this week? Heck, I'd pick him every week, but the powers that be just informed the "experts" we can only take him seven times this year. This will be one of the seven and not just because it's the first time he tees it up in 2008. Woods is the defending champ at the Buick Invitational and has won the event five times. Furthermore, he'll be doing some scouting out this week on one of his favorite courses, Torrey Pines, which will play host to the U.S. Open in June. Tiger Woods plus favorite course plus major championship? Uh-oh.

Lauren Deason
PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator
Pick: Tiger Woods
Are we really doing our jobs as "experts" by telling you what you already know -- Tiger Woods will likely win this tournament? Probably not. With that being said, am I still picking Tiger because he will win this one? Yes. In fact, picking Tiger is harder than it looks because it's hard to fill a paragraph with information that you don't already know. But here's a shot: he has won 26 percent of the official PGA TOUR events that he's played in and finished inside the top-10 an astonishing 62.2 percent of the time. Plus, he won the last two times he played on TOUR and even captured the victory and set records at his own event in December, the Target World Challenge, despite not playing much during a self-imposed break from tournament golf.

Melanie Hauser
PGATOUR.com Correspondent
Pick: Tiger Woods
Yes, we only have seven chances to pick him this year, but his '08 debut is so worth it. He's only won this five times, including the last three. He's finished out of the top 5 just once in his other five appearances here and that was a T10. And he's ready to pick up where he left off at the end of last season.

Dave Lagarde
PGATOUR.com Correspondent
Pick: Phil Mickelson
The anti-Tiger vote. Why can't Lefty return to the winner's circle after a lengthy layoff and beat the 2008 Grand Slam guy to the punch? Sure Tiger owns Torrey Pines, but maybe Phil rents championship space there this week.

John Maginnes
PGATOUR.com Contributor
Pick: Tiger Woods
The powers that be have limited the number of times that we can pick Tiger this year in an attempt to make the picks more interesting. While I understand the motivation it would be hard to point to a more fascinating era in the TOUR's history. So, I will pick Tiger sparingly over the course of the year the Buick Invitational is not a week to put him on the bench. The man's winning percentage is 50 percent at Torrey Pines and he has never finished outside the top 10. Tiger is always a favorite but this week he is the closest thing to a sure thing that you will find all year.....in the immortal words of Ric Flair, "to be the man you have to beat the man..."

Win McMurry
Host, PGA TOUR Today
Pick: Tiger Woods
The reasons are obvious. Tiger usually starts his season with a win. And he's going for the four-peat at Torrey Pines... not that he needs extra motivation.

Scott Pianowski
The Fantasy Insider
Pick: Tiger Woods
We only get to punch seven tickets on Tiger this year, but I don't see how you can skip him in this spot. Five straight wins at this event, nine top-fives over 10 starts, and the odd showing was a respectable tenth. And heck, what fantasy owner doesn't want to get off to a fast start in the first month? I'm not letting a Tiger track like Torrey Pines slide by without a piece of it.

Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents
Pick: Tiger Woods
A year ago, I would have tried to be different. It's the Libra in me. Not to mention, I like to buck the odds, and Tiger Woods is going for a fourth straight win at the Buick Invitational. Tiger, though, has defied logic so many times in his career, I couldn't afford not to pick him. Besides, my other alternative, Phil Mickelson, is battling a respiratory infection so it didn't seem prudent to pick him. Oh, and did I mention I'm in last place right now?

Dave Shedloski
PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent
Pick: Tiger Woods
It's been said that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. Well, we're sane enough to expect Woods, winner of the last three Buick Invitationals and four of the last five, to win at Torrey Pines again. We're pretty sure the rest of the field is sane enough to know they'll have to do something extraordinary to achieve a different outcome.

John Swantek
PGA TOUR Productions Fantasy Insider
Pick: Hunter Mahan
Why? Certainly not because he went CUT,CUT,CUT, T56 in his four trips to Torrey Pines. Because he's a different player now; a TOUR champion and a Presidents Cup captains pick by Jack Nicklaus -- that will fill you with serious confidence. Rigorous off-season conditioning and a sharp effort at Kapalua hints to me that Mahan wants that next level... breakout season coming in 2008.

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