Sleeper Picks: Zurich Classic of New Orleans

text size

• Expert Picks: Who may win?
• Join our new Facebook fan page and get in the discussion: Give us your picks and fan thoughts on Facebook

T.J. Auclair
PGATOUR.com Interactive Producer
Pick: Davis Love III
He needs a great week. Without it, he could miss out on the Masters for the first time since 1990. It always feels like Davis lives for the Masters, where he's finished in the top 10 six times, including two runner ups. It would certainly be strange to not see him strolling the fairways of Augusta National.

Lauren Deason
PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator
Pick: David Toms
The Louisiana resident has special ties to the city, having won there in 2001 and also raised $1 million to help those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Toms has missed three cuts out of five in 2008 but logged two top-25 finishes in his other starts, so perhaps a tournament near home is just what he needs to get his year back on track.

Melanie Hauser
PGATOUR.com Correspondent
Pick: Davis Love III
Sometimes you just have to root for the heart-tugging good story. No, he's not the only feel-good story in the field, but this was the tournament that put him in the Masters in 1995, and no one wants to get back in the field more.

Dave Lagarde
PGATOUR.com Correspondent
Pick: Chris DiMarco
Yes the fiery ex-Gator from Florida has stumbled upon some difficult times as he searches to re-locate the swing that made him one of the fiercest competitors on TOUR. DiMarco arrived in New Orleans in 2005, still smarting from his playoff loss to Tiger Woods in The Masters. He used the runner-up finish as motivation and, for 63 holes, had the tournament within his grasp. A back-nine 39 on Sunday cost him a spot in a playoff between eventual champion Tim Petrovic and James Driscoll. So the TPC just might owe him one.

Win McMurry
Host, PGA TOUR Today
Pick: Anthony Kim
Kim finished tied for third in 2007. He is young and tenacious and competing for his first TOUR win. Sixteen Zurich winners, including five of the last six, lifted their first trophy in New Orleans, and this could be AK's time. He's fresh off a hot rookie campaign where he had 4 top-10s and he's already posted a T3 at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic earlier this season. What's a better city than New Orleans to celebrate a breakthrough victory?

Scott Pianowski
The Fantasy Insider
Pick: Jeff Maggert
A patient and consistent player if there ever was one, Maggert has some good New Orleans results on the resume, including an 11th-place finish last year. His 2008 results don't jump out at you, but Maggert has made 6-of-7 cuts.

Dave Shedloski
PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent
Pick: Tim Clark
Keep waiting for him to bust out, and after his tie for 12th at the World Golf Championship-CA Championship, the South African may have finally started to find his game. He tied for 21st three years ago at TPC Louisiana, so he seems to be in good position to claim his first PGA TOUR title in a city that has welcomed five first-time winners in six years.

Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents
PIck: Davis Love III
He's been here, done that before. In 1995, Love won what was then called the Freeport-McMorRan Classic to earn a trip to the Masters. He comes to New Orleans needing another victory to punch his ticket to Augusta National. Can lightning strike twice?

John Swantek
PGA TOUR Productions Fantasy Insider
Pick: Anthony Kim
I've said it before; AK will win this year, and he better win before I have to say it again. With unlimited talent matched only by his swagger, he's ranked fifth in driving distance and ninth in birdie average. Those numbers were made for TPC Louisiana.