Expert Picks: Nationwide Tour Championship

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Oct. 21, 2009

Nationwide Tour Championship: Tee times | Field | Power Rankings

PGATOUR.COM will have expert picks and sleepers for each Nationwide Tour event this year. Our experts -- Nationwide Tour producer Ceri Mobley and former Nationwide Tour and PGATOUR.COM employee Jordan Crampton -- will each choose two players they consider favorites that week and a sleeper pick (a player who is not inside "THE 25"). Here are their selections for this week's Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island.
Crampton's picks Mobley's picks
Blake Adams. Adams has had a great season and has already locked up his TOUR card for this year, but don't think he's letting off the gas this week. The only thing missing for Adams in '09 is a victory. Although this will be Adams' first appearance in the season-finale Nationwide Tour Championship, he will find himself on even footing this week as this is a new stop on the circuit. If Adams can hoist the trophy on Sunday, it will be the perfect ending to a great season.
Michael Sim. This is it. My last chance to take down Jordan Crampton. And it's a very long shot. But who better to have on my team in attempting that task than Michael Sim, the most successful player in Nationwide Tour history? Crampton got all three of Sim's wins this year, so karma tells me it's surely my turn. Guys like Sim always play to win, and I'm not expecting anything less than a first-class effort from the Aussie this week as he solidifies his spot atop the money list.
Henrik Bjornstad. Almost a sentimental pick for the final week of the season, Bjornstad has been impressive this season with a lot of made cuts, and he knocked on the door several times trying to break through for his first Nationwide Tour victory. He should feel pretty good making this field and being well positioned inside "THE 25" after missing the Tour Championship by just one spot in '08; expect him to be playing with a lot of confidence this week.
Chad Collins. A putt here, a solid approach there, and Chad Collins might have been Sim's biggest competition -- if not equal -- on the Nationwide Tour this year. It's true that the 31-year-old did not win until last week, but he had three (count them) runner-up finishes this season before he finally broke through. Add to those two more top-fives, and it's easy to see why Collins is No. 2 on the money list. He'd surely love to overtake Sim with one more win.
Crampton's sleeper Mobley's sleeper
Won Joon Lee. He played his way into the field last week with a runner-up finish in Miami to find himself in the mix for a TOUR card this week.  Lee has once again found his form late in the season similar to his '08 campaign, I'm rolling the dice and riding the hot hand this week, if Lee can pull off a victory and earn himself a spot on the big stage for next season, it would be an incredible finish to the season and a great story for one of the hardest workers on the Tour.
Patrick Sheehan. At 32nd on the money list, Sheehan isn't in terrible shape regarding his opportunity to climb inside "THE 25" during the last week of the season, but he does need a top-10 to earn that TOUR card. Since he tied for 19th and ninth in his last two starts, I think he has a pretty good chance to do it. Sheehan has been straddling the Nationwide Tour and the PGA TOUR this year, but at 165th on the TOUR money list, this option is a far more likely avenue back to the TOUR.

LAST WEEK: It wasn't a spectacular week for our experts, who each only had one pick make the cut. Ceri Mobley had the edge with a tie for 17th from Michael Sim to Jordan Crampton's tie for 27th out of Vance Veazey, but she is still far behind in money earned.

Standings after week 28
Pos. Expert Wins Top 5s Top 10s Top 25s Money earned
1 Jordan Crampton
Former employee, Nationwide Tour and PGATOUR.COM
3 2 11 10 $720,765.28
2 Ceri Mobley
Associate Site Producer, PGATOUR.COM
- 7 10 14 $565,652.27
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