Sleepers: Arnold Palmer Invitational

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Mar. 25, 2009

The PGA TOUR continues its Florida Swing this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Here's how the PGATOUR.COM experts sized up the top contenders:

SLEEPER PICKS
How it works: Our 10 experts from PGATOUR.COM select any player who isn't ranked in the top 20 of the FedExCup rankings, the top 30 of the Official World Golf Ranking and hasn't won that season. By using a draft process, no two picks can be the same.
EXPERT PICKS
Who do our experts think will capture the Arnold Palmer Invitational title? Here's who they've picked to win. Click here
Sleeper picks: Arnold Palmer Invitational
Expert
 
Pick order Player selected
 
Win
McMurry
ROD PAMPLING. He's had two top-15 finishes this season, including a tie for ninth in Doral two weeks ago. Pampling also won at Bay Hill in 2006, so he's definitely one to watch.
Mike
McAllister
BART BRYANT. He's made four starts at Bay Hill and has never finished outside the top 20. A year ago, he was second and would have been in a playoff had Tiger Woods not sank a 24-foot putt on the 72nd hole.
Brian
Wacker
SCOTT PIERCY. Fourth in driving distance, fifth in birdie average, seventh in making birdie or better on par-5s. That should add up to success at Bay Hill for the rookie, who already has five top 20s, including two finishes in the top six.
Mark
Spoor
TREVOR IMMELMAN. He tied for 19th last week at the Transitions Championship despite a final-round 75. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that Sunday performance doesn't hinder him here.
T.J.
Auclair
ROCCO MEDIATE. I've got to believe that aside from a major, there's no tournament on TOUR that Rocco would rather win than that of his homwtown hero Arnold Palmer. He came close in 2008, but back problems got in the way.
Ryan
Smithson
FRED COUPLES. I know. I am pretty smart to have discovered that Freddy was a sleeper. I only wish I was getting the 1992 version. This one's pretty sporty though.
Ceri
Mobley
STUART APPLEBY. Here are my reasons: He was runner-up in 2004. He's coming off a T8 at the tricky Copperhead Course. He lives in Orlando. I like his hair.
Helen
Ross
D.J. TRAHAN. Call this a hunch but Trahan's been very consistent this year, cashing checks in all seven starts with a pair of top-10s to his credit. He's hitting on all cylinders, too, ranking fourth in total driving, second in greens in regulation and sixth in birdies.
Lauren
Deason
CHRIS STROUD. He's only missed one cut in seven starts this season, plus he tied for sixth at Pebble Beach. He lists Arnold Palmer as one of his heroes, so imagine how special it would be for Stroud to win in his first start at Bay Hill.
John
Swantek
STEPHEN AMES. He's in the midst of a somewhat quiet year, but the '06 PLAYERS champion always performs well on tough tracks and owns four top-10s at the API. He'll be in the hunt.

LAST WEEK: Helen Ross' sleeper pick of Brett Quigley last week gave her an even bigger lead in our sleeper standings. 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 11:

Standings after Week 11
Pos. Expert Wins Top 5s Top 10s Top 25s FedExCup points
1 Helen Ross
Chief of Correspondents, PGATOUR.COM
- 2 1 2 810.75
2 Ryan Smithson
Site Producer, PGATOUR.COM
- 1 1 2 552.75
3 Mark Spoor
Coordinating Producer, PGATOUR.COM
- 1 2 3 530.9
4 Mike McAllister
Managing Editor, PGATOUR.COM
- 2 2 2 446.58
5 John Swantek
Fantasy Insider, PGA TOUR Productions
- 1 - 3 444.5
6 T.J. Auclair
Interactive Producer, PGATOUR.COM
- 1 2 3 432.81
7 Win McMurry
Host, PGA TOUR Today
- - 1 2 399.81
8 Lauren Deason
Editorial Coordinator, PGATOUR.COM
- - 2 4 376.25
9 Ceri Mobley
Associate Producer, PGATOUR.COM
- - 1 3 304.5
10 Brian Wacker
Site Producer, PGATOUR.COM
- - 1 2 282.04
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