Expert picks: The Honda Classic

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The PGA TOUR heads to the East Coast this week for the start of the Florida Swing and The Honda Classic. 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: The Honda Classic

Expert   Pick order Player selected   T.J. Auclair CAMILO VILLEGAS. There's something about playing in South Florida that gets Villegas going. He lost in a playoff in this event two years ago, but returns in 2009 as a far more complete player - one who can contend every week.   Win McMurry ERNIE ELS. The defending champion and transplanted local looked good last week in the Accenture Match Play Championship, advancing to the weekend for the first time since 2002. Look for Els this week on Championship Sunday. If McMurry had the top pick ... Els Brian Wacker JUSTIN ROSE. Rose won't be taxed after a first-round exit in Tucson. Also, he's typically played well once the TOUR comes east with a half-dozen top 15s on the Florida Swing in the last five years, including two at The Honda Classic in '08 and '05. If Wacker had the top pick ... Villegas Mike McAllister SERGIO GARCIA. He was a first-round loser last week, and he was back in the pack in his only other Honda Classic appearance. But I'll disregard those negative signs and focus on the positives -- mainly, that he's No. 2 in the world, and he's had success in Florida. If McAllister had the top pick ... Villegas Ceri Mobley RORY McILROY. I have to do it. Premature? Maybe. But he has five top fives in seven '09 starts, including a win in Dubai and a "hey, America, look at me" run last week in Arizona. He's from the same town as much of my family, too, so here's one for Holywood. If Mobley had the top pick ... Villegas Helen Ross STEWART CINK. He likes the Accenture Match Play because you're under pressure from the first shot and he hopes to use his third-place finish Sunday as a springboard to the Florida Swing. Last year, he placed second in his first start after Accenture. If Ross had the top pick ... Cink John Swantek MARK CALCAVECCHIA. I just have a feeling the two-time champion is not done winning at the age of 48. He posted an under-the-radar T4 and T6 on the West Coast. Calc always performs at The Honda Classic, no matter the course. If Swantek had the top pick ... Els Mark Spoor JUSTIN LEONARD. Call me crazy (many people do), but I think Leonard's run to the quarterfinals last week may be a momentum changer for what has so far been a up-and-down season for the Texan. Plus, don't forget that he won this tournament in 2003. If Spoor had the top pick ... Els Ryan Smithson BOO WEEKLEY. As long as he doesn't repeat the 80 he hung up in the final round in The Honda Classic last year, Boo and I are going to be just fine. If he wins, they will give him ATVs instead of a car. If Smithson had the top pick ... Els Lauren Deason DAVIS LOVE III. He won in Florida last fall and nearly earned career win No. 21 in Hawaii earlier this year. Plus, he's a fellow Tar Heel, and I want to see Carolina beat Duke that afternoon AND then watch Love hoist the trophy. If Deason had the top pick ... Villegas

LAST WEEK: Mike McAllister was the first to take Tiger Woods this season, and it didn't work out so well. However, T.J. Auclair made a big jump in the standings with his winning pick of Geoff Ogilvy. 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 8: