Sleepers: Shell Houston Open

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Apr. 2, 2009

The PGA TOUR continues its Florida Swing this week at the Shell Houston Open. 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 Shell Houston Open title? Here's who they've picked to win. Click here
Sleeper picks: Shell Houston Open
Expert
 
Pick order Player selected
 
Win
McMurry
BOB ESTES. He sounds like an odd choice, but he's finished in the top 10 at Redstone for the past three years. He's been under the radar in '09, but is 50th in FedExCup points. He tied for 4th at Pebble Beach, 12th at the Sony Open, and 17th just last week in Orlando.
Ceri
Mobley
STUART APPLEBY Houston was the location of an emotional victory for Appleby in '99. He went on to win here again in '06 and has been runner up twice: '03 and '07. Other than an unfortunate third-round 80 last week, he looked good at Bay Hill.
Helen
Ross
LUCAS GLOVER. There was a look of determination on his face last week as he shot 1 under on a difficult weekend at Bay Hill to finish 11th. He's already got one top-10 in '09 and he's finished among the top 30 four times at Redstone, including 2008's tie for 14th.
Brian
Wacker
DANIEL CHOPRA. It's been mostly a down year for the Swede, but he finished strong at Bay Hill, where he had two rounds in the 60s, including a final-round 69 to finish in the top 10. Purely a momentum pick here.
Mark
Spoor
JASON GORE. After a dismal start to the season, he came out of nowhere to tie for eighth last week at Bay Hill. Here's hoping he found something that keeps him on that roll this week in Humble.
Ryan
Smithson
FRED COUPLES. He didn't come close to making the cut at Bay Hill, which was really surprising. I'll never pass up Freddie as a sleeper if he's available.
T.J.
Auclair
JOHNSON WAGNER. The defending champ hasn't done a whole lot in 2009. However, I think he'll get some good vibes as he returns to the scene of his maiden PGA TOUR victory.
Mike
McAllister
SCOTT VERPLANK. I'm from Texas, so my sleeper picks for each event in the Lone Star State will be a Texan. This Dallas native, making his first start in Houston since 2002, has been solid in his last three starts, including a T4 at Bay Hill.
Lauren
Deason
CHAD CAMPBELL. He's a born-and-bred Texan who still lives in his home state, so he would love to win here. Plus, he tied for second at the Shell Houston Open last year, thus he's got what it takes to win at Redstone GC this year.
John
Swantek
GREG NORMAN. More dangerous than merely a sleeper, a slumbering shark awakens in Houston. Even at 53, he has the game to win. There will too much pressure to deliver at Augusta. This is the week.

LAST WEEK: Mark Spoor made the biggest move in the standings when he picked Trevor Immelman at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. 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 12:

Standings after Week 12
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 Mark Spoor
Coordinating Producer, PGATOUR.COM
- 1 2 3 558.4
3 Ryan Smithson
Site Producer, PGATOUR.COM
- 1 1 2 552.75
4 T.J. Auclair
Interactive Producer, PGATOUR.COM
- 1 2 3 454.31
5 Mike McAllister
Managing Editor, PGATOUR.COM
- 2 2 2 446.58
6 John Swantek
Fantasy Insider, PGA TOUR Productions
- 1 - 3 445
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 3 320.5
10 Brian Wacker
Site Producer, PGATOUR.COM
- - 1 2 282.04
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