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The PGA TOUR wraps up it’s Florida swing this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. Last year Tiger Woods ended his win less drought in dramatic fashion by shooting a 2-under 70 on Sunday to win by five shots over Graeme McDowell. After Arnie of course, Tiger is King of Bay Hill (maybe Prince of Bay Hill?), with seven victories on the track. Bay Hill’s greens consistently rank as one of the toughest to putt on, so guys that can roll the flat stick like Brandt Snedeker could fare well this week, if healthy.
The Picks
A Group - I didn’t pick Tiger Woods two weeks ago at the WGC-Cadillac and paid dearly for it as most Fantasy players took him, so I lost some ground there. I won’t make the same mistake this week as Tiger looks primed to capture his 8th victory at Bay Hill. Backing Tiger up is last year’s runner-up Graeme McDowell who has three top 10s in his last three starts (2 of which were top 5s).
B Group – Justin Rose and Jim Furyk get the starts this week in my B group. Rose is coming off of a T8 at the WGC-Cadillac and has a solid track record as well at Bay Hill, which includes a T3 in 2011 and 15th last year. Rose comes in to this week ranked 3rd in Driving Distance on Tour and 2nd in Scoring Average. Furyk has a good history at Bay Hill with two T11s and a T9 since 2010. His game seems to be in good shape so far this season after a season best T7 last week on the Copperhead Course. Furyk ranks 3rd in Fairways Hit on TOUR as well and 5th in proximity to the hole.
C Group - Starting in the C group this week is Ian Poulter. Hasn’t shown us much since his stellar play, and 4-2 record at the WGC Match Play, but Poulter returns to Bay Hill after a solo 3rd place finish last year and a T12 in 2011. Backing him up is fellow Englishman Lee Westwood, who hasn’t tee’d it up at Bay Hill since 2008 but his track record includes six top 25s.
Starting Foursome: Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter
On the Bench: Graeme McDowell, Keegan Bradley, Hunter Mahan, Lee Westwood