ESPN Golf Blog

Posted by Jason Sobel

Like many of you golf die-hards out there, I'm in a season-long PGA Tour pool (for entertainment purposes only, of course). Unlike other fantasy sports -- and even ESPN.com's own Best Ball Challenge -- this is about as low-maintenance as could be. Prior to the season, each entrant chooses two players from each of the 42 regular-season PGA Tour events, no defending champs. The biggest caveat: You can use each player only once. After that, you just sit back and watch your players collect those big oversized checks. Or so you hope.

(And for those of you in ESPN.com's Best Ball Challenge, which I strongly recommend, you can join my group by clicking here.)

What those specifications mean, however, is that you've got to be careful with your use of Tiger and Phil, but you've also got to own a pretty deep knowledge of the tour, considering 84 different players will be used throughout the year.

My buddy and golf pool partner Matt won't like this, but I'm going to reveal each of our selections in the hopes that it will help you with your own pool as well. Good luck and let's get the conversation going in the "comments" section down below.

Mercedes-Benz Championship: Jonathan Byrd, Angel Cabrera
Our original list had Adam Scott at Kapalua … until he bowed out due to "exhaustion." No problem, we'll have these two big bangers teeing it high and letting it fly.

Sony Open: Nathan Green, Rory Sabbatini
In his third full season, Green is ready to nab his first win -- he finished fifth in his tour debut at Waialae two years ago. As for Sabbo, well, let's hope those shin splints are all healed up.

Bob Hope Classic: Joe Ogilvie, John Rollins
The keys to picking guys at the Hope? You want players who can withstand 90 holes, make enough birdies to contend and can deal with plenty of wind. Do Ogilvie and Rollins fit the mold? I hope so.

Buick Invitational: Charles Howell III, Phil Mickelson
CH3 seems to play better early on in the season. Lefty, meanwhile, is an obvious candidate at any of the majors, but I like him at Torrey, where he'll seriously contend in his season debut.

FBR Open (Phoenix): Mark Calcavecchia, Chris DiMarco
With thousands of drunk fans screaming players' names, you want to pick a couple of guys with thick skin. Enter Calc and DiMarco, each of whom look like they'd be just as comfortable in the bleachers at No. 16 as on the course itself.

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am: Nick Watney, Mike Weir
I'm not too confident about some of the picks on this list; others I love. Count this among the latter. Watney won the Callaway tourney at Pebble two years ago and Weir is always -- repeat: always -- on the leaderboard here.

Northern Trust Open (L.A.): Robert Allenby, Aaron Baddeley
What the heck is the Northern Trust? Ohhh, it's just the old Nissan Open, which used to be the old L.A. Open. Got it? Maybe we thought they were playing this thing at Royal Melbourne when we made the picks -- a pair of precision-striking Aussies.

WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship: Nick O'Hern, Steve Stricker
After knocking off Tiger Woods last year for the second time in as many tries, O'Hern earned our vote. And watch out for Stricker. The boring layout of The Gallery plays into the hands of those who can make putts. He makes more than most.

Mayakoba Golf Classic: Andrew Buckle, Bill Haas
The secret to taking players for opposite-field events? Make sure you take guys who have the ability to win, but absolutely no shot at getting into the bigger tourney that week. Buckle and Haas fit the mold.

Honda Classic: Camilo Villegas, Brett Wetterich
Another pair of picks that I really like. Two very streaky players who often play their best golf in the Sunshine State.

PODS Championship: K.J. Choi, Heath Slocum
Players rave about the underrated Innisbrook course and in turn, we selected a pair of underrated players. Slocum, who finished a stroke out of a playoff last year, could be ready for a big season.

Arnold Palmer Championship: Darren Clarke, Sean O'Hair
He doesn't play much golf in the U.S. anymore, but Clarke always shows at Arnie's tournament, so it's worth taking a flier on him.

WGC-CA Championship (Doral): Paul Casey, Henrik Stenson
One player (Casey) has renewed his PGA Tour membership for this year; the other (Stenson) has renounced it. Whatever the case, it'll be tough to predict the schedules of either, but you know they'll at least compete in the WGC events.

Puerto Rico Open: Mathew Goggin, Jeff Overton
No point in checking previous results; this is a brand new tournament. The thought process here: Take a pair of players who never seem to take a week off. I am worried that either or both might make the field at Doral, though.

Zurich Classic: Bob Estes, Lucas Glover
Sometimes you look at a player's results at a certain event and say, "He's a slam-dunk pick." Such was the case for Glover in the Big Easy, where he's finished T-8, T-7 and T-3 the past three years.

Shell Houston Open: Stuart Appleby, Roland Thatcher
All Appleby has done here the past three years is a win and two runners-up. Like I said: slam dunk. As for Thatcher, I had to pick my former loop somewhere and his hometown event seemed as good a place as any.

Masters: Ernie Els, Tiger Woods
OK, on to the big boys. Really, you can take Tiger anywhere he tees it up and have a great chance for a W, but I'd give you 10-to-1 odds right now on him not contending for the green jacket. And I have a sneaking suspicion Els could be in that mix, too.

Verizon Heritage: Zach Johnson, Rod Pampling
Horses for courses, and with a premium on ball-striking at Harbour Town, the accuracy of these players should get them onto the leaderboard.

Byron Nelson Championship: Chad Campbell, Shigeki Maruyama
In honor of Lord Byron, we went with the best Texan on the board in Campbell, while Maruyama has fared well here in the past.

Wachovia Championship: Anthony Kim, John Senden
Mark my words: Kim wins somewhere this year. Maybe a few places. These players will have plenty of competition, considering the star-studded field at Quail Hollow, but perhaps they can sneak in under the radar.

Players Championship: Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh
The season's largest purse deserves a pair of big guns, so we went with upper-echelon guys in Harrington and Singh, who each own solid records at Sawgrass.

AT&T Classic: Ryuji Imada, Parker McLachlin
Here's some insider info for you: Both Imada and McLachlin are represented by an agency based in Atlanta, site of the AT&T. So they've got that going for them … which is nice.

Crowne Plaza Invitational (Colonial): Justin Leonard, Peter Lonard
Another ball-strikers' paradise, another pair of solid ball-strikers. And their last names are very similar. For whatever that's worth.

Memorial Tournament: Ryan Moore, Carl Pettersson
Let's hope for some repeat performances. Moore finished solo second last year; Pettersson won two years ago.

Stanford St. Jude Championship: Brandt Snedeker, David Toms
I don't care what type of fantasy league or pool you're in, if you don't take Toms in Memphis, you're coughing up free money. In the past six years, he's won twice, finished second, third, fourth and -- gasp! -- 10th.

U.S. Open: Stephen Ames, Stewart Cink
Tiger and Phil will dominate the headlines and be popular picks at their beloved Torrey Pines -- and neither is a bad choice. But I've always thought that difficult USGA setups tend to narrow the playing field, so why waste a pair of elite players on such an unpredictable tournament?

Travelers Championship: Woody Austin, Jerry Kelly
I wrote a piece in Hartford last year in which I spoke to various players about the relative reprieve after a grueling week at the U.S. Open. All said it was a much less stressful event -- except for Kelly, a University of Hartford grad who said he wants to win this one as much as any of 'em. I like that.

Buick Open: John Daly, Kenny Perry
If you must take JD somewhere -- and trust me, that's hardly a must -- it might as well be an event in which he shows up every year. Perry has finished in the top 30 at Warwick Hills in every appearance this decade.

AT&T National: Charley Hoffman, Jesper Parnevik
With only one season in the books at Tiger's tournament, there's not much to go on. But you can bank on this: Parnevik will receive a sponsor's exemption for as long as he needs one, in exchange for, well, helping out his buddy.

John Deere Classic: Kevin Na, Kevin Sutherland
Yes, I know tourney organizers will be providing a private jet for those traveling to Royal Birkdale the next week, but many will still skip this one, so treat it like an opposite-field event and don't burn any big-timers.

British Open: Jim Furyk, Justin Rose
I shared a cab with Furyk in NYC a few weeks ago (long story) and he mentioned that of all the major venues this year, he's really looking forward to Birkdale, where he finished 2 shots out of a playoff in 1998. That was the same year that Rose, at the time a 17-year-old amateur, was also T-4, chipping in for birdie on the final hole.

U.S. Bank Championship: Brian Gay, Corey Pavin
It's a difficult task just finding a pair of players who won't travel to England, but will compete in Milwaukee. Everything else is just gravy.

RBC Canadian Open: Pat Perez, Tom Pernice Jr.
I usually never miss a chance to take a Canadian in their country's national championship, but with Weir and Ames already in the bag, I didn't feel like using a Jon Mills or Ian Leggatt type just yet. I'm already regretting the selection of Pernice, though. He has three straight top-15 finishes, but in six starts at this year's host venue Glen Abbey, he owns a T-47 and five missed cuts.

WGC-Bridgestone Invitational: Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood
Much like Doral, the Bridgestone is a good place to use high-quality foreign players who don't play very consistent schedules. Poulter and Westwood both fit the bill.

Reno-Tahoe Open: Kent Jones, Johnson Wagner
Jones always plays his best golf late in the year, when he's struggling to close in on the top 125. Wagner could nab his first career victory this season.

PGA Championship: Sergio Garcia, Arron Oberholser
Oakland Hills. In August. The first words that come to mind are "oppressive heat," so we went with a pair of the fittest players in the game. I really think Oberholser could have a breakout season and contend for a few majors, including this one and the U.S. Open.

Wyndham Championship: Matt Kuchar, Davis Love III
Much like that Hair Club For Men guy who used to proclaim, "I'm not only the president. I'm also a client!" DL3 helped redesign Forest Oaks a few years ago … and he's also a player! The '06 champ obviously has a decided advantage here.

The Barclays: Retief Goosen, Adam Scott
We'll start the FedEx playoffs off with a bang, using a pair of world-class players in what could be one of the last tourneys at world-class host venue Westchester.

Deutsche Bank Championship: Trevor Immelman, Geoff Ogilvy
Immelman missed time last year due to a viral infection and just recently had surgery to remove a growth on his diaphragm. No word on how long he'll be sidelined. He's certainly worth using, but you might want to wait until the second half of the season.

BMW Championship: Luke Donald, Scott Verplank
The first trick is to find a couple of players who will definitely reach this third-round event, which we've almost definitely done here. Donald has played a lot of golf in the Chicago area, and Verplank won the erstwhile Western Open as an amateur in 1985.

Viking Classic: Joe Durant, Boo Weekley
Played opposite the Ryder Cup, the Viking actually slipped into the "regular season" schedule (sort of) after being a Fall Finish event last year. Boo has remarked in the past that of any non-major event, he'd most like to win this one. Yeah, caught me as strange, too.

Tour Championship: Tim Clark, Hunter Mahan
Again, just having players in the field is half the battle, but I think each of these guys is in for a big season. Clark made it last year despite injuries and Mahan is only getting better.

OK, your turn. Where did I screw up? What picks do you really like? (C'mon, please tell me you like something.) Hit the "comments" link below and make your voice heard.