It's another of the split schedule weeks, where the elite players play for huge cash in front of a national TV audience while the normal crew goes to Reno to tee it up with Michelle Wie.  The good news for the field is that Tiger Woods – who dominates the WGC events will not be in attendance. 

Course - Firestone Country Club; Akron, Ohio

Purse - $7,000,000

FedEx Cup Points - 25,000 

Weather --   Hot and humid.  T-storms expected on Thursday and Friday with sun over the weekend. 

Favorites 

KJ Choi

Choi comes of a strong but somewhat disappointing finish at the British Open Championship a few weeks back, and should be considered a strong candidate for a top 10 this week.  Choi has made 15 cuts, won the Sony Open in January, and has two other high top 10 finishes to earn over  $1.9 million in official prize money.  His stated goal is to be the first Korean to win a major championship, but he would not turn down holding the Bridgestone trophy. 

Kenny Perry

Perry took a lot of heat for not going over to the British Open in an attempt to win his first major during the hottest point of his long career, but many are coming to his defense, as he certainly did not disappoint by finishing in a fifth place tie at the U.S Bank Championship, the alternate event a few weeks ago.  If someone named Tiger was not on tour Perry would have already wrapped up the PGA player of the year award, with three wins, seven total top 10’s in 19 events, and over $4.4 million in prize money.  If Perry is in the field, expect his name on this list until further notice. 

Sleepers  

Ian Poulter

It’s hard to consider Poulter a sleeper after his second place finish at the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale a few weeks ago, but he is still known more for his Euro-hip pants than he is for his golf prowess.  This will change over time, but he needs to win a big event on tour to jump into the public eye.  We don’t love the fact that Poulter is averaging 71.95 strokes per round nor that he has no other top tens in the bag for 2008, but coming off his best performance of the year has to count for something.   

Anthony Kim

Another example of a guy that does not warrant the sleeper moniker, yet fills the bill in this elite field. Kim is the real deal.  It is not the wins over the course of the year (Wachovia, AT&T National), nor the fact that he wears his initials on his belt buckle.  We were 50/50 this week on putting him as a sleeper but to many his name is still not truly recognizable and the fact that this is an elite field gives us some leeway.  The reaction we got on Sunday at the Canadian Open was priceless during Kim’s 75.  He was visibly upset that he was hacking it up, proving that he has a strong “win or bust” mentality like the other greats in the game.  Now it just comes down to execution. 

Player to avoid  

Oliver Wilson

Have you heard of him?  He snuck in this field being 48th on the World Golf Rankings, based on play only in Europe. 

Rod Pampling

Not a good choice, even as a deep sleeper because of the depth of this field.