Nike Golf Athletes in the Field 4.29-5.2

Here are the Nike Golf athletes at the tour events this week:

PGA Tour:  Quail Hollow Championship
Stewart Cink
David Duval
Lucas Glover
Trevor Immelman
Anthony Kim
Carl Pettersson
Tiger Woods

Nationwide Tour: Stadion Athens Classic at UGA
Scott Brown
Kevin Kisner
Jamie Lovemark
Chris Nallen
Garrett Osborn
Brendan Todd

LPGA Tour: Tres Marias Championship
Amanda Blumenherst
Suzann Pettersen
Michelle Wie

Champions Tour: Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic
John Cook
Bob Tway

European Tour: Open de España
Simon Dyson
Richard Finch
Oliver Fisher
Pablo Martin
Francesco Molinari
James Morrison
Marc Warren

Quail Hollow Championship Preview: Showdown between #1 and #2

Three weeks ago Tiger Woods made his much anticipated return to competitive golf at the Masters. Despite four rounds of inconsistent play Tiger still managed a T4 finish at Augusta, but on Sunday evening it was Phil Mickelson who ended up on top of the leader board, taking home the green jacket and his third Masters title.

Tiger enters events with one goal in mind – winning. Since he has committed to play in this week’s Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, you know his goal is to come away with the trophy. However, Masters champion Phil Mickelson is also in the field, and he has the same goal. So between the two, who has the best shot at taking home the title? Let’s look at some past results for both players.

RESULTS AT QUAIL HOLLOW

Tiger has played in this event two of the last four years, finishing fourth in ’09 and winning in ’07. Phil has played this event each of the last five years with a T5 in ’09, a T12 in ’08, a T3 in ’07, a T35 in ’06 and a T7 in ’05. To me it’s a bit of a tossup here, but with Tiger’s win in ’07, and finishing ahead of Phil in both ’09 and ’07, I’d say slight advantage Tiger.

RECENT RESULTS

Tiger has played only one event in 2010, the Masters, where he finished T4, a remarkable achievement in his first event back from a five-month layoff. Phil however has played in eight events this year, making all eight cuts, his two best finishes being a T8 at Pebble Beach and his win at Augusta three weeks ago. With Tiger struggling with his swing last week, I’d have to say Phil has the advantage here.

Obviously Tiger and Phil are not the only players in the field, and there are several other notables to watch this week — check out Damian’s Fantasy Four post for some solid picks to watch (including non-Nike players). Other Nike athletes in this week’s field include:

Stewart Cink
David Duval
Lucas Glover
Trevor Immelman
Anthony Kim
Carl Pettersson

Watch out for Anthony Kim, who in 2010 has had a second place finish at the Honda Classic, a win at the Shell Houston Open and a third place finish at the Masters. He won this event in 2008 and will be gunning for another W, especially with Tiger and Phil in the field. Also watch out for major champions Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink to have strong showings at this major-quality venue (the atmosphere at this tournament is similar to that of a major). And don’t count out David Duval — although his play has been a bit streaky this year he is swinging the club with confidence and his putter has been steady. A T2 finish at Pebble Beach earlier this year shows he’s not far from re-entering the winner’s circle.

I’m going with my gut here, and my money is on Tiger coming away with the win this week. His game was so inconsistent at Augusta, yet he scored so well that if he gets any kind of momentum going this week (and keeps it going) I don’t think the rest of the field will be able to catch him. But you can several of the other players — especially Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim — to give whoever wins a run for their money coming down the stretch on Sunday afternoon.

Who are your picks this week? Let us know with a comment below.

NG Nation Fantasy Four: Quail Hollow Championship

I love the Quail Hollow Championship. In recent years it has hosted a field full of big guns, and we need it after this past week. The choices are tough ones this week, but I’ll do my best.

NIKE GOLF: Four to Watch

Tiger Woods
He says his game has improved since a 4th place at Augusta. He’s won here before, he’s contended here before. I’ll take him in a heartbeat. Everyone will be gunning for him though…especially Phil and AK.

Anthony Kim
Sure, he’s my favourite golfer and after a nice 16th at the Ballantines, it’s not a bad thing. He had a 74 in his second round and similar to Quail Hollow last year, one bad round killed him. But he has won here and a T5. Also, in his last 5 PGA starts he’s finished 24, 2, 22, 1 and 3. He’s as hot as anyone. However, I feel as though he’ll be trying too hard this week to prove himself against Tiger and Phil.

Lucas Glover
I’m still looking for G’Lover to rebound. He had a T2 last year and T4 in ’06 with a T10 in ’04. He should rebound with a Top 25 this week for sure.

Stewart Cink
With a nice T14 at Verizon, he has some history to make him a contender here. T8 in ’08, T5 in ’07 and a T26 in ’06. He could do well.

THE FIELD: Four Who Are Hot

Lee Westwood
Four PGA tourneys this year and 3 Top 10′s. No brainer.

Hunter Mahan
Hunter is getting hotter. Aside from a MC, he had a quiet T8 at the Masters then T25, T30, 1st and T33. He’s as hot as Villegas, but I think he’s on a good roll. With a T22 here last year.

Camilo Villegas
Aside from one MC, Villegas’ finishes this year have been stellar. Finishes this year are as follows: 3, T8, 1, T16, T38 and T5.

Retief Goosen
Most Top 10′s on the Tour this year with 5 in 8 starts and a T11 here last year.

THE FIELD: Four Who Have History

Phil Mickelson
History + Hot – Phil has so many Top 10′s here it’s ridiculous. He’s hot and he’ll be in the Top 5.

Jim Furyk
History + Hot – Two wins this season, T11 last year, 7th in ’08, 1st in ’06, 2nd in ’05..it’s insane.

Vijay Singh
T17 in 08,  T7 in 07, T38 in 06, 1st in 05. I won’t keep going, but he could be a big sleeper here.

David Toms
Coming off a few solid weeks, Toms has won here in ’03, T18 last year, T17 in ’08 I think he has a chance to do well, but the field is so good.

FINAL FOUR: Tiger, Phil, AK and Furyk*

I really want Glover to bounce back strong and it was just too hard to pick a Final Four. It was toss-up between Mahan and AK. They can both get wild and have big rounds, but I lean to AK because of the history.

The choices were very hard this week and that’s a good thing for the PGA. All these great players have wins this year and I couldn’t be happier.

Seems like I’m cheating with my Final Four, so I’ll give you two sleepers: Rory McIlroy and Nick Watney

Pick with your heart,

D.

*Editor’s Note: I had to change my Final Four picks because Retief Goosen is not in the final field anymore. So I have replaced him with Jim Furyk.

THP’s 2010 Nike Golf Spring Apparel Previews

Photos © Copyright 2010 The Hackers Paradise

A few weeks back, the folks over at The Hackers Paradise posted two nice reviews of Nike Golf’s 2010 spring apparel line — one for ladies apparel by Golfer Gal and one for men’s apparel by Josh — and both include several pics of new items. Nike continues to push the envelope of style on the course as the reviews mention, and the pics prove it, examples being the Nike Plaid Vapor Skort, the Nike Plaid Short and the Nike Air Anthem shoes, which are very cool indeed (see pics above). I thought the introduction of stylish, contemporary plaids contributes to a classic but contemporary look. Check out both reviews for yourself, they’re very well done.

Click here to read the 2010 women’s spring apparel review at THP >>

Click here to read the 2010 men’s spring apparel review at THP >>

Nike Golf Athletes: Tour Wrapup 4.25.10

Here’s how the Nike Golf athletes fared at the tour events this past weekend:

PGA Tour: Zurich Classic of New Orleans
T53  David Duval  -3  ::  68  72  72  73  ::  285
CUT  Stephen Ames  ::  75 69  ::  144

Nationwide Tour: South Georgia Classic
2       Jhonattan Vegas  -10  ::  72  66  69  71  ::  278
8       Scott Brown  -5  ::  70  71  74  68  ::  283
T51  Chris Nallen  +5  ::  71  71  76  75  ::  293
T69  Kevin Kisner  +12  ::  71  72  84  73  ::  300
CUT  Jamie Lovemark ::  71  75  ::  146
CUT  Garrett Osborn  ::  74  73  ::  147
CUT  Brendan Todd  ::  80  74  ::  154

Champions Tour: Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf
2  John Cook (w/Joey Sindelar)  -28  ::  62  65  61  ::  188
6  Bob Tway (w/Blaine McCallister)  -22  ::  63  63  68  ::  194
T32  Curtis Strange  (w/Ben Crenshaw)  -7  ::  73  66  70  ::  209

European Tour: Ballantine’s Championship
T4  Oliver Fisher  -7  ::  68  70  71  0  ::  209
T16  Anthony Kim  -3  ::  68  74  71  0  ::  213
CUT  Marc Warren  ::  72  74  ::  146
CUT  Pablo Martin  ::  70  77  ::  147
DQ  Richard Finch  ::  70  DQ  ::

NG Nation Fantasy Four: Zurich Classic Recap

My second week is in the books and I have to say I’m a little dissappointed. It just wasn’t very exciting, but congratulations to Jason Bohn.

My predictions were not very good, either. Even in my whole list of players I only had Stuart Appleby right. Duval gave us some hope heading into the week, but that fizzled. Toms and Howell had great chances to crack the Top 10, but stumbled with +3 and +2 respectively on the final round. Here are the results from NG Nation’s Fantasy Four:

Toms – T28
Howell III – T43
Kelly – T67
Marino – MC

Here’s where we stand so far in terms of fantasy picks. Almost had another Top 25, but I added another MC due to Marino.

Final Four Finishes Wins Top 10′s Top 25′s MC
Through 2 weeks 1 1 2 2

Next up: Quail Hollow! I’m pretty excited for this tournament and I’ve been editing my picks for the past week. Check back for that.

All the big guns will be out (minus Poulter, Casey and Kaymer). But Fisher, McIlroy and Westwood will be joining us from across the pond. I can’t complain. Of course, we can’t forget about Tiger + Phil = The Ultimate Thrill, AK defending and a lot of players with a lot of history at Quail Hollow.

Stay tuned,

D

Nike Golf Athletes in the Field 4.22-4.25

Here are the Nike Golf athletes at the tour events this week:

PGA Tour: Zurich Classic of New Orleans
Stephen Ames
David Duval

Nationwide Tour: South Georgia Classic
Scott Brown
Kevin Kisner
Jamie Lovemark
Chris Nallen
Garrett Osborn
Brendan Todd
Jhonattan Vegas

Champions Tour: Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf
John Cook
Curtis Strange
Bob Tway

European Tour: Ballantine’s Championship
Richard Finch
Oliver Fisher
Anthony Kim
Pablo Martin
Marc Warren

NG Nation Fantasy Four: Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Week one was a success and this week we go to N’awlins for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Two big things: Stricker and Poulter have both withdrawn from this event. It’s too bad for the PGA, but it’s a pretty weak field in New Orleans. However, there are still some choices to be made.

NIKE GOLF: Two to Watch

Stephen Ames – Only two this week, because not many Nike boys are in it, but Ames, who put together some solid rounds last week, has been playing well. I’m still weary because he hasn’t played here that much or has had MC’s in recent years. T7 in 04 at least.

David Duval – A bit of a stretch here. We know he’s been streaky, but I think he can take advantage of a field with less star power. He’s a super sleeper here also with no history. But really, who doesn’t want Duval to do well?

THE FIELD: Four Who Are Hot

KJ Choi – He was the sexy pick last week and finished ok, but I look for him to rebound this week and he has some history here.

Justin Rose – MC at Arnold Palmer, but other than that his 3 starts have all been Top 15′s. I think he’ll do well here.

Steve Marino – Three straight T15′s and a T5 last year is enough for me.

Steve Stricker’s Substitute – Brandt Snedeker – Did we all forget about Brandt? His last two starts have been MC’s, but that’s only because he was on fire with 8 straight made cuts. Long shot, but I look for him to rebound.

THE FIELD: Four Who Have History

Jerry Kelly – He played well last week and I see a Top 10 from him as the defending champion.

Charles Howell III – History and hot. The only times he’s played in this tourney he has been T2 in 09, T2 in 06, 59 in ’05 and T5 in ’04. He’s a no-brainer.

Stuart Appleby – He’s probably played this course the most on Tour. He finished T4 in 06 and has a couple other Top 25′s.

David Toms – He’s a Louisiana boy with a T5 here last year. His last start was a T14 at Augusta and hopefully he’s healed up well.

FINAL FOUR: Steve Marino, Charles Howell III, Jerry Kelly, David Toms

Picks were tough this week. Sadly, I’m not giving a spot to Ames in the Final Four. Also, if Stricker and Poulter were still in it, they would be locks. Let’s hope for the best!

Pick with your heart,

D.

Nike Golf Athletes: Tour Wrapup 4.18.10

Here’s how the Nike Golf athletes fared at the tour events this past weekend:

PGA Tour: Verizon Heritage
T14  Stephen Ames  -6 :: 74 65 65 74 :: 278

T14  Stewart Cink  -6 :: 71 69 67 71 :: 278

T22  Paul Casey  T22  -5 :: 75 65 70 69 :: 279

T35  Carl Pettersson  -3 :: 69 68 70 74 :: 281

T35  Trevor Immelman  -3 :: 68 69 71 73 :: 281

CUT  Lucas Glover  :: 69 77 ::

Nationwide Tour: Fresh Express Classic
T5   Jamie Lovemark  -15  :: 64 69 71 65 :: 269

T26 Scott Brown  -9 :: 72 68 69 66 :: 275

T57 Chris Nallen  -2  :: 69 68 72 73 ::  282

CUT Jhonattan Vegas :: 74 68 ::

CUT Garrett Osborn  :: 77 72 ::

CUT Brendan Todd  :: 83 77 ::

LPGA Tour: The Mojo 6
2    Amanda Blumenherst

T5  Suzann Pettersen

Champions Tour: Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am
T32 Bob Tway  +1  :: 71 72 ::  143

T60 John Cook  +6  ::  77 71 ::  148

European Tour: Volvo China Open
7      Oliver Fisher  -11  :: 73 65 70 69 ::  277

T36 Pablo Martin  -3  ::  71 70 72 72 ::  285
T67 Marc Warren  +5  ::  71 68 73 81 ::  293

CUT  Richard Finch  :: 71 74 ::

NG Nation Fantasy Four: Verizon Heritage Recap

The first tournament of the NG Nation Fantasy Four is in the books and I can say that I’m happy with the outcome.

I think my predictions of Ames doing decent, Casey rebounding, Cink doing well, Choi being overrated, Villegas playing well and Furyk doing great were satisfying.

But given the Final Four of Furyk, Glover, Na and Kuchar, I could have done a bit better. I was struggling whether to put Glover, Cink, Villegas or Casey in, but that’s okay. We’ll look for G’Lover to do well later down the road.

Here’s where we stand so far in terms of fantasy picks. Jim Furyk picked up his second win of the year, while Matt Kuchar picked up a T14, Kevin Na finished T35 and Lucas Glover missed the cut.

Final Four Finishes Wins Top 10′s Top 25′s MC
Through 1 week 1 1 2 1

Later this week, I’ll make my picks as the tour heads to TPC Louisiana. I will be spending the early part of the week looking for beads to give out on Bourbon street in time for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.