My picks for the FBR Open

Yes I know... Phil Mickelson is the perennial favorite here. But... he's not gonna be on my team.

Here's why.

I'm picking Rory Sabbatini. He's playing as well as he's ever played right now, and he feeds off of crowds, too. I look for him to continue playing well this year.

My choices in the first group were from among Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Steve Stricker and Geoff Ogilvy, each of whom are very strong competitors with both Phil and Vijay being previous winners.

My second choice is last year's winner, Aaron Baddeley. He's coming off a strong T13 finish at the Buick Open, and has fond memories of the very noisy crowd here. He lives nearby, and loves the desert weather.

Other's in that group included Stewart Cink, Trevor Immelman, Aaron Oberholser and newcome Andres Romero.

Hunter Mahan is my third choice. It was really tough between Brett Wetterich and Mahan. The rest of the group included Woody Austin, Stuart Appleby, and Mike Weir.

I've been watching Boo Weekly, and he's playing much better this year. His length off the tee will be a real asset as well as the how he could feed off the crowd. This guy brings new fun to professioal golf.

Others in this group were Charles Howell III, Brandt Snedeker, David Toms and Nick O'Hern.

My next choice is Camilo Villegas. He has good memories with a T2 in 2006. He also played very well at the Buick Invitational, finishing T13.

The guys I didn't choose included Mark Calcavecchia, Robert Allenby, John Senden, and Rod Pampling.

Group six includes Johnathon Byrd, Jerry Kelly, Carl Petterson, Sean O'Hair, and Peter Lonard.

My choice is Johnathon Byrd, as he has good memories of the FBR Open.

As tie breakers, I've selected Justin Leonard as the top FedEx Point finisher among players who are not on my team or on the original options. The further tie breaker score for the final round winner's score: 68.