Expert picks: Walmart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach

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Sep. 2, 2009

WALMART FIRST TEE OPEN AT PEBBLE BEACH: Tee times | Field | Power Rankings

Who will win the Walmart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach? Champions Tour producer Lauren Deason and former PGA TOUR and Champions Tour winner Joe Inman make their picks.

Inman captured one title on the PGA TOUR at the 1976 Kemper Open, and won the SBC Senior Classic -- now the AT&T Champions Classic -- three consecutive times on the Champions Tour. He's currently the men's golf coach at Georgia State University.

Inman and Deason will each choose one player they consider a favorite as well as a sleeper pick. Here are their selections for this week's event on the Monterey Peninsula.

Inman's picks	Deason's picks
Winner: Mark O'Meara. How can you not pick a guy who won five times at Pebble Beach on the PGA TOUR? Plus he would have won last week if Loren Roberts hadn't birdied the final two holes. O'Meara will get his first win this week.	Winner: Loren Roberts. Gotta go with the hot hand. In his last four starts, he's won twice and finished T4 and T5. Though he lives in Tennessee now, Roberts grew up in California and used to sneak on to Pebble Beach as a teen.
Sleeper: Tom Watson. He's another player who loves Pebble Beach and has fond memories from his 1982 U.S. Open win. Like O'Meara, he's playing well. I haven't picked a winner all year, but one of my picks is going to come through this week.	Sleeper: Scott Simpson. He won the event in 2006 by making a 9-foot birdie putt on No. 18 with his pal Bill Murray watching from the gallery. The San Diego native would love to pick up another win in his home state.