Sleeper Picks: Farmers Insurance Open

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Jan. 25, 2011

The PGA TOUR travels to La Jolla, Calif. for the Farmers Insurance Open. Here's how the PGATOUR.COM experts sized up the top contenders:

EXPERT PICKS
How it works: Our experts from PGATOUR.COM select the player they think will win this week's event. By using a draft process, no two picks can be the same. The player who wins the previous week picks last the following week. To see the picks, click here.
SLEEPER PICKS
Of the players who didn't make the cut for our top picks, which have the best chance as sleepers? Here's how our experts see it.

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Sleeper Picks: Farmers Insurance Open

Expert	Pick order	Player selected
John Swantek			RYUJI IMADA. One of the TOUR's best putters, he handles the poa annua greens at Torrey Pines exceptionally well. Strong tournament record, with four top-20s and runner-up to Tiger in 2008.
Mike McAllister			CHARLES HOWELL III. In eight career starts in this event, he's produced four top-10 finishes, including a tie for ninth last year. He tied for 13th last week at the Bob Hope Classic. Looking for his first TOUR win since 2007 when he won at Riviera.
Ryan Smithson			KEVIN STREELMAN. Hasn't made a cut here since playing with Tiger Woods on the weekend during his debut at Torrey Pines in 2008. Tied for 33rd last week at the Hope in his first start of the year. Great driver of the ball, which helps a ton on the South Course.
John Schwarb			MICHAEL SIM. Couldn't get anything going on the 36-hole Sunday at the Sony, shooting 72-74 to fade to 53rd. But finished tied for second at Farmers last year, his best TOUR finish in 50 starts so far.
Anne Szeker			JUSTIN HICKS. Shot 68 in the first round of the 2008 U.S. Open here. Hopefully he has some fond memories of that round -- and not the 80 he shot the next day. First start for this Nationwide Tour grad.
Lauren Deason			GARY WOODLAND. I can't believe no one has taken him yet. Yes, it will be difficult for him to repeat last week's performance (when he lost a playoff at the Bob Hope Classic) but his awesome length is a huge edge here, especially on the South Course.
Helen Ross			KEEGAN BRADLEY. Pat Bradley's nephew has made a strong start to his PGA TOUR career, cashing checks in his first two starts this year, including a tie for seventh last week. What I like best, though, is that Keegan has yet to shoot higher than 70.
Chris Dunham			AARON BADDELEY. The Aussie bombs the ball and rolls his putts as well as anyone. We last saw Aaron Baddeley in a playoff for the Kodak Challenge, and now he's had a bit more time to work on his transition from the stack-and-tilt swing.
Brian Wacker			KRIS BLANKS. He's never broken 70 in two trips to this event, but he's also played better every year he's been on TOUR. Blanks is a very good ball-striker who hits a lot of greens, so if he gets his putter going he could contend.

Standings after Week 3

LAST WEEK: Anne Szeker and Chris Dunham each scored top-10s last week with Chris Kirk (T7) and Kevin Na (T5) respectively:
Position	Name	Wins	Top-5s	Top-10s	Top-25s	FedExCup points
1	Anne Szeker Site Producer, PGATOUR.COM	0	0	1	1	122.00
2	Chris Dunham Editorial Coordinator, PGATOUR.COM	0	1	1	1	106.07
3	Helen Ross Chief of Correspondents, PGATOUR.COM	0	0	1	1	72.50
4	Brian Wacker Site Producer, PGATOUR.COM	0	0	0	1	48.00
5	Mike McAllister Managing Editor, PGATOUR.COM	0	0	0	0	33.50
6	Lauren Deason Editorial Coordinator, PGATOUR.COM	0	0	0	0	18.00
T7	John Schwarb Site Producer, PGATOUR.COM	0	0	0	0	8.00
T7	John Swantek Host, On The Tee	0	0	0	0	8.0
9	Ryan Smithson Site Producer, PGATOUR.COM	0	0	0	0	1.07