Colonial Fantasy Pick

This week I am going with Hunter Mahan to win at Colonial.  He is having a pretty good year so far, but is due for a full week of good golf.  You have to think that posting 6 top 10’s in 12 starts would annoy any golfer who really wants to win.  After sniffing the lead that often you have to think that Mahan will find an extra gear of motivation and bring a win home.  He is T10 on Tour in greens in regulation at 70.37% and T18 in scoring average at 70.41.  This is all while being a mediocre to good player off the tee and around the greens.  His iron play saves him all the time and expect it to save him again this week.

He hasn’t been the steadiest off the tee or in scrambling, but his ability to make it into the top 10 says enough.  He is playing well and is due for a week where he puts it all together.  If Mahan drives the ball well and hits greens like he normally does he will again find himself in contention.  You have to figure that the experience of being up near the top of the leader board will kick in for him this season and he will close one of these tournaments out.  Since Bubba doesn’t want to be the face of American golf maybe we need someone like Mahan to step up and start carding wins in bunches.  I, for one, won’t be holding my breath on that, but I do think he will win this weekend or at the very least post another top 10.

My dark horse pick this week is actually Sergio Garcia.  I am not a huge Sergio fan to begin with, but he has played some pretty good golf this year thus far and he came home strong at the Players for a T12.  Sergio has won here before which should boost his already growing confidence a step further.  Will it be enough to put him into the winner’s circle?  I don’t know, but it seems like it could be a perfect storm story line for Sergio.  Adding to his increased play is the potential for him to break his major appearance streak this year at the U.S. Open due to his drop in the world rankings.  A win would put him back in the field and he knows that.  He isn’t my front runner, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a good performance this week.