Sleeper Picks: Farmers Insurance Open

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Jan. 26, 2010

The Farmers Insurance Open will take place at Torrey Pines' North and South courses this week. 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. 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
Lauren Deason			BRANDT SNEDEKER. In 2007, Sneds fired a 61 on Torrey Pines North to tie the course record and finished third at the event. Plus, he's coming off a T10 at last week's Bob Hope Classic. He's on the brink of winning his second TOUR event.
John Swantek			CHARLES HOWELL III. Guess who has earned more money than any player in tournament history not named Woods or Mickelson? That's right, Chucky 3 sticks, coming off a sneaky T5 at the Sony Open.
Mike McAllister			RYUJI IMADA. Has just one top-10 finish since claiming the AT&T Classic in 2008. But his track record at Torrey Pines is decent -- top-20 finishes in the last three years, including second in '08. Time to prove his one TOUR win wasn't a fluke.
Helen Ross			PAUL GOYDOS. A victory for the man they call Sunshine would be a popular one. Not to mention, well-deserved.
Ryan Smithson			MATT JONES. Plays well early in the year because it's the Aussie summer. Tore it up on the weekend last week at the Hope. Finished tied for fifth at Torrey Pines last year.
Nick Zaccardi			BUBBA WATSON. Obviously, I'm hoping he gets over the Bob Hope disappointment. He should have confidence at Torrey Pines, where he has two career top-10s.
Brian Wacker			CHARLEY HOFFMAN. The San Diego native always plays his best golf out west and tied for seventh at this event last year. In 2006, he tied for 16th. He's also long off the tee and a good iron player, both keys for success at Torrey Pines.

Standings after Week 2

LAST WEEK: Mike McAllister and Helen Ross both had players tie for 26th at the Bob Hope Classic last week and picked up 42 points:
Position	Name	Wins	Top-5s	Top-10s	Top-25s	FedExCup points
1	Helen Ross Chief of Correspondents, PGATOUR.COM	-	-	1	1	119.5
2	Brian Wacker Site Producer, PGATOUR.COM	-	1	1	1	100
3	Mike McAllister Managing Editor, PGATOUR.COM	-	-	-	1	81.5
4	Nick Zaccardi Associate Site Producer. PGATOUR.COM	-	-	-	-	30.5
5	Ryan Smithson Site Producer, PGATOUR.COM	-	-	-	-	16.92
6	John Swantek Host, PGA TOUR Today	-	-	-	-	16
7	Lauren Deason Editorial Coordinator, PGATOUR.COM	-	-	-	-	6