HTWD Picks of the Week: The Northern Trust Open

Welcome to our Picks of the Week game! Rules are simple: Each week Bernardo and I will select one golfer entered in the current tournament. Whichever golfer finishes highest earns one of us a point. Exceptions: 3 points if our golfer wins the whole thing, Major Championships are doubled (so that's a possibility of 6 points), and tied finishes result in 0 points. Oh, and once we use a golfer, we can't use him for the rest of year. We're doing this until the TOUR Championship. Bernardo has won this 2 times in a row, so let's see if he can go for the three peat!  

 VS

JJ: We're making one final stop in California for a good while this week at the Northern Trust Open. And while the Cali Swing ends, one golfer's season begins. Luke Donald, who I am picking this week, starts his 2013 PGA Tour year at Riviera; a place where he's usually either went "feast or famine" at. And although he may be a little rusty, I expect the familiarity of the course to bring Luke some good vibes for a good finish here this week.

Bernardo: This week I’m going with Aaron Baddeley. Last week at the AT&T Pebble Pro-Am I watched him practice after his second round, his ball striking quality was superb. He hasn’t missed a cut this year and is a previous champion at this event. With this momentum the Aussie should be a favorite this week.

JJ's used: Brandt Snedeker, Jason Dufner, Padraig Harrington

Bernardo's used: Keegan Bradley, Brandt Snedeker, Phil Mickelson

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AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Sizzling Snedeker

For the past few years, American golf has been searching for their next true "star".  Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are only getting older, so we need to look to see who can carry our flag into the future. Anthony Kim looked like it for a bit, but has been hit by a ton of injuries and doesn't seem like he'll ever be back. Nick Watney has the potential, but isn't always consistent enough. Keegan Bradley could be the dude, but we still need to see more from him even though he has won a major championship.

With what I've seen over the past 2 years, it's starting to look like Brandt Snedeker wants that title. He showed us his talent in the Masters a few years back with his quick play and excellent putting. And although it took him a while to show us more after that major, it surely seems like he's entering "elite" status, especially with his recent play and his clinical win this week at Pebble Beach.

Since 2011, he's picked up 4 PGA Tour wins; that ties him with Tiger and puts him 1 win behind Rory for most since then. If that doesn't define "elite" I'm not sure what will. He clearly looks like a favorite heading into The Masters. His 2 runner-ups and win in the past 3 weeks are as good as it gets. His putting has been fantastic (as usual), and his ball-striking has gotten better, which is probably the reason why he's won the FedEx Cup and has had this incredible run to start 2013. 

With this win, Brandt moves to a career high #4 in the World Golf Rankings, only behind Rors, TW, and Luke Donald. And the way he's playing, I'd expect him to jump into that #3 spot very, very soon. 

Congrats, Brandt! 

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Amateur Analysis: The USMNT Debacle

Welcome back to another edition of Amateur Analysis, where we give our very unnecessary opinions on the random sport happenings of the world. In this piece, we'll dissect what's going on with the United States men's soccer team, and what their future holds. Enjoy.

Will Landon Donovan ever return?

Well, as you may or may not have known, the USMNT (United States Men's National Team) lost to Honduras yesterday in the first round of World Cup Qualifying by a score of 2-1. An excellent Clint Dempsey goal to take the lead was nullified by a brilliant bicycle kick and a smart, go-ahead finish by the Hondurans.

All in all, Honduras was clearly the superior team in this match. The U.S. looked tired rather quickly (Timmy Chandler seemed gassed at halftime), and Honduras certainly capitalized in the latter stages of the match. Whether it was the condition of the pitch (long grass) or the weather (reports suggested they reached a playing temp of 90 degrees F), the USMNT simply didn't impress. The back line weren't great, which is what you can expect when they've never played together in a game before. The midfield, besides Michael Bradley, were extremely disappointing. They struggled to hold any consistent possession and it seemed impossible for them to string a lot of passes together. Altidore and his front line barely got any service, too. Even the timing of Klinsmann's subs seemed a bit suspect. It just wasn't our day, and it showed.

This loss puts the U.S. in dead last. The good news is that there's 9 games to go and 4 teams tied yesterday. The bad news is that they can't afford another slip up like that, or they'll be in some serious trouble. They play Costa Rica next in Denver, and you can bet that you'll see a much better performance with the crowd cheering them on.

The biggest thing that I noticed coming from this game was the talk about Landon Donovan. It was obvious the USMNT missed him in this game, and if you don't believe me, then you didn't watch the game. Width, leadership, pace, and creativity were missing the entire 90+ minutes, and that is something he brings, especially for the U.S.A. Plus, I wasn't the only one talking about him after the game. You had ESPN, NBC Sports, Yahoo, and Twitter mentioning his name, and making note that he will need to be a factor going forward (just click on the hyperlinks to see the articles from each). Donovan is easily our greatest player ever, and hopefully he can find the drive to come back soon to lead us into Brazil. If not, then we'll have to stick with the group we have now. And the way things have been going with them (loss at Jamaica in the previous round of qualifiers & now this loss at Honduras to open the Hex), many of us won't be very optimistic.

So, let's hope for our sake Jurgen Klinsmann swallows his pride and comes knocking on Landon Donovan's door. If he doesn't come knocking and the USMNT don't qualify, then we'll all be wondering what could have been. I sincerely hope that does not happen.

Photo via soccerbyives

Picks of the Week: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

Welcome back to our Picks of the Week game! Rules are simple: Each week Bernardo and I will select one golfer entered in the current tournament. Whichever golfer finishes highest earns one of us a point. Exceptions: 3 points if our golfer wins the whole thing, Major Championships are doubled (so that's a possibility of 6 points), and tied finishes result in 0 points. Oh, and once we use a golfer, we can't use him for the rest of year. We're doing this until the TOUR Championship. Bernardo has won this 2 times in a row, so let's see if he can go for the three peat! 

VS 

JJ: Pebble Beach always brings some surprises, so I'm going to go with a guy who's been playing surprisingly well. Padraig Harrington is my pick for this week. Paddy had a nice week at the Waste Management (t-9), and seems to be rediscovering his old form back from 2008. In years past, he'd follow up a solid finish with a poor one. But hopefully he can string another solid performance this week, and possibly snag a win to end his long drought.

Bernardo: The California swing continues at one of my favorite PGA Tour stops, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. This week I’m going with last week’s champion Phil Mickelson.  The lefty has won here multiple times, revealing these courses definitely fit his eye. The Monterey County folks love to watch Phil play, so winning here will be an incentive for him. Not to mention increase his lead in the FedEx points list.

JJ's used: Brandt Snedeker, Jason Dufner

Bernardo's used: Keegan Bradley, Brandt Snedeker

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Waste Management Open: Lefty Magic

What an awesome week for Phil Mickelson nearly shooting a 59 during the opening round, but a lip-out putt, which should have gone in, is what separated Phil from joining a small group of golfers in the club 59.

Due to such a great opening round (60) Phil was also in the hunt for breaking the scoring record after two rounds and overall tournament, but came up a few shots short of overcoming the current records.

In general Phil had a great week with his putter. Over the years a common trend has been his misfortune with the putter and a few bad drives. But Phil seemed to be puttering with some confidence.

This week definitely revealed Phil, now 42, has the ability to jump into the top 5 in the Official World Rankings and continue to be that competitive Phil we love to see. Not to mention he wins this event the week after Tiger won the Farmers Insurance Open. We’d love to see the old rivalry iginite and continue to their Champions Tour day, but we’ll leave that for the future.

With this new momentum Phil should be the favorite this week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and possibly acquire his 5^th title at this event. I’ll be out there this weekend watching Phil, maybe he saved the 59 for this week (hahaha).