This week marks the 10th event of the 2014-15 PGA Tour season, as the Tour heads to the mainland for the Humana Challenge. Each week, a panel of experts will offer up their picks from four groups of players, based on Golf Channel’s fantasy game, Fantasy Challenge. We will also keep track of their scores and standings. The panel includes: senior writers Rex Hoggard, Randall Mell and Jason Sobel; editorial director Jay Coffin; associate editor Will Gray; ‘Morning Drive’ host Gary Williams; host Charlie Rymer and defending fantasy champion Ryan Lavner.
Rex Hoggard
Group 1: Patrick Reed: Not that confidence has ever been an issue with Reed, but after his victory at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions the guy’s inner-belief is through the roof.
Group 2: Luke Donald: The Englishman is playing the Humana Challenge for the first time but it’s a perfect fit for a player with his wedge game and putter.
Group 3: Rory Sabbatini: He was solid last week at the Sony Open (T-6) and has plenty of history in the Coachella Valley having recorded three top-25 finishes in seven starts.
Group 4: Jarrod Lyle: There is no better feel-good story in golf right now then Lyle, who makes his 2015 debut this week in his continued comeback from his second bout with leukemia.
Jason Sobel
Group 1: Patrick Reed: He opened with three straight 63s last year. This just in: Birdies in bunches should work well once again this week.
Group 2: Scott Piercy: Last week’s runner-up is buried near the bottom of Group 2, but don’t overlook this guy who loves playing desert golf.
Group 3: Charles Howell III: It wouldn’t be an early-year West Coast Swing without CH3 bouncing around near the top of a few leaderboards.
Group 4: Max Homa: Fresh off a T-6 finish at the Sony Open, this Cali kid could keep the momentum going this week.
Will Gray
Group 1: Matt Kuchar: I’m relying on Mr. Consistency once again, as Kuchar enters off a T-3 finish in Hawaii and now heads to an event where he boasts five straight top-25 finishes.
Group 2: Bill Haas: A winner here in 2010, Haas also finished second in 2011 and T-6 in 2014. Clearly comfortable in the desert and coming off a season where he made 27 cuts in 28 starts.
Group 3: Daniel Summerhays: Quietly notched a T-17 finish in Honolulu, his third straight top-30 result. Summerhays hasn’t missed a cut since July and finished last season ranked ninth on Tour in strokes gained putting.
Group 4: Robert Garrigus: The veteran has been hit-or-miss at Humana, with his prior six appearances yielding four top-20 results and a pair of missed cuts. I’ll take a chance that he’ll be closer to the leaderboard than the airport come Sunday.
