posted April 18, 2007 at 16:23 EST in Golf Articles

As this goes to press, the final round of the Verizon Heritage in Hilton Head, South Carolina had been delayed due to high winds.  Therefore, this week’s free picks occur without effect from those most-recent 18 holes on the Tour. 

 

After the third-round, Kelly led the field by one-stroke over both Ernie Els and Kevin Na.  Only Na is entered into this weekend’s field in the Big Easy.  He has missed three cuts this season and his highest-finish was 33rd at the Nissan Open.

Chris Couch and Tim Petrovic the 2006 and 2004 Classic winners, respectively, are both entered in this year’s field.  Couch missed four straight cuts at the end of January and beginning of February.  His highest-finish was 22nd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. 

Petrovic has missed his last three cuts and had two Top-25 finishes in February.

Aaron Baddeley, who won the 2006 Heritage, and was six-strokes off the lead heading into the last round of this year’s Heritage, finished tied for 11th in last year’s Zurich Classic.  He remains in the FedEx Cup Top-10 and will be worth watching in New Orleans.

Wily-veteran Fred Funk nearly won last year’s Zurich Classic and was tied with Baddeley for 11th heading into last week’s final round at the Heritage.  He won the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Cancun, Mexico at the end of February and finished 18th at the FBR in Scottsdale.  However, he missed three cuts this year and withdrew from two of his last three tournaments. 

Mark Calcavecchia had two Top-10 finishes in addition to a win (PODS Championship) earlier this year.  However, his best finish in his last three starts was 20th at the Masters.  The TPC Louisiana course hasnumerous bunkers, which could be a problem for Calcavecchia, who ranks 112th on Tour at sand saves (24 of 53).  Still, combining driving distance with accuracy, only four other players on Tour have better numbers.  If he can stay out of the sand, he could contend.

 

According to the FedEx Cup standings, the highest-ranked golfers to make the trek to N’awlins for the Zuric Claassic are Baddeley (7th), Calcavecchia (8th) and Charley Hoffman (13th).

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