Time for some early handicapping of this event. Here are the standings for both potential teams. I had to drag them out to Top 30 because of Tiger.


RANK
THIS
WEEK PLAYER POINTS
1 2 Matt Kuchar 14,271,827
2 1 Steve Stricker 13,907,203
3 5 Dustin Johnson 13,361,897
4 4 Nick Watney 12,231,320
5 3 Phil Mickelson 11,967,727
6 6 Bubba Watson 9,763,499
7 8 Webb Simpson 9,196,373
8 7 David Toms 8,918,935
9 9 Hunter Mahan 8,672,292
10 10 Bill Haas 8,548,577
11 11 Jim Furyk 8,409,914
12 14 Brandt Snedeker 8,066,263
13 12 Rickie Fowler 7,516,201
14 13 Bo Van Pelt 7,386,383
15 20 Jonathan Byrd 7,280,688
16 15 Zach Johnson 7,079,980
17 16 Jason Dufner 7,055,408
18 19 Mark Wilson 6,966,704
19 17 Ryan Moore 6,899,113
20 18 Keegan Bradley 6,864,399
21 21 Ryan Palmer 6,548,434
22 25 Gary Woodland 6,067,713
23 23 Charles Howell III 6,058,717
24 22 Jeff Overton 5,921,385
25 24 Steve Marino 5,811,032
26 26 Sean O'Hair 5,599,802
27 32 Charley Hoffman 5,594,228
28 27 Kevin Na 5,530,683
29 28 Tiger Woods 5,374,491
30 29 D.A. Points 5,336,633




RANK
THIS
WEEK RANK
LAST
WEEK PLAYER EVENTS AVG POINTS TOTAL POINTS POINTS LOST POINTS GAINED
1 1 Adam Scott 47 5.79 272.03 -97.64 183.68
2 2 Jason Day 44 5.65 248.66 -72.58 193.70
3 3 Charl Schwartzel 54 5.13 276.85 -117.94 213.08
4 4 K.J. Choi 51 4.73 241.46 -82.47 184.37
5 5 Kyung-tae Kim 54 3.84 207.57 -84.00 110.65
6 6 Retief Goosen 54 3.45 186.19 -146.53 78.32
7 7 Ernie Els 54 3.29 177.45 -172.17 39.13
8 8 Y.E. Yang 54 3.08 166.13 -115.16 121.43
9 10 Ryo Ishikawa 54 3.02 163.05 -99.88 89.88
10 9 Louis Oosthuizen 54 2.83 152.61 -102.19 57.21
11 11 Tim Clark 40 2.76 110.58 -105.61 28.13
12 12 Geoff Ogilvy 51 2.76 140.66 -102.56 62.54
13 17 Vijay Singh 48 2.69 129.30 -54.49 110.25
14 14 Aaron Baddeley 52 2.69 139.71 -36.25 141.12
15 13 Robert Allenby 54 2.65 143.07 -131.66 66.64
16 15 Rory Sabbatini 54 2.58 139.58 -66.11 122.08
17 16 Yuta Ikeda 54 2.27 122.83 -85.63 47.86
18 18 Richard Green 46 2.15 98.89 -49.05 43.96
19 21 Camilo Villegas 54 2.03 109.81 -95.56 41.85
20 30 Sang-Moon Bae 40 2.02 80.77 -26.85 61.98
21 20 Brendan Jones 40 1.94 77.55 -46.31 30.52
22 19 Hiroyuki Fujita 54 1.91 103.28 -74.28 30.67
23 22 Tetsuji Hiratsuka 54 1.72 92.76 -58.23 35.40
24 23 John Senden 54 1.71 92.53 -60.19 57.58
25 24 Brendon de Jonge 54 1.68 90.61 -44.10 52.35
26 25 Angel Cabrera 41 1.67 68.41 -74.55 41.02
27 31 George Coetzee 52 1.66 86.57 -15.83 80.51
28 26 Thomas Aiken 54 1.63 88.00 -46.27 64.67
29 27 Seung-yul Noh 53 1.61 85.49 -44.27 37.75
30 28 Andres Romero 45 1.57 70.54 -26.58 53.03

To continue a previous discussion. Furyk would be my other captain's pick to go along with TIger. If not Furyk, then Fowler is about the only other choice I would make.

Not as strong of a wolrd team as I thought it might be. Guess it shows the power of the Euros now.

Yeah, just two years ago I thought the Aussies and South Africans were the ones to beat, now it's the Euros.

The world team should be very beatable.

Going to be tough to catch the matches live.

Let's see.....American team...Mickelson , Watson , and Mahan are looking a little weak. That one pick looks like a tough one to me. Several guys playing good right now. I wouldn't pick Furyk. I like Fowler , Bo Van Pelt , or Zach Johnson as a "bulldog" pick. Maybe Gary Woodland or Chucky 3 sticks. Tiger will need to show up and play like Tiger ....but he likes matchplay.

International team......Don't look as good on paper , but it's matchplay. Not just matchplay , but TEAM matchplay ! I don't even know who Kyung Tae Kim IS ...but must be pretty good. Some other guys are not burning it up out there , but if they can play well together , it should be a close competition.

I assume their picks will be Ogilvy and V.J. Singh , but Baddeley and Allenby would be solid too .

International captain's picks: Singh is playing very good right now, so he has already made it as a pick if it's my team. Ogilvy or maybe John Sended for the other pick.

I will stick with Fowler as the US second pick unless someone else really steps up this week.

The thing with team play, the international team does not have that advantage like the Euros do in the Ryder Cup. It's a wash in regards to Team play. I'm not too worried about Phil, he will play well.

International captain's picks: Singh is playing very good right now, so he has already made it as a pick if it's my team. Ogilvy or maybe John Sended for the other pick.

I will stick with Fowler as the US second pick unless someone else really steps up this week.

The thing with team play, the international team does not have that advantage like the Euros do in the Ryder Cup. It's a wash in regards to Team play. I'm not too worried about Phil, he will play well.

Van Pelt has had a very steady season flying under the radar. Probably the most consistand player we could field right now.

John Senden would be a good pick. Very good tee to green , but there's a question mark on the greens. I like good putters for matchplay......hmmmm that would leave Vijay out. :0)

As far as "team"...i guess i was referring to the way they play two man teams during the competition , not any sense of team they might have. But you're right ; it could go either way with that. Will be fun to watch. Much more interesting than a stroke play competition.