PODS Championship Preview

Formerly the Chrysler Championship played in October, the PODS enters its second year in the first third of the PGA Tour season. The Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club hosts the event in Tampa, Florida and the winner will take home $954,000.

Defending Champ - Last year, Mark Calcavecchia shot the round of the week when he carded a 9 under par in the third-round enabling him to win by a stroke over John Senden and Heath Slocum. Even, after playing well last week at the Honda Classic, I'd hesitate to expect a finish higher than 20^th as it is unlikely he will duplicate a 62 on Saturday.

Highest Ranked Player - Ernie Els - Coming off last week's win at the Honda Classic, Els passed Steve Stricker into 3rd place in the World Golf Ranking.. This will be only his 3^rd appearance at Innisbrook, making the cut both times and finishing in 6^th place in 2006. Els is one of the few players capable of winning back to back - but expect more likely a Top 10 finish.

Pick -to-win - Chad Campbell. With 4 Top 20's in 6 events, Campbell is off to a great start this year. Combine that with the fact he was a often found at the top of the leaderboard with Top 4 finished in 2003 & 2005 and a 19^th in 2006, Campbell

Six to Consider

Paul Casey - This will be Casey's first time playing at this event. The 26^th ranked player in the world typically plays a very limited PGA Tour schedule so the fact he's here might be a sign of a commitment to more PGA Tour events. He's yet to win on the PGA Tour but with 7 victories worldwide, it's probably just a matter of time, though I'm not sure he's an accurate enough driver to win.

Nathan Green - Green is two for two in cuts made at this event including a 12^th place finish last year. Like Calcavecchia, he is coming off a strong week at the Honda Classic and has made four consecutive cuts after missing the first two of the season. Look for him to compete near the top of the leaderboard.

Stuart Appleby - Appleby has played in four tournaments this year and finished in the Top ten four times. Clearly this Aussie is playing some fine golf right now. Despite missing the cut at this event last year, there is no reason not to expect Appleby to post another strong finish.

Jonathan Byrd - Forget about his performance at last week's Honda Classic. Byrd has two straight Top 10 finished at the PODS and has been playing well early in the season. Look for his name near the top of the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon.

Jesper Parnevik - While he's made th cut 4 straight years, he's recently played this tournament well in "even number" years finishing 2^nd in 2004 and 6^th in 2006. As this is 2008, we'll stick with the streak and say Jesper finishes 8^th in 2008.

Justin Rose - Rose skipped this event last year, but returns to a tournament where he has two top 25 finishes. One of the best young players in the world, whenever he tees it up, he's a threat to win. While he's played alright to start the season, look for a finish in the 20's as I'm not sure he's firing on all cylinders.