No-Brainer: Who's head of the class, king of the hill, top of the heap?
Steve Elling CBSSports.com Senior Writer	Ross Devonport CBSSports.com Fantasy Writer	Dan Lubin CBSSports.com Golf Producer
Retief Goosen I am wondering why we’re going through this Cajun charade this week, because the last three winners in New Orleans (Tim Petrovic, Chris Couch and Nick Watney) recorded their first victory in upsets. So who do I pick? A proven veteran. I’m sticking with a guy I have been watching play live over the past three days, in Miami and at the Tavistock Cup, resurgent Retief Goosen. He posted his first top 10 since the Masters on Monday and looked solid yesterday playing alongside Tiger Woods at the Tavistock matches. His coach believes the Goose is swinging better than at any point since they began working together 1½ years ago and the putts have again begun to fall. Goosen, a former world No. 3, fell so far that he was the sixth-rated South African earlier this month. This week, he will rebuild his game and his reputation. Confidence is an odd duck, eh, Goose?	Jim Furyk I was initially leaning towards matching Steve’s pick of Goosen, but I’m going to go with another veteran whose game has been coming around nicely recently -- Jim Furyk. After struggling on the greens all season, Furyk finished T12 in putts per GIR at the CA Championship and turned that into a T2 in Miami. He hasn’t played in this event since 1996, but the TPC Louisiana layout should suit Furyk, who doesn’t hit the ball a long way, but finds fairways and greens on more than just a regular basis. Like most, he’ll be trying to get his game in shape for the Masters, but with most of the big names skipping this event, Furyk’s competition is weaker than usual.	Steve Stricker Aside from the feats of Mr. Woods, the resurgence of Steve Stricker is surely one of the most remarkable stories in pro golf over the past year. After taking a share of sixth at the CA Championship, he now has six finishes inside the top 15 this year. Stellar ball striking has carried him through this wonderful stretch, but there still remains that sleeping giant in his bag. Yep, it's the flatstick. As a historically great putter, he's been underperforming on the greens. Nevertheless, the fantastic results on the leaderboard cover up the defects. He's the top-ranked guy in the field and there's no reason he shouldn't be considered top dog. I would guess that Stricker will secure a victory as soon as he gets his rolls right. In 2007, Stricker took 11th place at the TPC Louisiana.

Late for his Tee Time: Who's playing well and ready for a breakthrough?
Steve Elling CBSSports.com Senior Writer	Ross Devonport CBSSports.com Fantasy Writer	Dan Lubin CBSSports.com Golf Producer
Stewart Cink Stewart Cink has been playing far too well for the runner-up finishes and near misses to continue forever. In fact, the only player who’s been better this year over a sustained period has been Woods. Cink has finished second to El Tigre twice this season and blew an even better chance to win three weeks ago in Tampa. Cink has been kicking himself ever since for the latter, which was a surprising collapse for a Ryder Cup-caliber player. Despite the fact that the New Orleans event has frequently been won by unheralded players, we’re sticking with the hottest and most experienced hands. Cink wants a victory so badly, he might impale himself on his belly putter if it doesn’t happen soon.	Kenny Perry Kenny Perry has made a ton of cuts this season, but really hasn't done anything special since his T3 at the Bob Hope. He also hasn’t played particularly well in this event, but his game, when it’s on, should fit this venue nicely. Of course, Perry’s Achilles' heel has always been his prowess, or lack of it, on the greens. If he can get the putts rolling this week in the Big Easy, however, he has a chance to grab his second top 10 of the season and then celebrate in style if his Western Kentucky Hiltoppers make the Elite Eight.	Ryuji Imada Imada stands 65th in the world golf rankings and probably needs a victory this week or next to get a ticket to his first Masters. So the motivation factor will be extremely high in New Orleans. He's been one of the biggest surprises so far in 2008 -- with two second-place finishes and another in fifth. Not a long hitter or an ace with the irons, Imada is getting the job done with the putter. On the 2008 PGA Tour, he ranks sixth in putting average and fifth in putts per round. In 24 rounds, his highest score has been a 75 -- the result being a scoring average of 69.76.

One in a 100: Who could surprise us with a great performance?
Steve Elling CBSSports.com Senior Writer	Ross Devonport CBSSports.com Fantasy Writer	Dan Lubin CBSSports.com Golf Producer
Padraig Harrington Finding a long shot pick is made tougher this week by the back-and-forth nature of the tournament. Because of damage associated with Hurricane Katrina, the host site has bounced back and forth the past three years, so finding dark-horse picks with an affinity for TPC Louisiana is difficult because there's been no continuity. Instead, we'll tab Padraig Harrington, who sat out last week's guaranteed-paycheck World Golf Championship event in Miami because he wants to properly gear up for the Masters in two weeks. He finished ninth and 11th in his two New Orleans starts in 2005-06.	Anthony Kim While Elling decided to steal all three of his picks from my Fantasy column, I'm going to spread the love and go with one of the best youngsters on tour, Anthony Kim, in this spot. The former Oklahoma star hasn't been playing especially well in the past few events, but he hasn't played since the Honda and has hopefully been working on the kinks in his game during the time off. He will likely have to improve his very pedestrian 65.36 GIR percentage this week if he wants to make me look like a genius with this pick, but we all know he has the talent to compete with the best when he's on his game.	Alex Cejka Cejka posted his worst round of the season (77) in the first round of last week's Puerto Rico Open. As a result, he missed his fourth cut of 2008. But despite last week's hiccup, Cejka really has been playing some good golf since the tour moved into the Florida swing. His purse has been fattened by top-10 finishes at the Honda Classic and Arnold Palmer Invitational. He's typically a good iron player, but in January and February, he began to struggle from tee to green. However, we've seen steady improvement in that department recently. Last year at the TPC Louisiana, he captured a share of eighth place thanks to some excellent putting. He ranked sixth in the field in both putting average and putts per round.

Reading the Green: Top pros seeking solace in New Orleans