A look at the competition from our analysts at LCSN (Losers Club Sports Network):

 Les BD Copson: Summer-Spectacular or Wash-Out Central?  It doesn’t matter how many times BD changes the forecast, one thing is for sure and that is the BD will be atop the leader board.  Obviously BD’s mental game was not there last year, as he was rattled from the first shot and just never found his stroke off the tee.  Unfortunately, BD is dangerously close to earning the title of the “Greatest Player to Never Win a Championship”.  We expect the BD to give it his all this year, but we’re predicting once again that he will fall short for his bid to win his first TF Championship. 

 Constantino Rocca:  Roxie’s odds in Vegas continue to plummet as a recent wedding proposal has really hurt his stock.  Can he realistically go through the rigorous tourney preparation so soon after making one of the biggest decisions of his life?  We were looking for a breakout putting performance from Roxie last year and expected even more from him this year.  However, with his head up on cloud nine and with “guest lists and color schemes” taking precedence over “lagers and links”, we look for Roxie’s partner to really have his work cut out for him.

 Larry “the legend” Ligenza: Our scouts have had a hard time catching LL on the links, but we’ve received some credible information that he has a new nickname, “Triple”.  Our analysts have not placed high expectations on the Legend in TFIV.  Too much, too fast is never a good thing at the Tournament of Champions.  A wife and kid in the same year is trouble in this game, as we saw with TF founder Twig Boliski, who has since given up the game after taking the plunge 2 years ago.  However there is hope, as both Zip and Bubba last year became the first champions to have live-in nans.

 BZer Zielinski: Still waiting for a break out year for the BZer, he bursted onto the tour 2 years ago with some HEAVY expectations and has had a hard time living up to them.  It’s the classic “has all the potential, but injuries seem to always get in the way” story.  A bad wheel last year knocked him out of contention in TFIII.  Our scouts say the BZer is as healthy as he’s ever been but with 2 weeks until tourney time and the way he tends to work on the lawn/house, we still see opportunity for injury leading up to the tourney.  Our analysts are predicting that a healthy BZer will bring home the championship.

 Bubba Barbarini: All we can come up with here is the “sophomore jinx”.  To come out of his first tournament with the Championship Plague, what more can be expected?   We think Bubz can handle the pressure, the alcohol and the course.  We just wonder who will win the battle of the back?   I’m not talking about the back 9, I’m talking about disc #9.  Throughout the off-season, Bubz has been scheduling appointments with the top back specialists in the country.  Without any answers to date, will Bubba have the mental game to put aside the pain and bring the magic back to TFIV?

 Zip Zielinski: In last year’s commentary we said “Anything less than a championship will just be a MAJOR disappointment.”  Zipper came through for us and we think he’ll be back this year as a more relaxed player and even tougher to beat.  However, with the early tourney this year, Zipper’s Boston life-style along with the rain, have left him little time to prepare for his title defense.  We’re calling for the Zipper to fall short of a repeat this year, as the short game just won’t get it done on such short notice.

 Miker Montross: We called this one perfect last year, we said MM would get a shot at the finals and fail and that’s exactly what happened.  Our analyst feel that MM’s “I lost my club on 16, I‘ll go find it while Esta rattles Zip/Bubz” may have actually cost him the tournament.  After winning 3 straight holes, we feel it was an outright blunder to give Zip/Bubz the time they needed to regroup.  However, as we get back to the early date of the tournament AND as noted in the Vegas odds, MM is the clear favorite to take the Championship home.  Our analysts have MM’s team winning outright over the defending champs by 1 stroke (A BZer/MM team is LCSN’s tourney pick)

 Esta Carrier: Unfortunately our scouts have no concrete information on the Big Popper.  What we do know is Carrier has joined a weekly golf league, has been seen on the course on the weekends and has also talked about picking up a new set of clubs.  Quite a big change from the Old Driving Range Pro we used to know.  We still think Esta needs to develop his mental game by adding some patience to his game while re-working his hockey style slap-shot swing.  We feel Esta can make a run at a second championship with his hot putting if he can hook up with an even hotter tee-to-green player.