It's the Playoffs, and if you're not pumped for this, then you have no soul.  I'm kidding, but the Playoffs are why we watch any sport, and even though it's just in its second year, and there's no Tiger; we're looking at the same thing.  This year, The Barclays moves from it's traditional Westchester Country Club to Ridgewood in Paramus, NJ (kind of like the Jets and Giants).  Ridgewood provides its own challenges; but it's far from an impossible course.  Greens are measuring a pretty pedestrian 11.5 on the stimpmeter, so the good putters should be REALLY good this week.  At 7,300+ yds (7,304 to be exact), this is one of those exclusionary courses to the lesser hitters.  They're just not going to keep up, and they'll probably struggle.  For the bigger hitters; a lot of the length is in the Par-5s, which are kind of downhill and should still be reachable.  There are also some drivable Par-4s, which should prove to be interesting strategy-wise as well.  The best putters, as long as they're big hitters that is, should play pretty well, and I expect scores to be low (not as low as last week, but I'd guess the winner should be in the mid-teens somewhere).  Anyway, let's get to it ... it's the Playoffs!  And here are my picks for this week:

Start

Padraig Harrington - A Group - Go ahead, you pick against him.  He's only won his last two tournaments; a couple of them called the British Open and the PGA Championship.  He's had a week off to rest his wrist (that hasn't seemed to bother him at all) and he's going to play a course that should favor him.  No golfer is going to have "home course advantage" here, so that won't be an issue.  Harrington's been hitting it long and straight and has been putting amazingly over the last two months.  In fact, Harrington's PGA Stats (a pretty small sample size) are actually quite good.  He's 38th in Driving Distance, so he's more than long enough.  He's 3rd in Putting Average and 4th in Putts Per Round.  If he continues that he should dominate.  He's 20th in Sand Saves and 10th in All-Around Ranking, which puts him right at the top of this select group.  I also think he's buying into his press clippings a bit.  Normally, this is a bad thing; but in this case, Harrington is a far more confident player.  I think that will serve him well throughout the playoffs.  I'm not going to pick against him, that's for sure.

Anthony Kim - B Group - Sure, he's struggled a bit over the last month; but even he will tell you he's played way two much and he's exhausted, and it's shown in his golf swing.  However, with the week off; I think that Kim will be rested and ready to go for the playoffs.  He's certainly got the skills to get it done, by the numbers.  He's 13th in Driving Distance, 79th in GIR, 45th in Putting Average, 48th in Putts Per Round and 8th in All-Around Ranking.  That should be good enough to win, or at least contend and not lose contact with the points leader.  Assuming Kim is rested and healthy, there's no reason to think he's not going to do some damage this week.

Freddy "Boom Boom" Couples - C Group - Take note that this is the first time I have picked against Kenny Perry in a long time.  I don't know if he's tired or intimidated or what; but Perry has not been competitive against top-flight competition, and hasn't finished well in a couple of months.  Now Couples is an interesting story; he hasn't played a full schedule by any means, and should have more than enough left in the tank.  You know he's a big hitter (22nd in Driving Distance) so you know he won't be left out.  He's also 55th in GIR.  The fact that these greens aren't impossible to putt on should help Couples, and I expect him to finish well enough to jump up in the standings.

Sit

Sergio Garcia - A Group - The only Northeast U.S. course that Garcia has done well on was Beth Page back in 2000.  When you can't putt, you can't win; and to be brutally honest, Sergio Garcia cannot putt.  It's why he'll never win a Major Tournament.  In fact, it's why he can't win a tournament unless he's got a four or five shot lead going into Sunday.  You don't believe me that he can't putt?  He's 173rd in Putting Average and 183rd in Putts Per Round.  Even Vijay Singh putts better than that.  He's got all the talent in the World, but he can't do the one thing in this game that you have to do to succeed.  That's putt.  He won't win.

Paul Casey - B Group - Don't buy this hype either folks.  A T-7th at the British apparently anoints you as the second coming nowadays.  The facts are, he's dropped from 15th in the OWGR in 2006 to 37th this year.  When you're dealing with the higher rankings; that's a HUGE drop.  He's 19th in Driving Distance and 57th in GIR; but you thought Sergio couldn't putt?  He's 210th in Putting Average and 209th in Putts Per Round.  And this guy has been an "expert pick" the last couple of months in some unnamed really popular golf information sites?  Pass on Casey, no matter what these guys tell you.  Until he starts draining 10-foot putts; there's no cause for excitement here.

Corey Pavin - C Group - When you're 209th in Driving Distance, AND you've struggled over the last three months, it's "take a pass" time.  Folks?  It's "take a pass" time with Pavin.