Fantasy Golf Meets Personal Equity: Stock Picks for PGA Pros

1. Phil Mickelson

Lefty is probably the gutsiest player on tour, constantly betting on bucking the odds and unleashing brazen shots—golf equivalents of football’s Hail Mary pass.

Stock Pick: The bubbling M&A activity in biotech makes risk- takers salivate. Still, negative clinical data can sink a particular ship faster than you can say titanic, so we’re sticking a basket of disease-curing darlings in Mickelson’s bag, gifting him the iShares Biotechnology ETF (Nasdaq: IBB).

2. Padraig Harrington

Paddy always seems to be mulling the consequences of a miss whenever he’s confronted with a decision that could be potentially birdielicious if all goes according to plan and perilous to his score if the slightest of errors is made.

Stock Pick: Colgate Palmolive (NYSE: CL). This squeaky-clean and steady Eddie is right up Paddy’s alley. Bonus: Their brand stable includes Irish Spring.

3. Vijay Singh

This veteran’s maturity, meticulous shot prep and consistent course management brilliance helped Singh cruise to FedEx Cup victory back in 2008. The big Fijian locked up the PGA’s $10 million playoff prize by winning back-to-back events. This was on the heels of topping the money list for the third time in his illustrious career. In 2010 at 47 Singh's sweet swing is still intact and he made a not too shabby 17 cuts.

Stock Pick: As he’s patience enough to wait until the next big banking boom, so I'm gilding Vijay’s coffers with U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

An abbreviated version of the above story of mine was first published in Golf Canada magazine.