FROM THE SPORTS DESK:Steal of the draft, also known as Jay Haas

If you’re wondering, yes, this is the first Toshiba Classic I’ve covered since I’ve been at the Daily Pilot.

It’s been fun, but I wanted to add a bit more entertainment. Just to be sure, it’s not gambling.

Four of us at the Pilot, are playing in a fantasy tournament based on the Toshiba Classic. We’re not playing for money. We’re playing for pride, and rest assured if I win, I will let them know about it.

I already let them know that they made a big mistake letting Jay Haas fall to me in the second round, the seventh pick overall. Seventh!

This is a guy who won the Charles Schwab Cup and now he’s second on the list, just behind Loren Roberts, who was taken first by sports writer Dominic Perrone.

You can’t argue with that pick. Roberts is hot right now. He’s had 29 consecutive roundsd of par or better entering today’s Toshiba Classic. If he somehow puts together three more this week, he’ll equal Larry Nelson’s all-time Champions Tour mark of 32 in a row.

After Perrone took Roberts, I selected two-time Toshiba winner and Hall-of-Fame golfer Hale Irwin. I was seriously thinking to take Jay Haas, but Irwin is just too good at the Newport Beach Country Club.

He has six top-10 finishes in the event, and we are playing for points coming from those type of finishes. Pilot Publisher Tom Johnson took Mark O’Meara with his first pick and looking back on the draft that was probably the best pick. If I was forced to make a prediction, I would pick him.

Tony Dodero, our managing editor, took Peter Jacobsen to cap our first round. Somehow Haas was still slipping. Allen Doyle, Bobby Wadkins went and I thought, thank you very much.

I was a bit disappointed Perrone took Brad Bryant with the final pick in the second round. It’s hard not to like the guy. Yeah, he won last year’s Toshiba Classic, but other than that he’s really down to earth. I’ll most likely forever know him as the pro who offered to get me orange juice when I first met him at a press conference.

Perrone also had the pleasure of taking our Mr. Irrelevant, the final pick was Mike Reid.

Here are the teams:

Dominic Perrone -- Loren Roberts, Brad Bryant, Mark Johnson, D.A. Wieberg, John Harris, Vicente Fernandez, Eduardo Romero, David Eger, R.W. Eaks and Mike Reid.

Steve Virgen (Pilot Posse) -- Hale Irwin, Jay Haas, Tom Purtzer, Tom Kite, Chip Beck, Dave Stockton, Fuzzy Zoeller, Graham Marsh, Dana Quigley and Kenny Knox.

Tom Johnson -- Mark O’Meara, Bobby Wadkins, Curtis Strange, Scott Hoch, Scott Simpson, Morris Hatalsky, Massy Kuramoto, Walter Hall, Wayne Levi and Jerry Pate.

Tony Dodero -- Peter Jacobsen, Allen Doyle, Tom Watson, Andy Bean, Craig Stadler, Ben Crenshaw, Larry Nelson, Lanny Wadkins, Jim Colbert and Jack Renner.

The point system is a bit complicated, but here’s a glimpse. The owner of the Toshiba champ gets 75 points. Second place? No one remembers second place. That guy gets 40 points.

STEVE VIRGEN is the Sports Editor of the Daily Pilot. He can be reached at (714) 966-4616 or via e-mail at [email protected].