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Tournament Stats:
Buick InvitationalJanuary 25 - 28, 2007
Torrey Pines Golf Course
La Jolla, California
Two courses used:
South Course (Home Course) Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,208
North Course; Par 72 / Yardage: 6,874
Purse: $5.1 million with $918,000 going to the winner
Defending Champions: Tiger Woods
List of Champions & Scores
Results & Scores of 2007 Buick
Box Score of 2007 Buick
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:266 (George Burns, 1987, Tiger Woods in 1999)
54-Hole Record:
198 (Woody Blackburn in 1985)
36-Hole Record:
129 (Lennie Clements in 1996, Tom Lehman in 2005)
Low round of tournament:
61 (Mark Brooks, 2nd round, 1990)
Individual Course records:
South Course - 62 by Tiger Woods in 3rd round, 1999North Course - 61 by Mark Brooks in 2nd round, 1990
Tournament information:
The first two rounds are played on the South and North courses at Torrey Pines. After the 36 hole cut the final rounds are played on the South course. This will be the 54th Buick Invitational, which started in 1952 as the San Diego Open.Torrey Pines has been the main site of the tournament since 1968, when the tournament was renamed the Andy Williams-San Diego Open. Williams was a part of the tournament until 1988. In 1992 Buick took over sponsorship of the tournament.
Course information:
Both courses were designed by Billy Bell Jr. and opened in 1957. In the 80s both courses were revamped with all new greens with the work done by the city. The south course opened first on June 19th, with Paul Runyan, Ralph Duldahl, Olin Dutra and a local pro, Don Gollett the first to play it. Five months later the North Course opened. Hard to believe that since the courses opened almost 50 years ago, over 11 million rounds have been played on both courses.
The course was the brainchild of Leo Calland, then director of San Diego's park and recreation department. He pushed hard to change a old World War II camp into a golf course. When he got permission, Bell came in and covered over the blacktop and was able to use the excess concrete to achieve rolling fairways on what was a flat site. The lure of both courses after they opened was the views of the ocean on every hole. Both courses sit atop of bluffs overlooking the Pacific and these views were seen a couple years later nationally when Challenge Golf filmed one of there matches with Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Sam Snead and Doug Sanders.
A decade later, the San Diego Open was looking around for a home. Since the tournament was first played in 1952 it never really found a home. It was played on several different courses but in 1968 it was about to embark on a big change. It decided to copy several west coast tournaments by getting a headline celebrity to host the event and got Andy Williams who at the time was one of the biggest stars on television with a weekly show. They also needed financial support and asked the city for the use of Torrey Pines free of charge. It was a match made in heaven. The course proved very popular not only with the pros but the TV audience that watched it.
Since then Torrey Pines has been the home of the tournament, even though every year rumblings are heard that it is may be replaced with a TPC course. After the 2001 Buick the South course went through an extensive revamping process. With the chance of getting the 2008 U.S. Open, $3.3 million was spent with Rees Jones adding a lot of length to the course. Now the course can stretch to 7,607 yards although the Buick Invitational will play to a yardage of 7,208 yards. Even though Jones didn't change the routing of the course he did change redo all the bunkers and changed four holes moving greens on the third, fourth, fourteen and fifteen holes. With all of the changes it brought some bite back to a course which 20 years ago was considered very difficult by the touring professionals. Average scores were up almost two shots compared to past years and the winning score of 275 was along with two other years the highest winning score in 20 years. The revamp proved such a big success with the players, media and fans that the USGA has given the 2008 U.S. Open to Torrey Pines.
The North Course is two shots easier than the South but in some people's minds the North is more Scenic. There's a reason the par-3 sixth is still the most photographed hole at Torrey, and the red sandstone cliffs on the northern edge provide as much beauty as anything else. Now the course was suppose to undergo renovations in the hope of being the main course for the 2008 Buick, but those plans have been delayed and it looks like even with the U.S. Open being played on the South Course next year the Buick will still retain the use of the South Course for three rounds in '08. For a more comprehensive look at the course, look at this map of the South Course.
The Buzz:
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Of course the buzz is the return of Tiger Woods. Yes he played and won just last month in the Target but this is an official PGA Tour event. Look for some questions on weather Woods streak should be still alive. Tiger himself has said that it ended in China back in November when he didn't win.
Also feel that many will be asking about the baby in which Tiger has yet to say when it's coming. The big question will be if it is coming in between the U.S. Open and the British Open, instead of it coming the week of the U.S. Open.
It's really remarkable how well Tiger plays in his first event of the year (as the chart below shows). It's also remarkable how well Tiger Woods plays in the Buick Invitational in nine starts he hasn't finished out of the top-ten and in six of them he has either won, been runner-up or finished 3rd.
With the U.S. Open being played in 16 months on the South Course of Torrey Pines you would have to think that the engraver could be putting his name on the trophy for 2008.
More buzz this week will be by Phil Mickelson, who in 17 Buick starts has won three times and finished in the top-four, seven times. In 2000 when Woods had his six straight streak alive Mickelson beat out Tiger to end that streak.
More importantly for Mickelson we will get a taste of how Phil will play in 2007. His first start last week at the Hope was dismal as he finished T45th with a final round 78 in high winds. In 14 previous seasons as a pro, Mickelson has won 10 times on the West Coast swing with 13 of his 29 wins coming during this stretch. So if he doesn't win you can bet there will be talk about Phil's problems on the Florida swing.
| How Tiger has done in his yearly PGA Tour debuts: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Tournament | Finish | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Mercedes | Win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998 | Mercedes | T2nd | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999 | Mercedes | T5th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000 | Mercedes | Win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | Mercedes | T8th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2002 | Mercedes | T10th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | Buick Invitational | Win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Mercedes | T4th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | Mercedes | T3rd | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Buick Invitational | Win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Two other stories dealing with this event and the local angle. Charley Hoffman returns home after his Bob Hope victory and it couldn't of come at a better time. The Buick Invitational was the site of his first PGA Tour start in 1994 as a 16-year-old kid who got in. Now in nine Buick starts he has missed the cut six times and last year's T16th finish makes me feel like this event and Torrey Pines may not be his cup of tea.
Lastly we could be seeing one of the future stars in golf as 19-year-old Jamie Lovemark. A freshman at USC Lovemark got into the tournament in Monday qualifying. This isn't his first PGA Tour start, Lovemark played in last year's Western Open and finished T54th. He just turned 19 on Tuesday and has won not only the Western Junior but the Western Amateur and as a freshman playing in first collegiate tournament help USC win the Inverness Intercollegiate Invitational. Lovemark was the low Trojan finishing 3rd. Who knows we could be watching the future of golf right here almost like we did in 1988 when we saw 17 year-old Phil Mickelson for the first time in the Buick Invitational.
Here are some things to look for this week:
The Buick Invitational is one of those gems of an event that unfortunely tends to scare away a lot of guys. Just look at the record, of the top world ranked players Jim Furyk has only played her twice and missed the cut both times. Ernie Els has only played once, finished T5th but never has been back. Him and Sergio Garcia who has played the Buick three times are in Qatar this week. Three of the top-ten in the world, Adam Scott, Padraig Harrington and Retief Goosen have never played in the tournament. The biggest disappoint has to be Luke Donald, who in five starts has been runner-up twice. So what does this all mean? That the Buick is a different type of tournament that takes a different type of player to win on.
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Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the Buick Invitational:
- The course can be stretched to over 7,600 yards but with all the wet weather it will be set at 7,208. Driving will play an important role this week. Look for those that do well in total driving stat, the one that combines both distance and accuracy together. In the past couple of years the course has pride itself with heavy U.S. Open rough. That was the plan for this year until Mother Nature paid a visit in which the San Diego area saw a week of below freezing weather. With that the rough which last year was U.S. Open in toughness is now very spotty and 2 inches. So with that look for a lot lower scores with bombers being able to let loose this week.
- Course was revamped and toughen and now that it's going to hold the 2008 U.S. Open on it has a "major feel" to it. So look for a proven winner, someone who has won a major since the last 11 champions have won a major.
- Greens that will be classified as "bumpy" may play a role in determining the champion. Even though the South greens were redone in 2001, Poa Annua have crept back in to almost 90% of the area of the greens. With that if it tends to get foggy in the morning the greens will be inconsistent and drive players a bit crazy. Again, patience will be the key here.
- Look at the champions shows that scramblers have done very well in this event. Look for the player that is able to get it up and down to win.
- Look for a winner with ties to California, 21 of the 54 winners have either been born, raised, gone to school or live in California. An even frightening stat, 12 of the last 15 winners have "California ties". One important aspect of this is the fact that those players are use to putting on Poa Annua greens, which along with some bent is the grass that is on the greens at Torrey Pines
- Last week's winner Charley Hoffman was a rarity in which he was only the fourth champion in Bob Hope history to win his first event on that course. In the history of the Buick, 13 can make this claim including Phil Mickelson in 1992. The only thing Mickelson was the last to make Buick their first win, everybody since has been season pros. Look for a winner with ties to California, 21 of the 54 winners have either been born, raised, gone to school or live in California. An even frightening stat, 12 of the last 15 winners have "California ties". One important aspect of this is the fact that those players are use to putting on Poa Annua greens, which along with some bent is the grass that is on the greens at Torrey Pines
