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Tournament Stats:
Buick InvitationalJanuary 24 - 27, 2008
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: $5.2 million with $936,000 going to the winner
Defending Champion: 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, Brandt Snedeker, 1st round, 2007)
Individual Course records:
South Course - 62 by Tiger Woods in 3rd round, 1999North Course - 61 by Mark Brooks in 2nd round, 1990, Brandt Snedeker, 1st round, 2007
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 1980s both courses were revamped with all new greens. The South Course opened first on June 19, 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.
It's hard to believe that since the courses opened almost 50 years ago, more than 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 an old World War II camp into a golf course. When he got permission, Bell came in and covered 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 when Challenge Golf filmed one of its matches with Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Sam Snead and Doug Sanders.
A decade later, the San Diego Open was looking 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 redo all the bunkers and changed four holes, moving greens on the third, fourth, 14th and 15th holes. All of the changes 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 the highest winning score in 20 years. The revamp proved to be 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. The course was supposed to undergo renovations in the hope of being the main course for the 2008 Buick, but those plans never materialized and even with the U.S. Open in six months they will still play three rounds on the South Course with one on the North. 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. With the U.S. Open being played in six months on the same course look for many to make comparisons and if he wins this, they will ask how much harder will it be to win in June?
Also, Tiger has said that he feels a Grand Slam is very attainable. Could this be the year? Those and many other Slam questions will slam Tiger this week.
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 10 starts he hasn't finished out of the Top-10 and in seven of them he has either won, been runner-up or finished third.
So you can see why many think that with the U.S. Open being played in six months on the South Course, the engraver could be putting his name on the trophy for 2008 right now.
That is the good news. The bad new is The Buzz on Phil Mickelson this week. Hopefully he will be making his 18th Buick start in an event he has won three times and finished in the Top 4 on seven occasions. In 2000, when Woods had his six-tournament winning streak alive, Mickelson beat out Tiger to end that streak. Now fans have been waiting for this to come up again for a long time: Mickelson and Woods playing a course they both do well on and both of their games in high gear. Look at the last time they both started: Mickelson won in China in November and Woods won at the Target last month. With all of this we were wetting our whistles for a mano-a-mano battle.
Unfortunately all of this may not happen because out of the blue Phil is in bed sick with a respiratory illness. Reading about it we just wonder how after months off and not hearing a word about this that Mickelson could be this sick. We have heard that he has lost a lot of weight, some say as much as 25 pounds. A couple of years ago we heard the same thing only to wonder where the lost weight went. have heard from folks that saw Mickelson in the last month that say he looks very "thin." Who knows? Maybe the weight loss is related to his sickness.
| 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | Buick Invitational | Win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A couple of neat little stories to report. Getting a sponsor's exemption this week is Jamie Lovemark, who turns 20 on Wednesday. He was brought up down the road from Torrey Pines in Rancho Santa Fe and we feel that he will be a superstar in the future. The remarkable story is that in Lovemark's previous three PGA Tour starts he has made the cut, plus he was runner-up in a Nationwide Tour event that he lost a playoff in and as a freshman won the individual NCAA championship crown. Watching Lovemark this week is a bit like watching a 17-year-old Phil Mickelson make his first start in the 1988 Buick Invitational and we all know what happened to his career.
In the last five years, only one other player other than Tiger Woods has won the Buick Invitational. Who was he? Yes, John Daly and he is back this week. We just have to wonder what is up with him. As we documented in the GolfObserver "Buzz", Daly had a party-filled week in Palm Springs and we just hope that he can come back from it this week on courses that he won his last PGA Tour event on. He says that he has been working with Butch Harmon, who he stars in Winn Grip commercials with, and we hope to see the old John Daly back.
We may think of the Buick Invitational as a very popular venue, but
there are some marquee players that have avoided it in the past, but will
be showing up this week mainly because it's a U.S. Open venue. One of
those is Chris DiMarco, who has only played twice, the last time in 1995
when he finished T-54th. Jim Furyk is another surprising player that
doesn't play at the Buick. The last time he played at Torrey was in 2001 when he
missed the cut. His previous start was in 1994 when he once again missed the cut.
Another two-timer for the Buick is Kenny Perry, who withdrew in 1997 and
missed the cut in 1988. Lastly and very strange is the story of Mike
Weir. He has only played in the event once, back in 2001 when he finished T-5th.
So why hasn't he come back? Believe it or not, it conflicts with his ski vacation.
Here are some things to look for this week:
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The Buick Invitational is one of those gems of an event that unfortunately tends to scare away a lot of guys. Just look at the record of the top-ranked players in the world. Jim Furyk has only played here twice and missed the cut both times. Ernie Els has only played once, finished T-5th but never has been back. How about Luke Donald? In five starts he has finished five times in the Top-25, including two runner-up finishes. But he and Sergio Garcia, who has played the Buick three times, are in Qatar this week. Two of the Top 10 in the world, Adam Scott and Padraig Harrington, have never played in the tournament. So what does this all mean? It means that the Buick is a different type of tournament that takes a different type of player to win. 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, the stat that combines both distance and accuracy together. In the past couple of years the course has prided itself with heavy U.S. Open rough. That will be the case once again this year. With some good weather this winter, the course is in perfect shape. It will have a U.S. Open feel to it despite the fact that the wet greens will not be at U.S. Open speed.
- So look for a proven winner, someone who has won a major, since every Buick champion going back to 1996 has won a one. Oh, and don't look at a newcomer winning this week. The last rookie champion was in 1991 with Jay Don Blake.
- 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. If it tends to get foggy in the morning the greens will be inconsistent and drive players a bit crazy. Once again, patience will be the key here.
- Look at the list of 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, 22 of the 55 winners have either been born, raised, gone to school or live in California. An even more frightening stat is that 13 of the last 16 winners have "California ties." One important aspect of this is the fact that those players are used to putting on Poa Annua greens, which along with some bent is the grass that is on the greens at Torrey Pines
- We know how tough the South Course is, but the North Course is a walk in the park. Last year while the South Course played to a 73.033 average and was the 14th hardest on tour, the North played 4 and a half shots easier to a 68.667 average and was the easiest course on the PGA Tour last year. So look for the leader of the first round to come from the North Course. Also don't be surprised if there is a sub-60 round shot. Last year Brandt Snedeker got every one's attention when he opened up his first 10 holes on the North course in 10-under par (27 on the back nine) but could only play his next eight holes in 1 under, shooting a 61. If the weather is perfect and warm, a round of 59 could be in the cards.
- Let's talk about the weather for this week. Normally when you think of San Diego it's 72 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The myth is that San Diego gets 320 perfect days a year but for this week the weather for the other 45 days will come out. Rain is predicted everyday with Friday having the worst of it. Also it will be a stretch getting the temperatures above 60, so look for a different winner this week, possibly someone that plays good in poor weather.
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