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Tournament Stats:
WGC - CA Championship
March 22 - 25, 2007
Doral Golf Resort & Spa (Blue Monster Course)
Miami, Florida
Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,266
Purse: $8 million with $1.44 million going to the winner
Defending Champions: Tiger Woods
There was no WGC-CA Championship played in 2001 due to 9/11 tragedy.
This is a weird week because the WGC -CA Championship moves to Doral, which for 45 years held an annual PGA Tour event. So all of our stats will reflect both history of the WGC-CA Championship, which last year was the WGC-American Express and the Ford Championship at Doral.
List of Champions & Scores
Results & Scores 2006 WGC-CA Championship
Box Score of 2006 WGC-CA Championship
Results & Scores 2006 Ford Championship at Doral
Box Score of 2006 Ford Championship at Doral
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record for WGC CA Championship:261 (Tiger Woods in 2006 at The Grove)
54-Hole Record:
194 (Tiger Woods in 2006 at The Grove)
36-Hole Record:
127 (Tiger Woods in 2006 at The Grove)
Low round of tournament:
62 (Retief Goosen, 4th round & Sergio Garcia, 4th round both in 2002 at Mount Juliet)
Tournament Record for Ford Championship at Doral:
264 (Tiger Woods in 2005)
54-Hole Record:
195 (Greg Norman in 1993)
36-Hole Record:
129 (Franklin Langham in 2000)
Low round of tournament:
61 (Stephen Ames in 2nd round, 2000)
Tournament information:
The 2nd World Golf Championship held in 2007, the WCG-CA championship will be a 72-hole, stroke-play event with a limited field of around 70 players. It will include the top-50 players in the World Golf Ranking plus the top-30 from the PGA Tour money list not otherwise exempt (They have to be in the top 100 of the world Ranking). This year for the first time the top-10 of the FedEx Cup points got in. Also the top 20 from the 2006 PGA European Tour Volvo ranking not otherwise exempt (again the players have to be in the top 100 of the world ranking) will be included along with the top-10 of this year's list. Also given spots are the top three for the Australasian Tour order of merit and the Japanese PGA Tour money list and the top two from the Southern Africa PGA Tour order of merit that aren't in the tournament. There will be no cut in the 72-hole event, which has a $8 million purse with the winner receiving $1.44 million. In the past the tournament has travelled around the world, this year and for the next four years the tournament will be held at Doral Resort outside of Miami. Doral has been the site of the Ford Championship of Doral since 1962 and now will be the home of the WGC-CA Championship.Course information:
Doral was designed by Dick Wilson, with some help from Robert Von Hagge and was opened in 1962. After the 1996 tournament, Doral officials closed the course and commissioned Raymond Floyd to add 186 yards, put in an additional 18 bunkers, change the grass of the rough from Rye to Bermuda and change the banks around the greens. In total Doral spent $3.5 million in those changes. After the 2000 tournament, officials spent some more money, this time on the bunkering of the course. In total 91 bunkers were redesigned with 10 bunkers being completely eliminated. After all the work was done, only 10 bunkers were left unchanged. In 2003 the course was lengthen by 166 yards.Again, Doral has gone through some more changes for this year's event. The greens were renovated with TifEagle in a hope of making them firmer and faster. This grass also doesn't hold water as well so if it rains, the greens should stay firm.
The average green size at the Doral is 6,500 square feet, which is a little over the average on the PGA Tour. Course has 108 bunkers and water comes into play on nine of the 18 holes. For a more comprehensive look at the course, look at this Course Overview done by PGA Tour.Com
The Buzz:
Two weeks before the Masters and the PGA Tour moves to Doral. Usually Doral is played as the first Florida swing event but with Ford dropping sponsorship last year and a course being needed for the WGC-CA Championship this was a perfect match. It now is the fourth Florida swing event.
| The Blue Monster losing it's "bite" over the years | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Scoring Average | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 - 1965 | 74.74 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1966 - 1970 | 73.28 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1971 - 1975 | 72.94 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1976 - 1980 | 73.28 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1981 - 1985 | 72.77 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1986 - 1990 | 72.49 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990 - 1995 | 72.07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996 - 1999 | 73.09 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000 - 2006 | 71.18 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Injuries are making news this week as Justin Rose withdrew because of back problems. Rose hasn't played since the Accenture, he withdrew for the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week. While Rose won't play one that will after getting a clean bill of health is Jim Furyk. He had soreness in his left wrist, when underwent surgery three years ago. But after taking last week off, he feels that everything is fine.
| Masters Bubble boys: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Rank/Player | Bay Hill finish | Playing at Doral | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 51. John Rollins | T5th | Yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 52. Johan Edfors*** | T28th | Yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 53. John Senden | DNP | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 54. Vaughn Taylor*** | 3rd | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 55. Lee Westwood*** | DNP | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 56. Shaun Micheel*** | T12th | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 57. Charl Schwartzel | DNP | Yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 58. Thomas Bjorn*** | DNP | Yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 59. Ben Crane*** | DNP | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 60. Mark Calcavecchia | T28th | Yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ***Already in Masters field | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finally this is the last chance for players to get into the top-50 of either the money list or the world rankings, which would get them a last minute invite to the Masters. Only problem, since this week and last were limited field events a John Senden didn't have a chance of getting into the Masters because he couldn't play in the last two events. Another example of this was brought up in a Doug Ferguson's column on Tom Lehman. But there is the other side of this issue. South African Charl Schwartzel will be playing this week in Doral in part because he was on top on the South African Sunshine Tour money which ended last month. With that he has gotten into the WGC-CA Championship and being 57th on the World rankings if he has a top-ten this week would give him enough ranking points to climb into the top-50 and get a last minute Masters invite.
Here are some things to look for this week:
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Tour finally gets the Doral, which has been nicknamed the "Blue Monster". Be interesting to see if that name holds up this week, as winds aren't in the long range forcast. That has been the problem in this event over the years, lack of win bring scores down and that has happened.
It will also be interesting to see what effects the new TifEagle greens will have on scoring. This type of grass holds up better in the heat of Flordia and helps keep the putting surface firmer, if the course gets limited rain and plays fast that could help higher scores. Another factor that could higher scores is the famous "Blue Monster" rough. Even though it's only two to three inches high, this rough is unforgiving as balls nestle down into it and make it very hard to get it out and control the flight and spin of the ball. Here are some of the secrets that it will take to play well this week at the Pods Championship:
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Key stat for the winner:
Solid shotmakers since Doral demands ball control especially if there is any wind. In the last nine years, seven of the winners have been in the top four in greens hit with four of them including last year's Ford champion Tiger Woods were first in this stat. - Unimportant stat: Those that play well not only in Florida but on Bermuda grasses will do well this week. Interesting to note that since 1990 all the winners except for 1997 & '99 champion Steve Elkington either grew up in Florida or live there. Now for Elkington you have to give him a pass since he grew up in Australia with Bermuda grass.
- Interesting point is that since 1983 every winner except for Rocco Mediate and Bill Glasson were over 29 years old with three winners in there 40s. The average age of the 15 winners is 35 years old.
- Par 5s aren't a push over but have been conquered by the champions at Doral. Since 1997 they have averaged playing them in 9 under par.
- Don't be surprised to see a non-american winner this week. Between 1962 and 1989 no international player won at Doral but since then 8 of the 17 have been international winners.
