Children's Miracle Network Classic

November 6 - 9, 2008
Disney's Magnolia & Disney's Palm Course
Lake Buena Vista, FL
Magnolia (Home Course) Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,516
Palm (1st two days) Par: 72 / Yardage: 6,9576
Purse: $4.6 million with $828,000 going to the winner
Defending Champion: Stephen Ames

List of Champions & Scores

Results & Scores 2007 Children's Miracle Network Classic

Box Score of 2007 Children's Miracle Network Classic

Tournament facts:

Tournament information:

This year, there will be 132 golfers competing in Children's Miracle Network Classic Presented by Wal-Mart. Seeing as it is the last stop on the PGA Tour's Fall Series, players are vying for a top 125 ranking, which would insure them a Tour Card for 2008.

Course information:

The Palm Course has earned much acclaim. Most notably, its ranking of 61st by Golf Digest on its 1992 list of "Top 75 Resort Courses" in the U.S. The Palms Course is the most difficult of the Joe Lee-designed Disney courses.

Diney's Magnolia Course was designed by Joe Lee in 1971. The Par 72 course plays at 7,516 yards. It features a slope rating of 73.9 and a slope rating of 140. The tees, fairways, and rough are comprised of 419 Bermuda Grass cut to 7/16", 7/16", and 2/5", respectively. The greens at the Magnolia Course are Tif Eagle Bermuda Grass cut to 1/8". This rather long cut, combined with the slower, cool-weather Bermuda Grass explains the rather low stimpmeter rating of 10.5 feet.

The Magnolia course is aptly named, as there are more than 1,500 magnolia trees lining the course. The elevated tees and greens, rolling terrain and threat of water on 10 of the 18 holes makes for a challenging round of golf. The par-3 sixth hole is the course's most notable. Its chief feature is a large bunker in the shape of Mickey Mouse.

This year, as is customary, the first and second rounds will be played on both the Palm and Magnolia courses. However, this year, the final two rounds will be played on the Magnolia course rather than the Palm.

The Buzz:

In a way this event is all about grinding it out and trying to make money that will get them into a better position for 2009. In some cases it's just getting into the top-150, so that there is some hope of playing in 2009, just in case they don't make it through Q-school next month. Then for a lot of players it's winning enough to get into the top-125 which would save them a trip to Q-school. As for others it's getting into events like Arnold Palmer's at Bay Hill or Colonial for finishing in the top-70 while for some players like Brain Gay, J.B. Holmes and Woody Austin it's finding a way to get to the Masters, if they could get into the top-30 they will book a trip to Augusta in April.

For years in the late 90s and earlier in this decade I have gone down to this event and found it an amazing opposite in feelings. Since the event is held at the Disney World resort, the notion is to go down with the kids and have a good time with Mickey and Donald Duck. So in a way it's weird to see these guys grinding it out, trying to find their games but then having the kids run up on the players during practice and begging them to forget about grinding it out and going to the park for a day of fun. It's a weird mix of opposites watching the desperate souls trying to save their careers in what Disney bill's "The happiest spot on Earth" .

As the year comes to an end one person that no matter what will think of this week as a happy spot will be Erik Compton. Just a year ago Compton's career and life was shattered with a near fatal heart attack. As this event was being played last year many thought that Compton would not survive the week, let alone be playing this week. A half a year after Compton's near fatal heart attack he was given his 2nd chance on life as he was given a 2nd heart. Five months after the transplant, Compton is back playing golf and made it through the first stage of Q-school. This week he was given an exemption into this week's event and it will be a big moment for him playing in a event a year after being in such despair on not knowing if he was going to be alive from day to day.

One last thought, this is the last of our PGA Tour previews for 2008, we will do one for the LPGA ADT Championship, but the question for you all is to give us a moment of your time and tell us what things you would like different for 2009. How can we do a better job in this space in 2009 and what things would you like for us to tell you as we think of better ways of previewing each event. So please just give me an E-mail at: Golfersal@aol.com. Thanks.

Here are some things to look for this week:

Photo: © Chris Condon/WireImage A view of the 17th green during the 2006 Walt Disney World Resort Classic at Disney's Palm Course.

A couple of years ago major changes were made to the Magnolia course, adding more than 300 years making it one of the longest courses on the PGA Tour. In looking at Shotlink data, you would never of know that the course was toughened up:

In 2007 the course played to a 71.379 average, ranked 40th toughest on tour

In 2006 the course played to a 70.058 average, ranked 48th toughest on tour

In 2005 the course played to a 69.868 average, ranked 47th toughest on tour

In 2004 the course played to a 69.953 average, ranked 47th toughest on tour

In 2003 the course played to a 70.365 average, ranked 43rd toughest on tour

In 2002 the course played to a 69.704 average, ranked 48th toughest on tour

• Key stat for the winner:
  One round is played on the easier Palm course and in the past this event has been know as a birdie fest. If you look back historically both courses are a hot bed for birdie makers as 1,687 were made during the week in 1997, 1,465 in 1998, 1,591 in 1999, 1,805 in 2000, 1,803 in 2001 and 1,916 in 2002, 1,839 in 2003, 1,929 in 2004, 1,951 in 2005, 1,894 in 2006 and 1,607 last year . If you look at the champions of the last couple of years, you can see that 11 of the last 15 winners made the most birdies during the week and except for four of last 11 winners, Lucas Glover, Duffy Waldorf, Jose Coceres and Bob Burns were ranked very high in the yearly stats for birdies made per round.

Below is a look at how many birdies the winner has made not only at Disney the year they won but on tour for that year:
Champion	# & birdies per rd - at Disney	rank per event	# & birdies per rd - for year	rank per year
2007-Stephen Ames	23 (5.75)	T1st	244 (3.01)	34th
2006-Joe Durant	26 (6.50)	T1st	366 (3.62)	18th
2005-Lucas Glover	26 (6.50)	T2nd	316 (3.16)	T65th
2004-Ryan Palmer	24 (6.00)	T3rd	386 (3.86)	18th
2003-Vijay Singh	26(6.50)	1st	450 (4.41)	1st
2002-Bob Burns	28 (7.00)	1st	348 (3.63)	94th
2001-Jose Coceres	25 (6.25)	1st	204 (3.58)	106th
2000-Duffy Waldorf	30 (7.50)	1st	271 (3.61)	61st
1999-Tiger Woods	22(5.50)	2nd	317 (4.46)	1st
1998-John Huston	21(5.25)	1st	354(3.98)	3rd
1997-David Duval	27(6.75)	1st	401(4.09)	3rd
1996-Tiger Woods	23(5.75)	T-1st	185 (4.51)	not ranked
1995-Brad Bryant	15(5.00)	T-18th	353(3.72)	14th
1994-Rick Fehr	23(5.75)	T-1st	276(3.58)	T-30th
1993-Jeff Maggert	25(6.25)	1st	337(3.74)	9th

• Being a hot putter this week will be important or you'll be setting your sights for the Magic Kingdom and the rest of the Disney attractions, as you will most assuredly miss the cut. The last seven of eigh champions of the Children's Miracle Network Classic have posted scores between 22 and 26 under.
• So as you can see the favorite to win this year is one that makes lots of birdies. So in making your choice look at this chart of the leading birdie leaders this year.
• Another key is to look for players that do well on courses with Bermudagrass and those with patience. The patience part is because the first 36 holes will be played with amateurs in the pro-am portion.
• The Rookie factor. Look at some of the winners in the last decade. Lucas Glover, Ryan Palmer, Bob Burns, Brad Bryant, Rick Fehr and Jeff Maggert were all rookie winners. So don’t disregard a player just because he hasn’t won. Also Palmer was making his first start at Disney in 2004 so don’t disregard the 25 players that are making there first Disney start this week.
• Weather is suppose to be picture perfect for the week, Orlando has had very little rain the last couple of weeks. So look for long hitters to do well this week on dry, firm fairways.
• Another thing to watch is the battle to get into the top-30 of the money list, to get into the Masters and the race into the top-125 to keep tour cards for 2009.
  In the past a lot of players were forced to play in this event and bring their family's. A lot of the regulars aren't here and yes family's are present, but with this being the last event of the year a lot more pressure is on the players.
  Most of the field are in the race for the top-125. Of the 132 in the field, 63 of them are ranked between 110 and 170th on the money list.
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