Children's Miracle Network Classic

November 11 - 14, 2010
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: 6,957
Purse: $4.7 million with $846,000 going to the winner
Defending Champion: Stephen Ames

List of Champions & Scores

Results & Scores 2009 Children's Miracle Network Classic

Box Score of 2009 Children's Miracle Network Classic

Tournament facts:

Tournament information:

This year, there will be 128 golfers competing in Children's Miracle Network Classic. 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 2011. Also important is the race to get into the top 150 of the money list, without being at least in the top-150 you have no chance to play in 2010 unless you get in through Q-school or weekly Monday qualifying.

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. The final two rounds will be played on the Magnolia course.

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 2011. In some cases it's just getting into the top-150, so that there is some hope of playing in 2011, 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 likeHeath Slocum (30th), J.B. Holmes (32nd), Brendon de Jonge (34th) and Jason Bohn (40th) 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.

Here is a look at who is sweating it out to get into the top-125, the link shows their record for the year:
120. Joe Durant, $770,425
121. Troy Merritt, $760,798
122. Robert Garrigus, $737,275
123. Woody Austin, $727,352
124. Michael Allen, $726,631
125. Troy Matteson, $723,328
126. Briny Baird, $710,337
127. Aron Price, $704,102
128. Bob Estes, $701,158
129. Michael Connell, $694,884

A couple of interesting stories. First look at who is 124, Michael Allen. Yes he is the guy that just finished 2nd at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, yes he is the guy that won last year's Senior PGA Championship and this guy still wants to go through the grind on the PGA Tour?
Is this guy crazy?
This year alone he has made just under $1.2 million on the Champions Tour, playing in 14 events and finishing 2nd three times and he still wants to play on the PGA Tour? Sorry this guy needs to get his head examined what, will he go back to Q-School if he doesn't finish in the top-125?.

Talking about Q-school the field has every player from 117th to 160th entered except for Nathan Green, who won the Canadian Open last year and is exempt next year, he is playing in Australia. Henrik Stenson, who is 130th on the money list and is exempt through 2014 because of winning the Players and Mike Weir, who has elbow problems and will get a major medical extension for 2011. One last thing, many may not realize it but the really important number is 150. Yes, 125 is the cutoff for a Tour card, but those between 126 and 150th get limited privileges on tour. But if you are below 151, you get nothing, those in that list won't be able to play on the PGA Tour in 2011 unless they qualify at Q-School or Monday qualify.

The other great story is Troy Merritt who is 121st on the money list and will be fighting for his tour card for next year, he has to make the cut. But at the same time he will have to play the 17th hole great. That is the Kodak Challenge hole, hey who really cares about this money grabbing contest, but it's the culmination of the year long challenge and Merritt leads the contest by one over Aaron Baddeley and Rickie Fowler. Both of those players changed there plans for this week, Baddeley was suppose to play in the Australian Masters while Fowler was going to have the week off. But both are in the Disney field so I guess this contest will get some coverage this week. Oh, the 17th hole is being used and since this event is played on two courses it means only three shots at the hole instead of four. For years in the late 90s and earlier 2000s 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" .

Funny last year we wrote on how bad the Orlando Sentinel had gotten in reporting golf. As I pointed out, since the city had more PGA Tour players living there than any other region, I felt that they had a responsibility in covering golf better. Someone at the paper must of agreed with me as they hired Jeff Shain and the paper is again on top in covering golf news. This week we can already see the increase coverage and many around the world are enjoying it.

One last thought, this is the last of our PGA Tour previews for 2011, the question for you all is to give us a moment of your time and tell us what things you would like different for 2011. How can we do a better job in this space in 2010 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 2009 the course played to a 70.952 average, ranked 35th toughest on tour
In 2008 the course played to a 70.378 average, ranked 49th toughest on tour
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, 1,607 in 2007, 1,650 in 2008 and 1,533 last year. If you look at the champions of the last couple of years, you can see that 12 of the last 17 winners made the most birdies during the week and except for five of last 12 winners, Davis Love III, Lucas Glover, Duffy Waldorf, Jose Coceres and Bob Burns were ranked very high in the yearly stats for birdies made per round. Last year Stephen Ames made the most birdies in the field with 26.

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
2009-Stephen Ames	26 (6.50)	1st	305 (4.07)	5th
2008-Davis Love III	24 (6.00)	T3rd	261 (3.35)	106th
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 eight of ten champions of the Children's Miracle Network Classic have posted scores between 22 and 26 under. Last year Ames was 18 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 16 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 2010.
  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.
  
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