The Deutsche Bank

August 31 - September 2, 2007
TPC Boston
Norton, MA
Par: 71 / Yardage: 7,207
Purse: $7 million with $1.26 million going to the winner
Defending Champion: Tiger Woods

List of Champions & Scores

Results & Scores 2006 Deutsche Bank Championship

Box Score of 2006 Deutsche Bank Championship

Tournament facts:

Tournament information:

As the tournament is usually held over Labor Day weekend, it has the distinction as being the only tournament on the PGA Tour to conclude on a Monday.

Though the event lacks history, its short stint on the PGA Tour has produced some monumental happenings. Most notably: the rivalry between Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods. In 2004, Tiger and Vijay battled down to the final hole. Ultimately, Singh's 69 was enough to give him the tournament title and the World's Number One ranking, dethroning Woods after five years of dominance.

In 2006, the rivalry was renewed, and this time, Woods was not to be denied. Singh shot a course record 61 in the third round going into the final round with a three shot lead over Woods. Despite shooting a 68 he was still a loser as Woods shot 63 to overcome the three-shot deficit and win the title.

Course information:

As players matriculate back to Boston for this year's Deutsche Bank Championship, they will be met by a totally revamped golf course. Renovated by Gil Hanse with help from Brad Faxon, this year's venue will try and challenge plays in a different way.

The most notable change in the course is its length. Down from over 7,400 yards, this year's event will play at 7,207 yards. Of the 18 holes, the three most affected holes are the 4th, the 7th, and the 16th.

The fourth hole has been changed from a sharp dogleg right to a straight-away, driveable par 4 less than 300 yards from tee to green, a hole which Hanse believes will give players many different options depending on the hole location.

Number 7 now features a large cross bunker that lies between 140 and 100 yards to the hole. The addition of the bunker will affect golfers shot selection on both their second and third shots.

The Par 3 16th hole has been altered by increasing the size of the pond between the tee and green. With the expansion of the pond, the hole will now require a more aggressive approach that will lead to either birdie or bogey.

The other significant alteration to the course is the re-sodding of almost 1.2 million square feet of land. This area cover the better part of seven holes and gives the course a more traditional and older look. It will be interesting what the players think, in previous years they have been very luke warm on the Arnold Palmer design course.

The Buzz:

All of this brings up an interesting question, how can someone continue in a playoff if he doesn't play a event? Again, this may sound weird but if the Detroit Tigers decided not to play in game 2 last year, they could of forfeited the game. That is what is happening, players like Tiger feel they can still win despite having to play in one.

Quite frankly the goal for most marquee players like Ernie Els is to make sure they are in the field for the Tour Championship and it looks like Els is safe for that. What happens if a player like a Jim Furyk feels that he can't win the FedEx Cup and is just about guaranteed a spot in the Tour Championship, there is no need for him to play in the BMW Championship next week. That is one of the problems that has to be addressed for future FedEx Cups.

Now in looking at the FedEx Cup point list for this week, only the top 18 from Sergio Garcia on can take over the lead after the Deutsche Bank. Another oddity, of the 23 players that missed the cut last week at the Barclays, they are in the top 70 of the points. Now Doug Labelle II got the last spot, 120th takes to making a five foot putt on the final hole. That was the good news, the bad news is that he is 3,924 points behind Steve Flesch who holds the 70 position. So that means that to gain that many points he will have to finish either first or second to have any shot at continuing next week at the BMW Championship. What is even sadder for LaBelle, let's just say that he wins this week and next in Chicago. If at the same time leader Steve Stricker misses the cut this week and next, LaBelle would only have a 650 point lead over Stricker, so basically the only way that LaBelle could win the FedEx Cup is winning the final three events and that wouldn't guarantee victory.

After his emotion win last week at the Barclays, you had to think that Steve Stricker was going to have one big party to celebrate the end of his 6 and a half year victory drought. Sure enough he did, flying back to Madison, Wisconsin but the party on Monday night was not a celebration of his victory but a birthday part with family and friends for his daughter Bobbi who is turning nine.

Rich Beem could of had the quote of the week after his good finish at Barclays. As he was joking about Tiger Woods and the qualities that have made him good he said, "If he wasn't in the field (Tiger), I'd be sitting in the Skyboxes just getting smashed and watching on TV," quipped Rich. "Tiger's the only guy I would literally go out and watch play golf because it's so much fun."

Here are some things to look for this week:

Photo: © Dick Durrance II/Wire Images The 18th hole of the TPC Boston, is a short par 5 with a hazard in front of the green that will create a lot of excitment.

It will be interesting to see if any of the changes made to the course will change the type of player that wins. The changes were more cosmetic in nature, with yardage taken away and the changes weren't made to toughen things up. So it will be interesting to see if long hitters will still have the advantage. Still don't rule out the short hitter, 2005 champion Olin Browne is one of the shorter hitters on tour and 2003 runner-up Rocco Mediate is also short. In the same breath it's safe to say that accuracy doesn't pay on this course. In it's four previous years, of the 46 that have finished in the top-ten, only seven have finsihed in the top-ten.

• Key stat for the winner:
  Looking at the stats from the last four year's, look for those with sharp iron games to produce the best score. Look for a smart player that doesn't attack the holes but plays placement golf to win. Of the four winners, two led the greens hit category while the other two winners were 4th and 5th ranked.
• Since the event doesn't start until Friday, players will have an extra day to get use to the course. Look for those that are starting to practice on Tuesday to rule the roost.
• The greens are 6,000 square feet, which is about average on the PGA Tour. They have a lot of undulation in them and that could be one of the reasons why winners haven't dominating the putting stats.
• There are only three par 5s on the course, still in looking at the winners Adam Scott in 2003 was 13 under par, Singh in 2004 was 9 under par, Browne in 2005 was 5 under and Woods last year was 9 under so being low on the long holes has plenty of benefits.
• Can't forget Justin Rose, he is the only player to finish in the top-30 in every Deutsche Bank. He was third in 2003 and T4th last year
• Interesting to note that Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods won the Deutsche Bank the month after taking the PGA Championship. It's also interesting to note that Deutsche Bank winners Woods, Singh and Adam Scott have also been runner-up here.
• Last but not least, look for those that have been playing well the last couple of weeks to do well this week. Of course we know that Tiger Woods has been hot, but also look at Steve Stricker, Rory Sabbatini and Phil Mickelson as possible contenders
  
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