Deutsche Bank Championship

August 29 - September 1, 2008
TPC Boston
Norton, MA
Par 71 / 7,207 yards
Purse: $7 million with $1.26 million going to the winner
Defending Champion: Phil Mickelson

List of Champions & Scores

Results & Scores 2007 Deutsche Bank Championship

Box Score of 2007 Deutsche Bank Championship

Tournament facts:

Tournament information:

As the tournament is 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.

The 2007 event is also memorable with Phil Mickelson holding off the challenge of Tiger Woods, Arron Oberholser and Brett Wetterich.

Course information:

As players matriculate back to Boston for this year's Deutsche Bank Championship, they will again be met with more changes made by Gil Hanse and Brad Faxon. Last year players saw changes to the 4th, 7th and 16th holes. This year's changes aren't as big, mostly cosmetic like mounds being added to the right side of nine. Also changes were made to the chipping areas around No. 1 and No. 10 greens. Bunkers also were altered in shape at the fourth and 11th holes. At the latter, a 230-yard par-3, and island of turf was installed in the middle of the large front-right bunker.

The changes made for the 2007 event was well received by the players, most of them liked making the 4th hole a possible drivable par 4. It's a step in the right direction because in previous years they have been very luke warm on the Arnold Palmer design course.

The Buzz:

Steve Elling in a CBS Sportsline piece brought up some very valid points on this, the best was how Kevin Streelman was just the week before 120th and fighting to save his tour card. He finished T6th at the Wyndham Championship to save his card, but as Elling reports that if Streelman could of won, he would have taken the lead in FedEx Cup points. Frankly I find that wrong and a problem with the system. Yes, Streelman should jump up the list, but leading may take it a little too far.

On the other end of the spectrum, Padraig Harrington missed the cut and went from 4th to 23rd, while Ryuji Imada also missed the cut and went from 9th down to 31st. Again the question on this, does the crime of missing the cut face such a steep lost of position?

Still the reaction was more positive that negative making this playoff very important to play well in. In a way it should be that way, whats the sense of having a playoff that rewards mediocre playing.

One negative coming out of the playoffs was the ratings, overnight rating for Saturday's third round was a 1.1, down 35% from last year's 1.7. The rating for Sunday's fourth round was a 1.8, down 14% from last year's 2.1. These are terrible numbers but honestly it's more the time slot than the play. This is the time of year for vacations and television ratings are usually down for most events this time of year. This is a very important week for defending champion Phil Mickelson. Yes he has won twice but for consistency sake it's been a terrible year. Now Mickelson is fourth in the FedEx Cup standings but he would really like to win and help salvage his year. Mickelson was able to eke out a T19th last week, mostly on the strength of a final round 68. So on a course that he has done well on he would like to win again.

Lastly we need to pass along an apology to Jason Bohn, we had some misinformation on his playing status on these pages. We found out that he was hospitalized right before the Barclays so we were dead wrong in what we said about him. Again, apologies out to Jason and hope he recovers soon. Here is some information on his plight the last couple of years.

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, changes weren't made to toughen things up. So it will be interesting to see if long hitters will still have the advantage. Last year it was Phil Mickelson, who will it be this year? 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 five previous years, of the 63 players that have finished in the top-ten in driving accuracy, only nine have been in the top-ten.

• Key stat for the winner:
  Looking at the stats from the last five 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 five winners, two led the greens hit category while the other three winners were 4th, 5th & 8th 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, Woods in 2006 was 9 under while Phil Mickelson last year was 10 under so being low on the long holes has plenty of benefits.
• 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. Can't say the same for Padraig Harrington who missed the cut in his only appearance last year.
• In conclusion, look for those that have been playing well the last couple of weeks to do well this week. Of course we know that Sergio Garcia has been hot, but also look at Kevin Streelman, Ben Curtis and Paul Casey as possible contenders.
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