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Tournament Stats:
Transitions ChampionshipMarch 18 - 21, 2010
Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead Course)
Palm Harbour, Fla.
Par: 71 / Yardage: 7,340
Purse: $5.4 million with $972,000 going to the winner
Defending Champions: Retief Goosen
List of Champions & Scores
Results & Scores of 2009 Transitions Championship
Box Score of 2009 Transitions Championship
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:266 (Vijay Singh in 2004)
54-Hole Record:
199 (K.J. Choi in 2002)
36-Hole Record:
131 (K.J. Choi in 2002)
Low round of tournament:
62 (Mark Calcavecchia in the 3rd round in 2007 & Jeff Sluman in the 1st round in 2004)
Tournament information:
This will be the 10th Transitions Championship, with the first one being played in 2000. The tournament was formally called the Tampa Bay Classic and then changed in 2003 to the Chrysler Championship. They dropped out in 2006 and PODS took over sponsorship and got a added boast with the advent of the FedEx Cup series and the transfer of the Players Championship to May. So in 2007, just six months after the close of the 2006 event the tournament moved into it's new March date. but that didn't last long as they were gone after the 2008 event. Unfortunely because of a change of management at PODS, they dropped out after the 2008 event. But the power of the PGA Tour shined through as Transitions Lens, an opitical lens manufacturing company, who's headquarters are in the Tampa Bay area came to the rescue with a four year deal and are in their second year as sponsor. The 2001 event wasn't played because of the 9/11 tragedy.When the tournament first started in 2000, it was the first time that a full PGA Tour event was held in the area since the St. Petersburg Open, which was held between 1930 and 1964. The course was the home of the mix-event JCPenney Classic, which ended in 1999.
Course information:
The Copperhead course was designed by Larry Packard and opened in 1974. It was restored in 1999, two years after it was purchased by Westin Inc, The goal of the restoration project was to regain the shot values and still challenge today's longer-hitting PGA Tour players when Innisbrook hosts PGA Tour events. The plan involved refurbishing all 18 greens, restructuring many of the bunkers, removing some trees around the greens to improve air movement and sunlight, and clearing out undergrowth between fairways. The length of the golf course is the most visible change from 7,087 to 7,230 yards by the addition of tournament tees on five holes. A reported $500,000 was spent and the course re-opened just in time for the 1999 JCPenney Classic.The Buzz:
So at lunch on Tuesday we finally got the news on Tiger Woods that he has decided to make the Masters his first event back following his personal problems. On a positive note, the timing couldn't be better because it will dominate the news on Tuesday and Wednesday with the tournament able to take over the news by Thursday. So this won't be an event won't be forgetton on becoming second news to Tiger.We will have more on this as on Wednesday we put together a piece on everything you need to know about Tiger and playing in the Masters.
After the buzz on Tiger the big talk is of Ernie Els win. He was a popular winner and the kind of thing that the PGA Tour needs right now. Matter of fact after I was a bit critical of the west coast swing, things have really swung around. Just look at some of our winners in the last few weeks, Steve Stricker (L.A.) Dustin Johnson (AT&T), Ian Poulter (Accenture), Camilo Villegas (Honda) and now Els.
Interesting to note that in 12 PGA Tour events there has been 12 different winners. If you were to add in the European Tour, in the nine events on that tour (not counting WGC events) they have had eight different guys winning with Charl Schwartzel the only multiple winner on both tours. This shows one big thing that it's becoming harder to dominate on both the PGA and European Tour. Looking through the history books the last time that the PGA Tour didn't have a multiple winner before the Masters was back in 1994 when it took Nick Price all the way into the last day of May and 21 weeks before he was the first multiple winner that year. That year there were only four multiple winners, Price (6 wins), Mark McCumber (3 wins), Jose Maria Olazabal (2 wins) and Mike Springer (2 wins).
So what does this all show, that maybe for the first time in almost two decades that it's getting harder to dominate or that the players are just making too much money and there just not the same after they win the first time.
May seem hard to believe but this week the 2010 PGA Tour FedEx Cup season is a quarter of the way finished, wonder who is panicking over FedEx Cup points and needs to add a few more events to there schedule? Sorry Tim just a slight dig.
With all of the uncertainty of the economy and some events possibly having sponsorship problems, it's nice to see the Century Club in San Diego getting a four year deal with Farmers Insurance. When you see events like that struggling you have to think twice about things. After years of struggling in this event, Transitions is in it's second of four years. But with that being in better shape, one thing that isn't is the schedule for this event. It couldn't fall at a worst time, right after a second WGC event, a week before Bay Hill and three weeks before the Masters. It's like having a big sign around it's neck saying, good week to take off.
But that isn't the case. In 2007 the event only got 6 of the top-25 players, in 2008 it was up to seven and last year back to six top-25 players. But this year they have one of their best field ever as 14 of the top-25 are in the field with 22 of the top-50 ranked players. The reason has to be the course because of the 22 players only four aren't regulars on the PGA Tour (Robert Karlsson, Ross Fisher, Ryo Ishikawa and Yuta Ikeda).
Here are some things to look for this week:
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Many wondered if the difference from playing in October or March made a big difference, yes the course was more lush and the rough was tougher, but March winds made this a bit tougher. Difference wise, last year the course played to a 72.157 average while in 2008 it played to a 72.970 average, in 2007 it played to a 72.005 average while in October of 2006 it played to a 71.812 average. But in October of 2005 it played to a 72.229 average so the change of months really didn't make it harder or easier. Still the Bermuda grass will be healthy and look greener and lusher. It will be easier to attack, of course mother nature will have the main say on this if it's windy.
Here are some of the secrets that it will take to play well this week at the Transitions Championship:
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Key stat for the winner:
Accuracy is more of a premium than it was in October now that the rough has been overseeded and is more lush. - Florida is always windy, look for that to play havoc on the players who haven't had to play Innisbrook under windy conditions
- All the par 5s are within reach of the average player and even though the course is over 7,200 yards this won't present much of a problem, look for lots of greens to be hit.
- In looking at the nine champions of this event, seven of them have this in common. They were in the top-ten in greens hit. Matter of fact four of them were in the top-five while Retief Goosen last year ranked T7th. So hitting lots of greens is a bit advantage.
- So look at all of these facts and you can come to the conclusion that good ballstrikers ruled the roost. This is not your typical Florida type of course because the fairways are tight, the rough will be tall with tough putting surfaces.
- One oddity that you don't see in most events is the fact that you don't have many players that shot four rounds in the 60s. Of the nine champions only two have accomplished that, in 2002 with K.J. Choi and in 2004 with 2004. Oh, those happened when the event was played in October, a much easier time. In the history of this event that has only happened three times, all when the event was played in the fall. Another oddity along this line, in the history of this event only 23 times has someone broke par 4 times during the week. Making this stat odd is the fact that only once has this happen when the event was played in the spring, last year with Retief Goosen. So don't look for players to dominate this course.