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Tournament Stats:
Wachovia Championship
May 3 - 6, 2007
Quail Hollow Club
Charlotte, N.C.
Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,438
Purse: $6.3 million with $1,134,000 going to the winner
Defending Champion: Jim Furyk
Results & Scores 2006 Wachovia Championship
Box Score of 2006 Wachovia Championship
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:276 (Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia & Vijay Singh in 2005, Trevor Immelman and Jim Furyk in 2006)
54-Hole Record:
204 (Sergio Garcia in 2005)
36-Hole Record:
134 (Bo Van Pelt in 2006)
Low round of tournament:
64 (Kirk Triplet in first round in 2004, Bo Van Pelt in 2nd round in 2006)
Tournament information:
This is the fifth year of the Wachovia Championship, which has been played at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. The course was the site of the Kemper Open from 1969 through 1979 before it was moved to Washington D.C. With the advent of Wachovia coming into the picture and Quail Hollow being used, the tournament gained instant recognition and has been one of the most popular events on tour not only in player attendance but spectators, this year for the fifth year in a row the event is sold out.
Course information:
The main reason that the players love this event is because of it's home, Quail Hollow Club. Located in Charlotte, North Carolina it's considered one of the most exclusive clubs in America and in the players eyes one of the best challenges. Many consider it a "U.S. Open type" venue as the course was the ninth hardest course on the PGA Tour last year with a 73.378 scoring average. Making the course seem harder was the fact that two of the courses ahead of it were those that held the Masters and the U.S. Open, along with the Players Championship. Players loved the course so much that the word has filtered down and help get more marquee players to come like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Unfortunely Woods didn't play last year because of the death of his father but he along with 29 of the top-30 ranked players are in the field.The property originated as the dairy farm of former North Carolina Governor Cameron Morrison. In the late 1950s, a group of affluent men decided to create a private club patterned after the Peachtree Golf Club in Atlanta. George Cobb was recruited to design the course and it opened in June, 1961. In order to attract members, one of the founding members enlisted the help of a close friend, Arnold Palmer. Palmer liked the course so much, he was instrumental in bringing the Kemper Open to Quail Hollow. The event was played there from 1969-79, then abruptly moved to Washington, D.C. in 1980.
Palmer didn't forget Quail Hollow. When he began playing the Champions Tour in 1980, he worked to bring the Paine Webber Invitational to Quail Hollow, where it was played between 1983-88. Palmer tinkered with the course in the late '80s, but a major renovation was done by Tom Fazio in 1997.
The course currently measures 7,438 yards (36-36 -- 72), with a 74.9 rating and slope rating of 139 from the championship tees. The grasses consist of G2 Bentgrass (greens) and 419 Bermudagrass/Ryegrass (tees, fairways, rough). The average green size is 6,500, which is about average and the course is dotted with 62 bunkers. Water comes in play on just four holes, 7, 14, 15 and 17.
After the bad weather that hit the tournament in 1994 played havoc with things, it was determined to use two courses for the first two days. What made the decision easy was that Cottonwood Valley was right across the street. Its a private club, with some limited playing privileges for hotel guest at the Four Season resort.
For a more comprehensive look at the courses, look at this Course Overview done by PGA Tour.com
The Buzz:
Just like that we have our superstars back. Come to a great old style golf courses with a good sponsor and they will come.With the FedEx Cup being halfway finished look for a lot of folks trying to place a meaning to what has happened in the first half. Basically the buzz on it is the lack of buzz. We haven't heard one pro say they have the play in an event to help their FedEx point standings and we are seeing less marquee players attending so
The big news will be what happens before the tournament starts with the greatest golfer of our time playing with the greatest basketball player of all time, it will be one of the few times you will see tickets scalped for more than the regular tournament. It's hard to believe that a Woods/Jordan pairing hasn't happened before and who knows when the next time will be.
Unfortunely Phil Mickelson is still the buzz, this time it's not for his partnership with Butch Harman but because of the exemption that the PGA Tour gave him last week when he couldn't fly to Dallas because of poor weather. This has really gotten the rank and file of tour memebers hot and steamy, they feel that Phil shouldn't of gotten the exemption and if it was anybody else (other than Tiger) they think the Tour wouldn't of been so kind. This should be a hot topic in this week's player meetings.
With the changing of the Players Championship to May and being the week before the Wachovia, it has made a already good tournament great. Now more players are on a two week trek of the States as more foreign players will be at the Wachovia than in years past.
Talking about Tiger, he was seen last week at Oakmont playing a new Nike Sumo driver. Look for him to use it this week for the first time in competition, this is Woods first event back from the Masters. Right now it looks like he will play this week, next and the Memorial before the U.S. Open.
Here are some things to look for this week:
Here are some of the secrets that it will take to play well this week at the Wachovia Championship:
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This is one of those courses that will get you ready for a U.S. Open. Matter of fact it would be a perfect open venue, it has the length, tight fairways with three-inch plus rough, tree line and fast undulating greens. It's a tough place which always ranks as one of the toughest courses on tour.
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Key stat for the winner:
Since the course will play at more than 7,400 yards, the "experts" will say bombers hold an advantage. Still as you will see length is not the only strength you need to play well at Quail Hollow. three of the four winners last years champion Jim Furyk, David Toms and Joey Sindelar do not have the reputation as long hitters even though the 2005 winner Vijay Singh does. So does long hitters have an advantage, not really. - Accuracy will rule this week. The fairways are very narrow and could earn the reputation as narrowest on Tour. Of the 20 players that have finished in the top-five in the tournaments first three years, 15 of them have finished in the top-20 of the driving accuracy category. Things changed drastically last year as only five players out of the top 21 finished in the top-ten of the driving distance category. With fairways tending to be dry this week, look for accuracy not being the King this week.
- Now I don't want to jinx the tournament, but weather in North Carolina should be picture perfect this week. Making it even better a cool front will pass through North Carolina on Wednesday evening bring cooler weather to the tournament. Still with the lack of rain look for the course to play firm with a lot of run.
- Hitting greens will be at a premium, just like in a U.S. Open hitting lots of greens goes a long way in this event. Look for the winner to hit globs of greens this week.
- Good putters should have a field day this week. That's because I hear that the severely-sloping greens will be a lot slower than normal.
- One last thing to look for, yes the course is demanding but as it goes into year five the pros are starting to learn it better and shot lower scores. In the first three events the winning score has come down a stroke a year except for last year when it stayed the same at 276. Still the course won't be a pushover, since the event has becoming nobody has produced four rounds in the 60s matter of fact there have only been five players that were able to shot three rounds in the 60s during the week.
