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Posted on 03/11/2009 10:20:29 AM PDT by Zuben Elgenubi
MIAMI, Fla. -- The WGC-CA Championship comes along at a perfect time for Geoff Ogilvy. Not only is he the defending champion at the event held at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa near Miami, but the Australian is coming off a victory at the first World Golf Championships event of the season -- the Accenture Match Play Championship two weeks ago.
With his victories in two of the last three World Golf Championships events, Ogilvy is the only player besides Tiger Woods with at least three World Golf Championships wins. Woods has 15 titles.
Besides his victory at the Accenture Match Play, Ogilvy won the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship and has won the first two Player of the Month honors in 2009.
The Doral Golf Resort & Spa's Blue Course has been hosting PGA Tour events since 1962 when Billy Casper won the Doral Country Club Open Invitational.
There has only been one American champion in the nine playings of this event. Woods is a six-time winner of the CA Championship, with Canada's Mike Weir, South Africa's Ernie Els and Australia's Ogilvy the other winners.
In the 45 events held at Doral's Blue Course before the CA Championship moved there in 2007, there were only five international champions taking home seven titles. Two-time winners were Australia's Greg Norman (1990 and 1996) and Steve Elkington (1997 and 1999) Aussie Craig Parry (2004), South Africa's Ernie Els (2002) and England's Nick Faldo (1995).
Woods, who made his return to golf at the Accenture Match Play following knee surgery, will make his second start of the season at an event he has won six times at six different courses. Woods will be looking for his seventh victory at the CA Championship. Only Sam Snead has more victories in a single tournament, with eight wins at the PGA Tour event held in Greensboro, N.C. Besides his 2007 win at Doral, Woods won his CA Championships in Andalucia, Spain; Kilkenny, Ireland; Woodstock, Ga.; San Francisco, Calif.; and Herfordshire, England.
Dudley Hart is making his first appearance in this event since the 2000 tournament. He qualified for this event by finishing inside the top 30 in the 2008 FedExCup. Hart's previous-best finish in the CA Championship was in 1999, when he was third.
Stuart Appleby is participating in his 31st career World Golf Championships event at this week's CA Championship, having competed in every World Golf Championships event since the inception of the series in 1999. He is the only player with this distinction. He also qualified for the 2001 tournament that was canceled due to the events of Sept. 11.
Ernie Els and Woods are the only players in the field to have won the Ford Championship at Doral and the CA Championship. Els won the 2002 Ford Championship at Doral's Blue Course, and the 2004 CA Championship at Mount Juliet Conrad in Kilkenny, Ireland. Woods won back-to-back Ford Championship titles in 2005-06 and has collected six CA Championship trophies. Defending champion Ogilvy and Mike Weir are the other past CA Championship winners in the field this week.
Woods has won 15 World Golf Championships events in 28 starts, with six titles each at the CA Championship and Bridgestone Invitational. He has also won three Accenture Match Play Championships.
A year ago, Spain's Alvaro Quiros was a sponsor's exemption playing in the Puerto Rico Open, an event that was taking place in addition to the CA Championship. This week, Quiros is competing in the CA Championship, ranked 24th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Fifty-one weeks ago, when the Puerto Rico Open was held, Quiros was No. 318, an improvement of 294 places from one year to the next.
Quiros, a 26-year-old native of La Linea, made his big leap in the OWGR on the strength of his wins at the European Tour's Portugal Masters last October and the Commercialbank Qatar Masters two months ago. Quiros is the 10th-highest-ranked European in the world and No. 2 among Spaniards. Only Sergio Garcia (No. 2 overall) is higher.
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Inside the course: Doral Golf Resort and Spa.
Watch Live Video Coverage of the CA Championship.
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My pick is Someone Else.
He’s been winning a lot lately, including the tournament that just ended on Sunday.
Went there in 1983 and played the Blue Monster Course twice. Red Course and Gold Courses also.
Rooms had walk in closets. Dark green, close pile carpet with a putting machine and balls in the room.
Fridge with ice maker and coffee maker in the room.
And when the maid serviced the room, she left a bag of tees and ball markers on the pillow.
Yep.
Now who will take the role of Someone Else this week?
OTOH, The Blue Monster in October has a Bermuda grass rough that is like trying to hit a ball out of Don King's hair.
I "finally" got it through to my brain that the longest club I could use in the rough was a 9 iron. And that was only if I could see half of the ball.
When the 18th hole was the toughest hole on tour, they also used to give free visors, if you could have it attested, with the printing of "I parred the 18th on the Blue Monster" or "I birdied the 18th on the Blue Monster."
I asked in the pro shop how many they gave out and they said they gave away a "par" visor as often as once a week and the "birdie" visor about once a month.
Doral was originally designed by Dick Wilson. Click here to download Blue Monster Score Card (PDF).
[btw, that's a very nice family story about 501 on your homepage]
LOL, great way to put it. The first time I played the blue was in the summer back in the mid 1980's. The fairways were rolled and hard as a rock. The rough was a deep dark bluish green, and there was no first cut, so almost everything rolled into it. The most club I could use was a SW. That day was brutal.
The Blue course is actually fairly easy when there's no wind or rough. Many times I've had short irons into the eighteenth, but it's still a tough shot.
Tanks my FRiend!!!
I was in the process of throwing something together but been busy and was only going to start to post it now.
I appreciate you thinking the same way!!
It was a day to remember.
My hat's off to you Moonman.
I shot a 86 the second time I played it.
The first time I played it the best balls I hit was when I stepped out of a sand trap and stepped on a rake.
“OTOH, The Blue Monster in October has a Bermuda grass rough that is like trying to hit a ball out of Don King’s hair.”
Hahahaha...I would like to try that shot out of Don King’s hair - sand wedge? Explosion?
40% 60%
I saw the same story a few months ago on the Golf Channel. I tried to find a copy on YouTube but to no avail. I did get one of his swing. And you are right about the Masters. He's got game and can control the ball either way (even though I believe a left-to-right game generally prevails at Augusta).
Yes, Ogilvy is a pleasure to watch. He was tied for the lead of some big tourney a few years ago, sitting in the clubhouse with his preggers wife watching the other guy play 18 for a tie, win, or loss. I was so very impressed with how composed he was, how free of any emotion. With so much money at stake, I surely would have showed signs of stress. He’s a gentleman and a credit to the game.
While I always like American players to win, I make an exception for Gentleman Geoff.
Jeev M. Singh is leading, -7 thru 15! Lordy he’s really someone else.
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