It's time for another WGC event, this time on the spectacular TPC Blue Monster at Doral where the top 69 guys in the world will be on display starting tomorrow, and they are paired in threes off split tees for the first 2 days in order of world ranking.
So Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald, the worlds top 3 are off #1 just before 1pm. At the same time off #10 McDowell, Mickelson and Woods will get all the attention, well at least Tiger will.
However as always here is something you should know, but probably will be lost in all the Tiger hoopla... . McDowell currently leads the TOUR in the all around ranking category. He's eighth in total driving, first in ball-striking, second in greens in regulation, third in scrambling, and 13th in putts per green in regulation
The old Tiger has won here 6 times and has never been out of the top 10. Lorne Rubenstein had another fine read in the Globe this morning about Tigers problems having less to do with his swing and more to do with his head. It has been obvious since he got caught with his pants down and became just another horny, cheating husband, that he lost his teflon crown. The fallout from those indiscretions including some very human soul searching has drastically re organized his priorities. His kids are the beneficiaries, as they apparently now have a very devoted father who realizes their concerns are much more important than his.
I believe to be at the very top of any individual sport you have to be at a time in your life when you can be totally selfish. Nothing else you have compares to the total commitment you need to apply to being the very best, and I believe Tiger will never have that commitment again, so he will eventually become a very good player again, but never the guy that he once was.
Incidentally to show you how much the world of golf has become global only 24 of the 69 players are American and they are playing for a staggering purse of $8.5m with the winner getting a mere matter of $1.4m
The weather forecast looks much better than last week's windy Palm Beach..
THURSDAY - Partly sunny with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning - then mostly cloudy with chance of showers and slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 80s. South winds 5 to 10 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Chance of rain 40 percent.
FRIDAY - Mostly sunny. Not as warm. Highs in the mid 70s. North winds 10 to 15 mph.
SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT - Mostly clear. Highs in the upper 70s. Lows in the upper 50s.
SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT - Partly cloudy. Highs in the upper 70s. Lows in the upper 50s.
Time Players
11:20 am Davies, Rhys Bjorn, Thomas Palmer, Ryan
11:30 am Chowrasia, S.S.P. Crane, Ben Hansen, Anders
11:41 am Poulter, Ian Johnson, Dustin Watson, Bubba
11:51 am Goosen, Retief Molinari, Francesco Karlsson, Robert
12:02 pm Senior, Peter Na, Kevin Noh, Seung-yul
12:12 pm Aiken, Thomas Streelman, Kevin Clark, Tim
12:23 pm Wilson, Mark Haas, Bill Fisher, Ross
12:33 pm Fowler, Rickie Ishikawa, Ryo Vegas, Jhonattan
12:44 pm Kuchar, Matt Furyk, Jim Els, Ernie
12:54 pm Kaymer, Martin Westwood, Lee Donald, Luke
1:05 pm Choi, K.J. Rose, Justin Allenby, Robert
TPC Blue Monster at Doral Tee #10
Time Players
11:20 am Hoffman, Charley Baddeley, Aaron Points, D.A.
11:30 am Ogilvy, Geoff Johnson, Zach Sabbatini, Rory
11:41 am Singh, Vijay Scott, Adam Watney, Nick
11:51 am McDowell, Graeme Woods, Tiger Mickelson, Phil
12:02 pm Casey, Paul McIlroy, Rory Stricker, Steve
12:12 pm Kim, Anthony Harrington, Padraig Villegas, Camilo
12:23 pm Fraser, Marcus Van Pelt, Bo Fujita, Hiroyuki
12:33 pm Overton, Jeff Day, Jason Yang, Y.E.
12:44 pm Ikeda, Yuta Laird, Martin Moore, Ryan
12:54 pm Mahan, Hunter Jimenez, Miguel A. Quiros, Alvaro
1:05 pm Oosthuizen, Louis Schwartzel, Charl Molinari, Edoardo
1:15 pm Byrd, Jonathan Hanson, Peter Kim, Kyung-tae
The rest of the PGA tour guys are in Rio Grande for the Puerto Rico Open and we have 5 Canucks including Mike Weir to watch for.. Chris Baryla still hasn't played a weekend yet, Matt McQuillan, Stephen Ames and David Hearn are the others.
Derek Lamely won here last year.. Remember him ?? Didn't think so ..
Let me clear something up about Weirsy. If you follow this spot I have explained all Mike's options. He can get into around 25 events a year for the next 3 even if he doesn't get into the top 125.
He has already played 5 and being in the top 150 can qualify him for another 12 events in this year, and that's why he's in Puerto Rico this week. He also gets five more events for being a member of the 2009 Presidents Cup in addition to playing as a former champion at the old Fry's.com
Furthermore although I'm sure he'd rather not use these get out of jail cards, he could regain his card for 2 more years due to his career earnings. He has been inside both the top 50 and top 25 all time with $27 million in career PGA Tour earnings .
He will however have to qualify for all the majors except Augusta, so it's not like he is going around with cap in hand looking for sponsor's exemptions.
Apart from thanking all who have supported him on his website here is the schedule he has posted
Puerto Rico Open (this week)
Arnold Palmer Invitational (March 24-27)
Masters (April 7-10)
Valero Texas Open (April 14-17)
The Heritage (April 21-24)
Zurich Classic of New Orleans (April 28-May 1)
CHAMPIONS tour
Toshiba Classic
Friday Mar 11 – Sunday Mar 13, 2011
Newport Beach Country Club · Newport Beach, CA
Purse: $1.7 million Winning Share: $255,000
Rod Spittle is our lone Canuck as the old guys are out in Newport Beach in California. Freddie Couples defends his Championship paired with Tom Watson and Ben Crenshaw and it's nice to see my old favourite Lee Trevino in the field
"This is not a comeback. It would be ludicrous to think I could come back and be competitive when I haven't played for 15 years against all these guys who are in great form and compete every week.” Ian Baker-Finch, who will tee it up this week in his Champions Tour debut after retiring from competitive golf at age 37
The Nationwide tour is off for 2 weeks before re surfacing in Louisiana and the LPGA is back next week..
Bryan Angus
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