WGC Cadillac Championship leaderboard http://www.worldgolfchampionships.com/cadillac-championship/leaderboard.html
Trump National at Doral played tough on opening day of this exclusive WGC Cadillac Championship.
Only 27 of the 66 men who began play broke par 72, and the two at the top shot -6 66 and they are, in form Aussie Marcus Fraser fresh off his recent win at the Maybank Championship in Malaysia, and former RBC Canadian champ Scott Piercy fresh off an all day practice session on Monday.
Now because this WGC event is in the States you are going to get an American slant on the TV coverage, with all eyes of course on the so called " Big 3" along with Phil Mickelson who continued his fine form with -5 67.
Jordan Spieth who despite the fact he has cooled off a little was the best of said Big 3 with -3 69, (Rory -1 71, Jason Day E 72). Bubba (-3 69) seems perfectly suited for this place and he won't surprise anyone if he wins come Sunday afternoon.
Spieth to my mind is at a disadvantage on this redesigned Blue Monster simply because the big bombers like defending champion Dustin Johnson (T28, 72), in form Adam Scott (T3 -4 68), and his playing partners Rory and Jason Day can outdrive him by 50 or 60 yards off the tee, allowing them to put their tee shots beyond the trouble that lurks on every water infested hole, leaving them with short scoring irons into the greens, as opposed to Jordan's 4 and 5 irons.
Mickelson by the way declared himself pleased with his best score on the re design. “I hit a lot of good shots, made some good putts and just drove it well, enjoyed the day. It was a good day.”
However there are 39 of the 66 men in the field who are from all over the world so don't discount or dismiss the following players who are in contention and in form,
Besides Marcus Fraser, England's Danny Willett T3 -4 68 was 2nd to Rory in the Race to Dubai, and is in contention where ever he plays week in and week out around the world.
Another Englishman Andy Sullivan is right there with Willett and will be in this year's Ryder Cup team has opened with -1 71, and after 3 wins last season is finally full of the confidence winning brings.
Brooks Koepka ( T16 -1 71)is an American playing the European tour who has all the tools and despite a torn tendon in his wrist has been in form, and the big Swede Henrik Stenson -1 71 was just striping the ball as of old recently in the Middle East swing T3 in Abu Dhabi, before returning to his American home in Florida to begin his run to the Masters.
I'm also looking for big days from Sergio Garcia (73) who is in great form just losing to Adam Scott at the Honda, and Louis Ooshuizen (74) who just flew in from his win in Perth Australia so was a little jet lagged, and will benefit if the wind picks up in Miami today.
The Big 3 are the featured group again today, but this championship has world class players galore, and they are all champions.
Friday will be fascinating, and I'll be covering it all here and don't miss my report on TSN1050 at 845 Sunday morning.
Bryan Angus
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