Brennans Caddy Report-Chrysler Championship

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:15:01

Well, another PGA Tour season is coming to an end with us sitting in 32nd place on the money list. This would certainly be a good week to have a great finish in order to secure a spot in the Tour Championship next week. We are playing at the Chrysler Championship in Palm Harbour, Florida. The golf course is one that we have been around many times. This familiarity should positively affect Mike's play this week. The other good thing is that Mike is healthy and feels good about his game. It will just be a matter of being patient and letting things happen. Patience is very important at the end of the year because it's easy to look to next year if things are not going your way. With some patience, you can really get a leg up on a lot of guys!

One of the best things about this week's event, which is held at the Innisbrook Resort, is that they have several hotels on the compound which all allow easy access to the course. This access makes life much easier because you don't have to deal with traffic and parking. It certainly gives me a lot more free time during the week to hang out and do other things. The Innisbrook Resort also has several courses on property. On Monday afternoon I played the Island course with a few other caddies and some of the reps from TaylorMade. We had a great time! Being so close to Tampa this week, there is also a good chance we are going to catch a hockey game tomorrow night as the Lightning host the Hurricanes.

The entire atmosphere this week is quite laid back, unless of course you are one of the few that are on the bubble. As I mentioned last week, this is the final week for players to finish in the top 125 and maintain their playing privileges for next year. The ones who don't finish within that number will have to go back to the dreaded Q-school in December. All in all, this is a great week and I am looking forward to having a good finish to cap off the final full field event on the PGA Tour.

Copperhead is the name of the course that the tournament is being held on this week. I think it is aptly named because it is very difficult. Named after the deadly copperhead snake, this recently redone course can be very difficult. Like every other course on the PGA Tour many of the tees were lengthened, making the course much more challenging. Fortunately we have played here almost every year so Mike is familiar with the course and more importantly the greens.

The condition of the course this year is on par with past years. The greens are lightning fast and the rough is quite long. This Bermuda grass rough doesn't have to be too long to be nasty, as the golf balls have a tendency to sit down in the grass. It may be difficult to play out of this week, especially around the greens!

The last few holes of the Copperhead course are great finishing holes. Number 17 is a long par 3 that normally requires a long iron. It is important to hit the ball on the correct side of this hole due to the speed of the greens. Number 18 is a long par 4 that plays straight up hill so it plays much longer than the yardage indicates. I would say it's one of the hardest par 4's on the course. I love when the final hole on a course is a difficult one.

I really like this course and think it is a very good challenge for all the golfers in the field. The weather is going to be cooler this week after last week's sweltering heat, so this should help the scores. Look for some good scoring and a very exciting week!

Thank you for reading this year and, as always, let me know if there is anything else you would like me to talk about. I am always open to suggestions!

Thanks for reading,

Brennan