Brennans Caddy Report-WGC CA Championship

Advice on Doral:
 
This week Mike and I find ourselves in Miami recharged and ready to compete in the CA Championships.  The weather and the atmosphere here always add to the excitement of this elite tournament played on The Blue Monster.  Mike and I have made many trips to Doral and it is personally one of the most challenging yet fun courses that we play.  It has a little different feel this year being a WGC event as opposed to the Ford Championship but overall it's a great course and one of the tougher ones we play on tour. It seems like the last few weeks in Florida the courses have gotten tougher and tougher almost like major championship courses resulting in all the high winning scores.

The limited field for the tournament always promises an exciting and unpredictable finish filled with the most recognizable names in golf today. With only 70 players in the field it is much easier to play practice rounds and not have to wait to get on the course. On a normal week, on Tuesday morning the first tee is usually very busy and lined up with several groups. With only 50 players or so in the Wednesday pro-am each week, Tuesday is the day for most guys to get in their full practice round and get a good look at the course. There is also no pro-am this week or in any of the World Golf Championship events.  That means Wednesday becomes a shorter day with just a little fine tuning and usually nine holes of practice allowing the afternoon off to relax and get ready for the weekend.

There are some slight changes to the course this year from 2005, which is the last time we played here at Doral. The most noteworthy change is the size of the fairways have been brought in significantly. The rough, which is always very penal here, is going to be in play that much more with the smaller fairways.  A different strategy will be have to be used on some holes. We played our practice round today with Jim Furyk and, like Mike, on several holes he will now hit driver as opposed to fairway wood. The reason being is that if you are going to miss a fairway, it is better to be closer to the green so that you have a shorter club into the green.  I think you will see a lot of shots played out of the rough this week and therefore some exciting approach shots.
 
One of the other great things about this week is the fact that tee times are never too early in the morning and there is no cut. It's a guaranteed money week for all of the players and a good week to really be focused for four rounds. Most events you want to get off to a good start and get in contention to win, but if things are not going as well as planned then you sometimes change your mindset to focus on making the cut. Another positive this week is that there are no early morning tee times! Times usually run from 11am-2pm so everyone will get a good tee time regardless of where you stand in the tournament. It used to be that on the first day of this event they would send guys off in twosomes from 8am-2pm, which was very unfair because like most weeks it is much easier to play in the morning. If you happen to draw the later time on the first day then you were already a stoke or two behind the guys who went off early.
 
WGC events are extremely well run and are always the best events for caddies. They always have a great hospitality area and great parking, which just makes the week that much better. Everyone is happy to be in this event, but when they go the extra distance to make our week that much easier it's very nice. 

This golf course is one in which you are able to shoot some good numbers if you are on your game. The rough is quite difficult.  If you can play from the fairways then the greens are pretty receptive, which will allow some birdie chances.  The Blue Monster's signature hole is the 18th.  It is a long par 4 that has water all down the left side, which forces guys to keep their drives up the right. With the tighter fairway this week, you will see all kinds of guys in that right rough. That leaves them with a tricky decision to either go for the green with their approach or lay up and try to hit the ball close with a wedge and make par. It is one of the best finishing holes in golf and this year will play harder than it ever has in my opinion. The wind is going to be blowing, so expect to see a lot of action on 18 and a lot of double bogeys! The rest of the course is also very demanding but I think you will be able to pick up strokes on the par 5's. 1, 8, and 10 are all reachable in 2 with the proper conditions; therefore there should be lots of birdies. The key this week is going to be keeping the ball in the fairway off the tee so that you have a chance to hit the ball close.  If you are playing from the rough all day it could make for a long week.
 
Hope you are able to watch some of the rounds on television this week or you can keep up on MikeWeir.com.  I am predicting the winning score to be -19.

Thanks for reading!

Brennan