Ford Championship at Doral

03 Mar 2005 - 06 Mar 2005
Doral Golf Resort and Spa, Miami, Fla.

The Tour Championship
© Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images

We are in Miami, Florida this week for the Ford Championship at Doral for Mike’s sixth week in a row of playing. In all of the years I’ve been working with him this stretch has been the longest he has gone played in a row, and he is very motivated and excited about playing again this week which is encouraging. Another fun thing about Florida is that there are plenty of Canadians vacationing down here at this time of year that come out to show their support of Mike during the tournament.

With all of the rain that was on the West Coast over the last few weeks it’s nice to change it up a bit by moving over to Florida and we are eager to play this week. Of course the sun and warm weather also makes for a nice week, especially after hearing about all the snow back at home!

The host course for this week’s Championship is the Doral Golf Resort & Spa, otherwise known as the Blue Monster. The Blue Monster is so named because it has been designed to be one of the toughest stops on TOUR, offering many challenges for all of the golfers out here this week. Just to give you an indication of how tough I am talking: there are 12 holes that are affected by water.

The course is in great shape this year, probably the best I have ever seen it. It has been a few years since I have been here and there have been some significant changes to the course since the last time. Most of the changes have added yardage to the course which will favor the guys who are driving the ball well.

The 3rd hole is now forty yards longer and brings the water on the right side of the fairway into play much more. Number 8 used to be a reachable par 5 with water guarding the front of the green. The new tee will make it difficult for most to reach the green in two and therefore a lay-up will be necessary with a wedge in for the third shot. It will be a good risk – reward type shot but the decision will be up to the players/caddies.

Holes 14 and 18 have added 40 yards to the tee boxes. 18 is one of the best finishing holes in golf and the change has made it the Monster it used to be. There is water down the left side of the hole that also guards the front of the green, and it is a must to get the ball in the fairway and off the tee to have a reasonable approach shot. In the past golfers were able to carry the water, but there is a new tee on 18 as well which puts the water into the equation now.

There have also been changes made to the greens. It used to be a very grainy Bermuda grass, but in this past off season they have replaced the greens with a new Bermuda strand with very little grain making the greens much faster. This new grass will be great for Florida golf as it makes the greens putt like bent grass yet is durable enough to handle the hot south Florida weather.

The rough is not as long as it normally is. The Bermuda rough can be very penal, as the ball sits right down in the grass and is very unpredictable. The lower rough will help lower scores a few strokes this year

We have a great pairing this week with David Toms coming off his big win last week. It should be a good week.

Thanks for reading,

Brennan Little.