2015 WGC-Cadillac Championship Discussion Thread

[mvmac]

The 2015 WGC-Cadillac Championship will be played at Trump National Doral in Miami. The newly revamped Blue Monster ranked as the most difficult non-major course in 2014, and will play as a par-72 measuring 7,528 yards for the event.

The field this week is set to include Rory McIlroy, who’s ranked No. 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings, Jason Day, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Adam Scott, Jimmy Walker, Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia.

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/rex-hoggard/doral-de-facto-opening-day-pga-tour-season/

Quote:

With apologies to the folks at the Frys.com Open, where the season “officially” started last October, and the Hyundai Tournament of Champions , which kicked off the new year on Tour in January, Doral has been the real start of the season for some time.

Consider that Adam Scott will tee off in just his second Tour event of the season, and his first in 2015 and on U.S. soil, on Thursday. That he does so 1,046 points behind leader Jimmy Walker on the FedEx Cup points list doesn’t change that fact.

While most players say the quality of golf course is their No. 1 factor when deciding to play an event, Doral, which was redesigned by architect Gil Hanse before last year’s event, largely defies conventional wisdom.

“Last year was rock hard because of a brand new golf course. I happened to just survive it, make a few putts,” said Bubba Watson , who finished second to Patrick Reed in 2014 at Doral.

“I look forward to the challenge. When you come here, the challenge of the wind, the challenge of the golf course, the speed of the greens are really, really quick right now, and so you get here, you get excited about the challenge.”

McIlroy, who missed the cut in his 2015 debut last week at the Honda Classic , will follow a similar routine, trading a start at the Shell Houston Open , which he has played the last two years, for Bay Hill in two weeks.

“I feel like I've got a nice schedule going into Augusta,” McIlroy said last week. “I'm not playing too much, but I'm playing just enough that I should be as sharp as possible going in there.”

[Silent]

Tee times for the first two days:

http://www.worldgolfchampionships.com/cadillac-championship/tee-times.html

[Golfingdad]

Adam Scott is going to be using a short putter for the first time in ??? and it looks like he's "claw"-ing it a la Sergio.  Interesting to see how he fares on the greens. (He's also got a new caddy - I forgot about that)

I'm also looking forward to seeing how the course does again this year.  Reed was (I think) -4 last year (he did play for bogey on the last hole though) and there were only 4 or 5 others under par.  Is it going to be as tough this year??  We'll see soon!

[Crim]

Patrick Reed fires off three straight birdies to start his round

Rory with an early bogey

Good on Adam Scott for switching to a regulation (2016) putter. Curious to see how he does.

Edit: Featured holes

http://pgatour.cbssports.com/live/index.html

[Crim]

601-yard par 5? Bubba Watson sticks it to a foot and makes eagle

[Ernest Jones]

Adam Scott is going to be using a short putter for the first time in ??? and it looks like he's "claw"-ing it a la Sergio.  Interesting to see how he fares on the greens.  [URL=http://www.worldgolfchampionships.com/cadillac-championship/news/2015/03/4/adam-scott.html](He's also got a new caddy - I forgot about that)[/URL] I'm also looking forward to seeing how the course does again this year.  Reed was (I think) -4 last year (he did play for bogey on the last hole though) and there were only 4 or 5 others under par.  Is it going to be as tough this year??  We'll see soon!

Going with the Claw makes sense to me, probably very similar feeling to his broomstick grip. I hope Scott does well with regulation putter.

[ChrisP]

Something definitely off with Rory. Might force him to play more tournaments before Augusta if he continues to struggle.

[3putter]

Something definitely off with Rory. Might force him to play more tournaments before Augusta if he continues to struggle.

This happened last year too

[Crim]

I chose to put in Rory over JB Holmes in fantasy golf this morning after going back & forth ....

[Golfingdad]

Going with the Claw makes sense to me, probably very similar feeling to his broomstick grip. I hope Scott does well with regulation putter.

Yeah, you're right.  Thinking about his old putter - that's exactly what he did with his right hand then as well, so it makes perfect sense.

[Judah Ben-Hur]

Listening to this coverage on the http://pgatour.cbssports.com/live/index.html feed on this computer is making me go crazy.  Everything is repeated 3 times!

... Everybody's talking at me

I don't hear a word they're saying
Only the echoes of my mind ...

Mute Mute Mute

[Crim]

Thomas Bjorn withdraws after 8 holes, citing "personal issues"

[Crim]

I chose to put in Rory over JB Holmes in fantasy golf this morning after going back & forth ....

Quoting for more crying

JB Holmes is on fire.

[Silent]

McIlroy with a good recovery. +4 after the front nine, but now with one hole left he's back to level par after an eagle on 8. Very nice.

[Crim]

McIlroy with a good recovery. +4 after the front nine, but now with one hole left he's back to level par after an eagle on 8. Very nice.

[Crim]

Adam Scott looks to be doing just fine with the standard Odyssey.

Rory is effing up that final hole....

[Silent]

Adam Scott looks to be doing just fine with the standard Odyssey.

Rory is effing up that final hole....

Good for him he holed that bogey putt, was ready to write a double bogey down.

Noren is messing it up completely after a good position on the leaderboard early on.

[Silent]

Cool to see they give much airtime fro Luiten off the tee at the first hole. Kudos for the 'announcer' since his pronounciation of 'Joost Luiten' was close to perfection!