2013 World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship Notes
Dates: March 4-10, 2013
Where: TPC Blue Monster at Trump Doral, Doral, Fla.
Par/Yards: 36-36=72/7,266 yards
Field: 65 players: top 50 from the Official World Golf Ranking; top 30 from the 2012 FedExCup; top 10 from the 2013 FedExCup; top 20 from the 2012 European Tour Race to Dubai; top 10 from the 2013 European Tour Race to Dubai; top two players from the 2012 Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit, Australasian Tour Order of Merit and Asian Tour Order of Merit.
As has been the case the past two years, groupings will be made based on the Official World Golf Ranking for players No. 1-24. First-and second-round tee times will be in threesomes off of No. 1 and No. 10.
Format: 72 holes, stroke-play competition, no cut Defending Champion: Justin Rose (ENG), 272 (-16) Purse: $8,750,000; Winner’s Share: $1.5 million
Twitter: @CadillacChamp
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/CadillacChampionship
How the Cadillac Championship was won by Justin Rose in 2012
Justin Rose earned his fourth PGA TOUR victory in come-from-behind fashion, posting a 70 (-2) on Sunday to make up a three-shot deficit on 54-hole leader Bubba Watson.
Watson had lost his three-shot lead in the first four holes, but rebounded on the back nine and hit a clutch 4 iron out of the palm trees on No. 18 to within 9 feet.
Rose was on the driving range, staying loose in anticipation of a possible playoff. Watson missed his putt, however, assuring Rose a third consecutive season with at least one tournament win on the PGA TOUR.
Keegan Bradley and Rory McIlroy were also in the mix.
Bradley lead Watson by two shots at one point, but carded a back-nine 41 to fall away (T8).
McIlroy came from eight shots behind to within one of the lead, eventually finishing third.
Rose’s win was the largest comeback at the Cadillac Championship, topping two-stroke comebacks by Tiger Woods in 2005 and Nick Watney in 2011.
Rory McIlroy
Making his 17th start in a World Golf Championships event, Rory McIlroy has 10 top-10 finishes. His best was a runner-up finish at the 2012 Accenture Match Play Championship; he lost to Hunter Mahan in the championship match, 2 and 1.
This is McIlroy’s fifth time competing in the Cadillac Championship; last year he recorded his best finish at Doral with a third place. He challenged for the lead on Sunday, coming from eight shots back to within one. He carded a final-round 67.
McIlroy will be looking to get his 2013 season on track. He’s made one start on the European Tour thus far, a missed cut at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. His first two starts on the PGA TOUR resulted in a first-round loss at the Accenture Match Play Championship and a WD at last week’s Honda Classic, citing wisdom tooth pain.
Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods returns to the Cadillac Championship as a six-time winner of the event (1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007), with the 2007 title coming here at TPC Blue Monster (2007). He won two PGA TOUR events at Doral before the Cadillac Championship moved here in 2007.
Woods, who has historically dominated the World Golf Championships with 16 wins in his career, has not won a WGC since the 2009 Bridgestone Invitational. From 1999-2009, Woods had not gone an entire season without winning at least one World Golf Championships title. For the first time since 2008, however, he has a PGA TOUR win under his belt (Farmers Insurance Open) prior to arriving at the arrives Cadillac Championship.
Tiger Woods’ victories in the World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 Accenture Match Play Championship 2003, 2004, 2008 Cadillac Championship 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007
In 2012, Woods withdrew from the Cadillac Championship during the final round with an injury to his left leg. He was 3-over on his round at the time (6-under for the event) and was on the par-5 12th hole. It marked the first time in 12 starts he failed to pst a top-10 finish at the Cadillac Championship.
Matt Kuchar
Matt Kuchar is the newest member of the World Golf Championships winner’s circle, capturing the Accenture Match Play Championship title two weeks ago, 2 and 1 over defending champion Hunter Mahan.
Kuchar never played the 18th hole in his six matches; Luke Donald (2011) is the only other player to win the event without playing the final hole en route to victory.
Since the start of the 2010 season, Kuchar has posted 32 top-10 finishes, including his win and two top 10s in Hawaii. The next most during that time frame is Luke Donald, with 29.
Kuchar owns five top-five finishes in 12 career World Golf Championships starts
With a T8 finish here last year, Kuchar has posted three consecutive top-10 finishes at the Cadillac Championship in three career starts (T3-2010, T-52011, T8-2012).
Bubba Watson
In the second round of the 2012 Cadillac Championship, Bubba Watson carded a 62 (-10), tying the Cadillac Championship 18-hole score and one shot one off the course record (held by Stephen Ames, 2000 Doral).
Watson held the 36-and 54-hole lead, but his three-shot lead on Sunday quickly evaporated due to three bogeys early in the round (No. 3-6).
Watson just missed out on a sudden-death playoff against Rose, hitting a clutch 4 iron out of the palm trees on No. 18 to within 9 feet.
Although Watson missed the putt and finished second, it was a harbinger of things to come.
Two starts later, Watson won the Masters Tournament with an even more miraculous shot from the pine straw on the second hole of sudden death.
The runner-up finish was his best in a World Golf Championships event. In nine World Golf Championships starts, he has three top-10 finishes, including a T9 at this year’s Accenture Match Play Championship.
Watson has three top-15 finishes in four starts this season, his best coming at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, where he finished T4.
Phil Mickelson
Phil Mickelson returns to action for the first time since the Northern Trust Open. He collected his 41st victory on TOUR at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, where he shot a 60 in the first round.
Mickleson is one of only three Americans, along with Tiger Woods and Hunter Mahan, to capture multiple World Golf Championships titles (2009 Cadillac Championship, 2009 HSBC Champions). He returns to a familiar venue in TPC Blue Monster where he won in 2009 and finished runner-up to Tiger Woods in 2005 in a memorable Sunday duel.
With victories at the Cadillac Championship and HSBC Champions in 2009, Mickelson and Tiger Woods (1999, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007) are the only players to capture multiple World Golf Championships titles in the same season.
The Cadillac Championship marks Mickelson’s 39th start in a World Golf Championships event. Including his victories at the Cadillac Championship (2009) and HSBC Champions (2009), Mickelson has posted 14 top 10s. His only top 10 at the Cadillac Championship was his victory.
With his win earlier this season, Mickelson has now won at least one TOUR event in each of the last 10 seasons, the longest, current streak on TOUR. His 41 career PGA TOUR victories rank ninth all-time, four behind Walter Hagen in eighth position.
Of Mickelson’s 41 career victories, only three have come in the state of Florida. In addition to capturing the 2009 Cadillac Championship, Mickelson also won the 1997 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard and the 2007 PLAYERS Championship.
Hunter Mahan
With his victory at the 2012 Accenture Match Play Championship, Hunter Mahan joined a select group of only six players with multiple World Golf Championships victories.
Mahan collected his first World Golf Championships title at the 2010 Bridgestone Invitational.
Mahan nearly collected his third WGC title, losing to Matt Kuchar in the Championship Match of the 2013 Accenture Match Play Championship.
Mahan held the first and second-round leads at the 2011 Cadillac Championship, thanks to an opening-round 64, but went on to finish 9th – his best finish in five starts at the event.
Additional event notes
A total of 16 countries are represented by the field (including the United States), with 40 international players. South Africa leads the way with seven players. England follows with six, then Australia (5) and Sweden (4). Next are Spain (3), Scotland (3), Germany (2), Italy (2), Northern Ireland (2) and Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Thailand and Wales with one each.
Thirteen tournament winners from 2013 season on both the PGA TOUR and the European Tour are in the field.
The PGA TOUR winners are: Dustin Johnson (Hyundai Tournament of Champions); Russell Henley (Sony Open in Hawaii); Brian Gay (Humana Challenge); Tiger Woods (Farmers Insurance Open); Phil Mickelson (Waste Management Phoenix Open); John Merrick (Northern Trust Open); Matt Kuchar (Accenture Match Play Championship); and Michael Thompson (The Honda Classic).
The European Tour winners are: Scott Jamieson (Nelson Mandela Championship presented by ISPS Handa); Charl Schwartzel (Alfred Dunhill Championship); Louis Oosthuizen (Volvo Champions); Jamie Donaldson (Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship); Chris Wood (Commercial Bank Qatar Masters); Stephen Gallacher (Omega Dubai Desert Classic); and Richard Sterne (Joburg Open);
Defending champion Justin Rose is one of six past champions of the Cadillac Championship in the field who have won a combined 10 titles. -Tiger Woods (1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007) -Ernie Els (2004, 2010) -Geoff Ogilvy (2008) -Phil Mickelson (2009) -Nick Watney (2011)
There are 16 players making their first-career start at the Cadillac Championship. They are: George Coetzee (South Africa); Jamie Donaldson (Wales); Stephen Gallacher (Scotland); Robert Garrigus (USA); Mike Hendry (New Zealand); Russell Henley (USA); John Huh (USA); Scott Jamieson (Scotland); David Lynn (England); Matteo Manassero (Italy); John Merrick (USA); Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark); Scott Piercy (USA); Marcel Siem (Germany); Michael Thompson (USA) and Chris Wood (England). For Hendry, Huh, Jamieson, Merrick and Thompson, it is their first World Golf Championships start.
Brandt Snedeker, 2012 FedExCup champion, is the only player from the top 50 who is not in the field. Snedeker was forced to withdraw due to continued recovery from sore ribs suffered after playing in five of the first six events of the PGA TOUR season. The only other qualified players who did not enter the field are Peter Senior and Toru Taniguchi
Six Players in their 20s have captured World Golf Championships events:
Tiger Woods (11)
1999 Bridgestone Invitational – 23 years, 7 months, 30 days
1999 Cadillac Championship – 23 years, 10 months, 9 days
2000 Bridgestone Invitational – 24 years, 7 months, 29 days
2001 Bridgestone Invitational – 25 years, 7 months, 28 days
2002 Cadillac Championship – 26 years, 8 months, 24 days
2003 Accenture Match Play Championship – 27 years, 9 months, 5 days
2003 Cadillac Championship – 27 years, 9 months, 5 days
2004 Accenture Match Play Championship – 28 years, 1 month, 24 days
2005 Bridgestone Invitational – 29 years, 7 months, 23 days
2005 Cadillac Championship – 29 years, 9 months, 10 days Hunter Mahan (2)
2010 Bridgestone Invitational – 28 years, 2 months, 23 days
2012 Accenture Match Play Championship – 29 years, 9 months, 9 days Martin Kaymer (1)
2011 HSBC Champions – 26 years, 10 months, 9 days Francesco Molinari (1)
2010 HSBC Champions – 27 years, 11 months, 30 days Geoff Ogilvy (1)
2006 Accenture Match Play Championship – 28 years, 8 months, 16 days Nick Watney (1)
2011 Cadillac Championship – 29 years, 10 months, 17 days Keegan Bradley (1)
2012 Bridgestone Invitational – 26 years, 1 month, 29 days
Hunter Mahan (2)
2010 Bridgestone Invitational – 28 years, 2 months, 23 days
2012 Accenture Match Play Championship – 29 years, 9 months, 9 days
Martin Kaymer (1)
2011 HSBC Champions – 26 years, 10 months, 9 days
Francesco Molinari (1)
2010 HSBC Champions – 27 years, 11 months, 30 days
Geoff Ogilvy (1)
2006 Accenture Match Play Championship – 28 years, 8 months, 16 days
Nick Watney (1)
2011 Cadillac Championship – 29 years, 10 months, 17 days
Keegan Bradley (1)
2012 Bridgestone Invitational – 26 years, 1 month, 29 days
The rookies
14 of the 30 players in the 2013 rookie class are 25 years of age or younger.
Six of the rookies had never played a PGA TOUR event entering the 2013 season.
Nicolas Colsaerts – Belgium’s first-ever PGA TOUR member played for the European squad at the 2012 Ryder Cup. Nicolas Colsaerts made his first TOUR start as a member at the Farmers Insurance Open (T44); he missed the cut at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and at the Northern Trust Open but finished T9 at the Accenture Match Play Championship.
Peter Hanson – The 35-year-old Swede certainly has more World Golf Championships experience than a typical rookie (17 starts coming into this week). Peter Hanson qualified for the PGA TOUR by virtue of the 2012 non-member money list. In 2012, Hanson finished T5 at the Accenture Match Play Championship, T4 at the Cadillac Championship, T3 at the Masters Tournament and T7 at the PGA Championship. He made his PGA TOUR season debut at the Accenture Match Play Championship, where he finished T17.
Russell Henley – A true rookie, Russell Henley won in just his third official start on the PGA TOUR (first as a professional), at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He became the first rookie to win in his first start as an official member of the PGA TOUR since Garrett Willis at the 2001 Touchstone Energy Tucson Open. His 256 total was also the third-lowest 72-hole total (tie with Mark Calcavecchia at the 2001 Phoenix Open) in PGA TOUR history. He won his first-round match against top-seeded Charl Schwartzel at the Accenture Match Play Championship – his first World Golf Championships start – and finished T17.
Martin Kaymer – Like Hanson, Germany’s Martin Kaymer took up PGA TOUR membership for the first time this year after qualifying via the 2012 non-member money list. Kaymer is making his 21st start in a World Golf Championships event. He owns one title (2011 HSBC Champions) and one runner-up finish (2011 Accenture Match Play Championship. Kaymer kicked his PGA TOUR season off at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, where he missed the cut, then finished T9 at the Accenture Match Play Championship. He posted a T6 and a T9 finish in his two European Tour appearances in January.
David Lynn – England’s David Lynn qualified for the TOUR by finishing in the top 125 on the 2012 PGA TOUR non-member money list, thanks to a second-place finish at the PGA Championships, worth $865,000. He has two previous World Golf Championships starts – a T69 at the 2012 HSBC Champions and a T33 at the 2013 Accenture Match play Championship, his best finish in five PGA TOUR starts this season.
SOURCE: PGA TOUR
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