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CA Championship Notebook: Pre-Event Details
 
Mar. 19, 2007


Name: World Golf Championships-CA Championship
What: The 13th of 36 events in the PGA TOUR Regular Season
Where: Doral, FL
Dates: March 19-25, 2007
Course: Doral Golf Resort & Spa (Blue Course) Par: 36-36--72; Yardage: 7,266

Eligible Players Are:
• The top 50 players, including any players tied for 50th place, from the OWGR as of March 12, 2007.
• The top 50 players, including any players tied for 50th place, from the OWGR as of March 19, 2007.
• The top 30 players from the 2006 Official PGA TOUR Money List.
• The top 10 players from the PGA TOUR FedExCup Points List as of March 12, 2007.
• The top 10 players from the PGA TOUR FedExCup Points List as of March 19, 2007.
• The top 20 players from the 2006 European Tour Order of Merit.
• The top 10 players from the 2006 European Tour Order of Merit as of March 12, 2007.
• The top 10 players from the 2006 European Tour Order of Merit as of March 19, 2007.
• The top three players from the 2006 Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit.
• The top three players from the Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit as of September 25, 2006.
• The top three players from the final 2006 Australasian Tour Order of Merit.
• The top three players from the final 2006/2007 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit.
• The top three players from the final 2006 Asian Tour Order of Merit.

FedExCup points: 26,250 (4,725 to the champion)
Purse: $8,000,000; Winner's Share: $1,350,000
Television: GOLF CHANNEL/NBC
Briefly: The World Golf Championships-American Express Championship is now the World Golf Championships-CA Championship, with the event moving to Doral Golf Resort & Spa, host of the PGA TOUR since 1962. Tiger Woods won both the Ford Championship at Doral and the American Express Championship last year and is looking for his sixth World Golf Championships-CA Championship title at Doral.

• The 2007 World Golf Championships-CA Championship will have an $8 million purse, with the game's top players competing for the $1.35 million first-place prize and the Gene Sarazen Cup. The event is also a part of the PGA TOUR's new FedExCup, the season-long competition where PGA TOUR member players will amass points based on their performance.

• One of three World Golf Championships events, the CA Championship will feature the top-50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking along with top finishers on the money lists of the six Tours comprising the International Federation of PGA Tours (PGA TOUR, European Tour, Australasian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Asian Tour and Sunshine Tour). The first two rounds will be televised by the Golf Channel, and NBC will broadcast the final two rounds. The tournament will be televised in 140 countries.

• Some of golf's best players have emerged victorious during the tournament's seven-year history. Tiger Woods counts five victories in this tournament among his 13 World Golf Championships titles. He won the inaugural event in 1999 at Valderrama in Spain and followed that up with victories in 2002 in Ireland, and in 2003 and 2005 in the United States. Last year, he was victorious in London. In 2000, Canadian Mike Weir captured the title, and in 2004, Ernie Els of South Africa triumphed.

• The World Golf Championships feature elite players in a variety of competitive formats at venues around the world. Since the series debut in 1999, World Golf Championships have been held in 10 countries. The CA Championship has been played five times in Europe and twice previously in the United States.

OTHER NOTES:
• Looking for a favorite other than Tiger Woods? Look no further than three players that have victories at the PGA TOUR's former event at Doral Golf Resort & Spa: Ernie Els (2002); Joe Durant (2001); and Jim Furyk (2000). Els is also a past champion of the

• World Golf Championships-CA Championship in Ireland in 2004, where he edged Thomas Bjorn by one stroke. The victory for Els was his last PGA TOUR win.

TOP-10 IN OFFICIAL WORLD GOLF RANKING HISTORY AT DORAL GOLF RESORT & SPA
OWGR as of February 26, 2007
Rank Player Starts Made Cuts Top-10s Wins Best Finish (Year)
1 Tiger Woods 4 4 4 1 1st (2005, 2006)
2 Jim Furyk 10 9 4 1 1st (2000)
3 Phil Mickelson 8 6 1 0 2nd (2005)
4 Adam Scott 1 0 0 0 --
5 Henrik Stenson 0 0 0 0 --
6 Ernie Els 8 6 3 1 1st (2002)
7 Geoff Ogilvy 2 2 0 0 T21 (2001)
8 Retief Goosen 4 4 2 0 3 (2004)
9 Vijay Singh 11 10 5 0 T2 (1996)
10 Luke Donald 2 2 0 0 T33 (2002)

• Entering the CA Championship, Stuart Appleby has competed in all 24 official World Golf Championship events -- tops among all players since the series inception in 1999. His best finish among the 23 was T2 at the 2003 CA Championship at the Capital City Club in Georgia.

• Entering the CA Championship, Padraig Harrington has competed in 23 consecutive official World Golf Championship events -- he did not qualify for the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in 1999 but has played in every event subsequently.

2006 AMERICAN EXPRESS CHAMPIONSHIP FOOTNOTES:
• Jim Furyk (4) posted his seventh top-10 in eight starts at the 2006 American Express Championship. The top-10 marked his first in six starts at the American Express Championship.

Brett Wetterich, playing in his first American Express Championship, led the 17 first-time participants with a tie for sixth in 2006. Brett Quigley (T9) also posted a top-10 in his first American Express Championship start.

• In the seven years of the American Express Championship, the 54-hole leader/co-leader has won four times, Tiger Woods in 2002, 2003 and 2005, and Ernie Els in 2004.

• Tiger Woods (2002, 2005, 2006) and Ernie Els (2004) are the only American Express Championship winners to record four rounds in the 60s.

• Three players managed to post four rounds in the 60s in 2006: Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Jim Furyk. A total of 15 players since the tournament's inception in 1999 have carded four rounds in the 60s.

2006 FORD CHAMPIONSHIP AT DORAL FOOTNOTES:
• Last year when Tiger Woods defended his title at the Ford Championship at Doral, he became the ninth player in tournament history to win the tournament multiple times (2005-06), but only the second player to win in back-to-back fashion, joining Raymond Floyd who won in 1980 and 1981.

• Since 1990 every winner of the Ford Championship at Doral, except Steve Elkington, has had ties to the state of Florida (birthplace and/or residence) at the time of his victory. Elkington won this event in 1997 and again in 1999. Prior to Elkington, 1989 winner Bill Glasson was the last tournament champion at Doral who did not have a connection to Florida (birthplace, resident).Tiger Woods is a resident of the state.

• In 2005, Tiger Woods set the tournament record with a 24-under 264, topping the old mark of 23-under 265 set by Greg Norman in 1993 and matched by Jim Furyk in 1999.

• No tournament on the PGA TOUR schedule as old as the Ford Championship at Doral has had so few playoffs. In the 43-year history of the event -- all played at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa's Blue Course -- there have only been six playoffs, including 2004's one-hole playoff between Craig Parry and Scott Verplank. The first playoff occurred in 1980, 19 years after the tournament's inception, followed by playoffs in 1986, 1990, 1991, 2003 and 2004. Four of the five winners have won with a birdie, while Greg Norman won with an eagle in 1990 and Craig Parry had an eagle in 2004.

• Here are the results of the only six playoffs in tournament history:
--1980 Raymond Floyd def. Jack Nicklaus with a birdie on the second playoff hole.
--1986 Andy Bean def. Hubert Green with a birdie on the fourth playoff hole.
--1990 Greg Norman def. Paul Azinger, Mark Calcavecchia and Tim Simpson with an eagle on the first playoff hole.
--1991 Rocco Mediate def. Curtis Strange with a birdie on the first playoff hole.
--2003 Scott Hoch def. Jim Furyk with a birdie on the third playoff hole.
--2004 Craig Parry def. Scott Verplank with an eagle (hole out from the fairway), on the par-4 18th, the first playoff hole.

• Craig Parry became the fifth foreign-born winner of the Ford Championship at Doral when he won in 2004, joining Greg Norman (1990, '93, '96), Nick Faldo (1995), Steve Elkington (1997, '99) and Ernie Els (2002). Eight times in the past 16 years a foreign-born player has won this event. There were no foreign-born winners during the first 28 years of this tournament.

• Four times a player 40 or older has gone on to win the Ford Championship at Doral the most recent was Scott Hoch in 2003 when he was 47 years, 3 month, 15 days. In 1996, Greg Norman won at the age of 41 years, 22 days. Raymond Floyd, the 1992 champion, is the oldest winner at Doral at the age of 49 years, 6 months and 4 days and Gardner Dickinson was 40 years, 5 months, the day of his victory in 1968.

• The record margin for the biggest come-from-behind victory at the Ford Championship at Doral is seven strokes by Greg Norman in 1990. Norman trailed Paul Azinger and Fred Couples by seven but fired a course-record final-round 10-under 62 to defeat Azinger, Mark Calcavecchia and Tim Simpson in a playoff.

FOUR ROUNDS IN THE 60s AT DORAL GOLF RESORT & SPA
Year Finish Player Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Total
2006 1 Tiger Woods 64 67 68 69 268/-20
2005 2 Phil Mickelson 64 66 66 69 265/-23
2005 T3 Vijay Singh 68 67 68 66 269/-19
2005 5 David Toms 69 66 69 67 271/-17
2003 2 Jim Furyk 68 66 69 68 271/-17
2000 1 Jim Furyk 65 67 68 65 265/-23
2000 T6 Russ Cochran 69 67 69 67 272/-16
2000 T6 Scott Verplank 67 69 68 68 272/-16
1996 1 Greg Norman 67 69 67 66 269/-19
1993 T2 Paul Azinger 67 66 68 68 269/-19
1993 T2 Mark McCumber 69 67 66 67 269/-19
1993 5 Sandy Lyle 69 67 68 68 272/-16
1992 T2 Fred Couples 66 69 69 69 273/-15

• Experience counts at the Ford Championship at Doral -- only six players have earned their first PGA TOUR victory here. It has only happened once since 1980. They include: Dan Sikes (1963), Tom Shaw (1969), Mike Hill (1970), Andy Bean (1977), Mark McCumber (1979) and Rocco Mediate (1991).

• Since 1962, just 13 players have been able to record four rounds in the 60s on the fabled Blue Monster course at Doral Golf Resort & Spa, including Tiger Woods in 2006. Jim Furyk has done it twice. Before Woods in 2006, Furyk was the last winner to post four rounds in the 60s.

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