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By John Maginnes
PGATOUR.com Contributor

DORAL, Fla. -- They say that the hardest thing to do in sports is to hit a well-thrown curve ball. The inability to hit the curve put a premature end to my baseball career. Aside from the fact that I had slow feet and a weak arm, I was well on my way to riding the pine on my junior high squad when I saw my first curve ball.

Geoff Ogilvy is the only player to hit the 18th green in regulation on both of the first two days. (Sam Greenwood/WireImage)

If hitting a curve ball is, in fact, the hardest feat in all of sports I would suggest that hitting the fairway on the 18th hole at Doral is a close second. When you stand on the tee of the 465-yard par 4 that ends the Blue Monster all you can see is water. The lake that frames the left side of the hole juts out into the fairway right in the landing zone.

Back a few years ago when the power revolution took hold in golf, the 18th at Doral became more mouse than monster. However, by simply stretching the tee back to its current position, the water is fully in play. The landing area of the fairway is a scant 22 yards wide.

Sure, you can bail out to the right in the rough. But it is almost impossible to hit the green from the 3-inch Bermuda rough. The lake that protects the landing area off the tee stretches the length of the hole and even slides into play in front of the green. This little strip of hazard prevents players from landing short of the green and chasing a ball up onto the putting surface.

The wind has been blowing at least 20 mph in the first two rounds of the World Golf Championships-CA Championship. The players are describing it as a two-club wind. On the final hole the wind has been blowing off the lake from the players' left to right. This means that for a right-handed player to find the fairway he must flirt with the water.

There are two options for the right-handed player. The first is to pick a line down the middle of the fairway and try to draw a shot against the wind. The hope here is that the wind will hold the shot on line and that it will find the fairway. The second option is to start a straight drive down the water line and let the wind blow it back in to the fairway.

The majority of the players who fail to execute this second option end up in the right rough. Players who try to hit a draw and miss, end up raising the level of the hazard by a slim margin. That is what Sergio Garcia did in the second round and he ended up making double bogey.

After properly executing one of the toughest drives on the PGA TOUR successfully, the second shot is no bargain, either. I have suggested to the tournament staff that they should issue hard hats to the spectators who sit in the grandstand to the left of the green. The left side of the 18th green sits pressed against the water. Any ball that lands on the extreme left portion is likely to run down the shaved slope and into the water.

If you choose to bail out right you could be faced with one of the toughest up-and-downs in all of golf. The bunkers that guard the left side of the green are severe. If you end up in the right side of the bunker you will be playing a shot from the downslope back toward the water. Vijay Singh found himself in that unenviable position in the first round and knocked it over the green into the water, making double bogey in the process.

The scores on No. 18 through two rounds are staggering. There have been as many triple bogeys -- or worse -- as there have been birdies. Only four players have managed to conquer the beast while there have been 20 double bogeys. Furthermore, there have been as many bogeys as there have been pars. All of that adds up to the toughest hole on the golf course with a stroke average playing higher than two of the par 5s.

While I have never seen a major league curve from the batters' box I can assure you that it is not as intimidating as standing on the 18th tee at Doral with a 30 mph wind blowing. Besides, in baseball if you swing and miss you get two more chances. If you hit a foul ball you don't have to chase it. Finally, if you don't swing and the ump calls it a ball you get to hear the only compliment I ever got as a baseball player -- Good eye!!!

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