PGATOUR.COM - Final hole at Doral requires two perfect shots

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Final hole at Doral requires two perfect shots

Watery hole consistently ranks as one of the hardest in the world

DORAL, Fla. -- After pummeling a drive into the middle of the 18th fairway during a Tuesday morning practice round at the Blue Course at Doral Resort & Spa, Stuart Appleby asked his caddie, Joe Damiano, for a yardage to the green. Damiano simply handed him his 3-wood.

"Joe just said hit this, because there was no other choice," said Appleby, who was shaking his head and he reached his ball in the middle of the green. "There's a lot of tough holes we play, but the 18th here is a real piece of work. Coming down the stretch with a tournament on the line, I can think of a million other places you'd rather be than here."

The home hole on the famed Blue Monster is more than likely going to have a significant influence on the outcome of this week's World Golf Championships-CA Championship. Safe haven on the 467-yard par-4 closer is about as easy to find as a calm mortgage lender. Doral's Blue Monster has plenty of teeth, but it's on the 18th tee that players see its fangs.

Ranked the most difficult hole on the PGA TOUR two of the last three years, the wind-whipped par-4 is a gleaming example from the penal school of design. Nothing but the purest shots and the sharpest thinking will suffice in navigating its narrow grassy corridor.

"There is no bailout whatsoever," said Jim Furyk, who was runner-up to Scott Hoch in the 2003 Ford Championship at Doral, held on the same venue. "There's no letup. And it comes at the end of the round, when you're a little tired and maybe not thinking as well as you would be if you were fresh."

The problems begin with a daunting tee shot that must carry more than 285 yards over a lake -- and usually into the prevailing wind. Players unable to manage that must steer a tee shot between the water on the left and thick rough, a bunker complex and trees on the right. The second shot must again carry the water, this time to a narrow green that slopes towards a bank shaved down nearly to the water's edge. Two huge amoeba-shaped bunkers guard the right side of the green site.

"The 18th is just a great hole. It's one of the hardest holes by far that I can think of," said U.S. Presidents Cup captain Fred Couples, who considers the Blue Course one of his favorites. "All you have to do is hit a long, straight drive down the pipe and hit a sweet iron and you're there. If they shave the bank left of the green, it kind of tightens things up even a bit more down to nothing and good luck."

Like Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, site of last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, Doral's Blue Course was designed by Dick Wilson. It has undergone facelifts and teeth cleanings at the hands of Ray Floyd and, more recently, teaching pro Jim McLean. It was McLean who restored the full masticating reputation of the 18th when he moved back the championship tee 24 yards and to the left, which made the angle into the fairway much more challenging.

In 2003, the 18th hole ranked a mere and meek 323rd on the PGA TOUR as players bunted around it for a 4.104 average. After McLean's upgrade, it returned to the top when the field averaged 4.480. Last year with the winds piling on, the average ballooned to 4.625.

"Doral in general favors longer hitters, and it's definitely true at 18," England's Ian Poulter said. "If you can bomb it 300 yards, then it opens up for you a bit on the left. If not, then you have to favor the right side, and if you leak it just a little you're in the rough or the trees and you are probably laying up and making bogey. The tee ball sets up everything. It's a brutal hole."

Added Steve Stricker, the No. 4 player in the world: ''That drive is probably one of the toughest drives we have all year. I don't think it really favors anyone. It's either hit it in the fairway or struggle to make four."

The approach isn't a bargain, either. Sure, in 2004 Craig Parry holed out from the fairway to beat Scott Verplank in a playoff, but most players will gladly settle for just having a putt and then going to the scorer's tent.

"Just look at it," said Camillo Villegas, who finished second in the '06 Ford Championship. "Left, water. Long, left of the green, water. The green has a little angle where it makes it tricky, and just a tough hole, plus it blows. It blows hard there, and if it's into the wind or if it's coming from the left, you've just got to suck up and hit a good shot. Pick a good target, put an aggressive swing and hope it goes where you're aiming."

Hit and hope. Not exactly a great strategy, but that's the kind of unsteady emotion the 18th hole induces. When you're in the maw of the Monster, it's all you can do to avoid being chewed up and spit out.