Showdown in Florida: Doral's TPC Blue Monster vs. Bay Hill

text size

Mar. 8, 2010
By LINKS Magazine

In March, players start preparing for the Masters by taking on a pair of Dick Wilson's best designs: Bay Hill for the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, and Doral's TPC Blue Monster for the World Golf Championships-CA Championship. Both are great tests for PGA TOUR pros and resort guests alike, with plenty of length, sand, water and tricky greens.

LINKS Magazine has partnered with PGATOUR.COM to provide information and features on the best golf courses in the country. For a special LINKS Magazine subscription offer for PGATOUR.COM readers, please click here.

More Destinations

Check out our archive page

Like most Florida layouts, Doral is flat. Wilson used hazards to great effect, giving the course its character. Even so, while bunkers and water may intimidate average players, they have little effect on TOUR pros; wind makes the Blue to be a true monster.

Bay Hill has more elevation changes, but the layout is straightforward, with enough hazards to make players sweat a bit before pulling the trigger on many drives and approach shots, as at the boomerang-shaped 558-yard sixth. This is the hole where John Daly made 18 in 1998, when he kept trying to drive the green, more than 300 yards from the tee.

Tiger Woods had no problems driving the green of the 372-yard 16th at theTPC Blue Monster on his way to winning at Doral for three consecutive years, from 2005 o 2007. A lot can happen on this short par 4 -- as well as on the closing holes on both courses. Doral and Bay Hill offer two of the most exciting, unpredictable finishes in tournament golf.

The 18th holes have seen two of the best shots in golf history: Robert Gamez holed a 7-iron to win the 1990 event at Bay Hill, while Craig Parry slam-dunked a 6-iron at Doral in 2004 to defeat Scott Verplank in a playoff.

While both closing holes are challenging, Bay Hill's finishing stretch arguably offers more interesting --and more dramatic -- golf, starting with the 485-yard 16th, which was converted to a par 4 prior the 2007 tournament. That decision reduced the hole's risk/reward factor, but it's still exciting to watch players going for the water-guarded green.

Bay Hill's 219-yard 17th elicits a wide range of scores, from birdie to double bogey, the score Greg Owen made in 2006 to lose to Rod Pampling. But no matter what they make on the 17th, players needs to focus the 18th hole. Only after walking off that green can they reflect on the gauntlet they have undergone.

So which course has the better finishing hole?

Bay Hill's 441-yard closer dares players to hit a well-judged, precisely executed iron to a shallow green guarded short and right by water. But the tee shot is straightforward, to a wide fairway. Even indifferent drives offer a chance to reach the green in regulation.

Just as demanding, the putting surface at the TPC Blue Monster's 467-yard finale is guarded by water short and left. But the hole is much more difficult because water is in play off the tee, making the landing area much smaller.

Simply put, Doral's 18th requires two great shots just to make par. So it's no surprise that in 2007, it was the most difficult hole on TOUR, with a scoring average of 4.625, and is consistently among the hardest finishing holes.