Notebook: Round 1, WGC-CA Championship

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Mar. 11, 2010
By Joel Schuchmann, PGA TOUR Staff

Weather: Mostly cloudy and breezy conditions with a high near 80 degrees. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will be possible today as deep tropical moisture returns across south Florida. Total rainfall over the next 2 days is expected to range from 2-3 inches. Dry conditions will return over the weekend as humidity levels drop and slightly cooler air returns.

• Due to the threatening weather forecast for the area on Friday, second-round tee times for the World Golf Championships-CA Championship have been changed from 11:25 a.m.-1:10 p.m. to 8:00 a.m.-9:55 a.m. The scheduled groupings will remain the same, with threesomes playing off two tees.

• Twenty-five-year-old Charl Schwartzel (T1) continues his fine play in 2010, having won the first two events of the European Tour season, the Africa Open and the Joburg Open. He is currently third in the European Tour Race to Dubai and 35th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

• Schwartzel posted the only bogey-free round of the day.

• The 18th wreaked havoc on the field Thursday, averaging 4.647 for the day, with 37 of the 68 players carding bogey or worse. There were a total of 18 balls in the water on the closing hole.

• John Senden (1 foot, 7 inches) had the closest approach shot on No. 18. Senden had one of five birdies at 18 Thursday, along with Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Steve Stricker and Dustin Johnson.

• In 2009, the par-5 first hole proved to be the easiest hole on the PGA TOUR for the season (4.196) while the 18th proved to be the second-most difficult for the year (4.479). This year, expect similar statistics as through the first round, No. 1 was the easiest hole on the course at 4.324 while No. 18 was the most difficult (4.647).

• Ernie Els (T2) and Vijay Singh (T2) are the only two players among the top-10 through the first round that have captured World Golf Championships events. Els won the 2004 American Express Championship in Ireland while Singh won the 2008 Bridgestone Invitational in Ohio.

• Robert Allenby closed with four consecutive bogeys, dropping from the lead to a tie for second in the process. The last time Allenby had four or more consecutive bogeys was Round 2 of the 2009 Memorial Tournament, where he opened with five straight bogeys.

• Allenby posted a 6-under 30 on his first nine holes, one off the 9-hole course record set by Tom Kite in 1974 and later matched by Kite again in 1979.

• In 10 previous CA Championships, a first-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win the tournament on four occasions.

2002 Tiger Woods 65 (-7) 1 over Lowery, Toms
2006 Tiger Woods 63 (-8) 1 over Harrington, Poulter
2008 Geoff Ogilvy 65 (-7) tie Jimenez
2009 Phil Mickelson 65 (-7) tie Goosen, JM Singh, Marksaeng

• Last year, a total of seven players in their 20s won PGA TOUR events. With Camilo Villegas capturing last week's Honda Classic, it marked the fourth player in his 20s to win on the PGA TOUR in 2010:

Date Tournament Winner Age won
1/25 Bob Hope Classic Bill Haas 27 years, 8 months, 1 day
2/14 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Dustin Johnson 25 years, 7 months, 23 days
2/28 Waste Management Phoenix Open Hunter Mahan 27 years, 9 months, 11 days
3/7 The Honda Classic Camilo Villegas 28 years, 2 months

• Three players are competing in their first World Golf Championships event this week -- Bill Haas, Marc Leishman and Alistair Presnell.

• Bill and Jay Haas are the second father-son duo to have competed in World Golf Championships events. Jay competed in eight WGC events between 2003-2005, with a best finish a tie for fifth at the 2003 Accenture Match Play Championship. Craig (1999, 2001) and son Kevin Stadler (2006-2007) also competed in World Golf Championships events.

• Allenby is playing in his 218th event since his last PGA TOUR victory at the 2001 Marconi Pennsylvania Classic. During that span, he has collected 51 top-10s and six runner-up finishes.

• Having tied for fourth last week at The Honda Classic, Singh is looking for his first back-to-back top-10 finishes since winning The Barclays and Deutsche Bank Championship in consecutive weeks in 2008.

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