Week 10 Approach Shots: Transitions Championship

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It had been a while since Retief Goosen won a PGA TOUR event. Four years to be exact. It wasn't as if the two-time U.S. Open champion had forgotten how to win a tournament, and it wasn't surprising that when things at the 2009 Transitions Championship stayed tight going down the stretch, Goosen was ready for the challenge.

TV/Radio (all times ET)

TV: GOLF CHANNEL (Thu.-Fri., 3-6 p.m.) NBC (Sat.-Sun. 3-6 p.m.) RADIO: PGA TOUR NETWORK - Sirius 209, XM 146, PGATOUR.COM (Thu.-Sun., 12-6 p.m.)

Weather

The forecast calls for sunshine on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with temperatures in the high 60s, low 70s. Sunday there is a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms. Winds should be between 5-15 mph. Updated weather info

Key links

• Expert picks | Tee times • Rankings | Fantasy Insider • Inside the Field | Course

Entering the final round of the 2009 event, Goosen trailed Tom Lehman by a stroke at the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club's Copperhead Course. After opening with rounds of 69-68-69, Goosen finished with a 1-under 70 in the final round to edge Charles Howell III and Brett Quigley. The victory was Goosen's seventh PGA TOUR title to go with his 23 individual international wins.

Another strong field has assembled this week in the Tampa suburb of Palm Harbor, FL, as Goosen looks for his second consecutive win in the tournament and third overall (he also won in 2003). The 41-year-old South African has already racked up three top-10 finishes this season, a fourth-place showing at the Sony Open in Hawaii, a tie for fifth at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and a tie for sixth at the SBS Championship.

JAPAN'S YOUNG STARS: Ryo Ishikawa will play on a sponsor's exemption for the second year in a row, joined this year by Yuta Ikeda, a 24-year-old from the Japan Golf Tour. Both Ishikawa and Ikeda won four titles each last year and ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in almost every major category on the 2009 Japan Golf Tour. Ishikawa made his first PGA TOUR cut at the Transitions Championship last year, finishing 71st. He was also one of Captain Greg Norman's selections for the 2009 Presidents Cup International Team.

FINAL THREE HOLES: Nos. 16, 17 and 18 (The Snake Pit) at The Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort were ranked the 68th, 142nd and 148th most-difficult holes on TOUR in 2009. The final three holes played a total of 0.634 over-par. Copperheads "Snake Pit" joins three other courses on TOUR who's final three holes ranked inside the top 150 most difficult in 2009 -- Muirfield Village, Quail Hollow and Hazeltine National.

TOUGH TRACK: The Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort ranked as the ninth-most difficult course on TOUR in 2009. Only three players have shot all four rounds in the 60s during a tournament in the history of the Transitions Championship. K.J. Choi was the first to do it in 2002, followed by Vijay Singh in 2002 and Jesper Parnevik in 2004. Of the group, only Parnevik didn't go on to win. That year, he tied for second.

Retief Goosen is the only player to shoot four sub-par rounds in a Transitions Championship (69-68-69-70 in 2009) since the event moved from the fall to the spring in 2007.

Did you know?

Seven players have played in all nine Transitions Championships: John Huston, Billy Andrade, Brian Gay, Tim Herron, Lee Janzen, Billy Mayfair and Shaun Micheel. Gay, Huston and Janzen are playing this week.

Columnists' predictions

Each week, PGATOUR.COM columnists will predict the winner. Here are their picks for the Transitions Championship. Columnist Pick Comment Stan AWTREY CHARLES HOWELL III: He's got a track record at Innisbrook (second in 2009, sixth in 2007) and has played well this season. A win gets him back in the Masters. Craig DOLCH JUSTIN ROSE: Justin Rose has a decent record here and has played well to start the Florida Swing. John MAGINNES STEVE STRICKER: Steve Stricker can make up some more ground on the world No. 1 this week if he wins for the second time this year. Melanie HAUSER PADRAIG HARRINGTON: First timer here, but his game is rounding into shape for Augusta. Finished T3 last week.

What the winner gets

A win this week at World Golf Championships-CA Championship will earn the following benefits: • Fully Exempt for the remainder of 2010 and all of 2011 and 2012. • 500 FedExCup points. It took 354 points to qualify for the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup in 2009 and 494 to reach the Deutsche Bank Championship. • A spot in the following events in order of play: 2010 Masters, 2010 PLAYERS Championship, 2010 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, 2010 Memorial, 2010 AT&T National, 2010 PGA Championship, 2010 WGC-Bridgestone Inv. (probably, based upon field strength). • A spot in the 2011 SBS Championship. • If a U.S. player, 972,000 points towards making the 2011 Presidents Cup team. • If it is a second victory for a player since last June 4, a spot in the U.S. Open.

Bolton's Yahoo! selections

Fantasy columnist Rob Bolton will provide his Yahoo! picks as a starting point for you every week. Use the advice and opinion from his Power Rankings and Fantasy Insider to assist in determining lineups changes throughout each tournament. Group Starters Bench Group A Steve Stricker Vijay Singh Group B Stewart Cink, Charles Howell III Padraig Harrington, Geoff Ogilvy Group C Justin Rose Mathew Goggin

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