A world of thrills

As we head into the 20th calendar year involving World Golf Championship events, it seems appropriate to look back at the nearly two decades of enthralling events that have spanned across multiple countries.

It was way back at the 1996 Presidents Cup when golf’s five world governing bodies -- the PGA TOUR, European Tour, Japan Golf Tour Organization, PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour -- reached agreement on several key elements of professional golf designed to create new international events.

From those meetings we saw:

- The formation of the International Federation of PGA Tours;

- A structure for a generally accepted worldwide ranking system;

- Joint sanctioning by the members of the International Federation of PGA Tours of significant competitions, including some at the world championship level for the game’s top players.

Those “significant competitions” would begin in 1999 with the debut of the World Golf Championships. The first event was 19 years ago this week, starting with what is now known as the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Played at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California, the event was won by Jeff Maggert. It was his lone WGC win.

Six months later, the second WGC event was held at Firestone Country Club. Tiger Woods was the winner. It was the first of his 18 WGC wins.

For the PGA TOUR’s wraparound schedule, the first WGC event is the HSBC Champions in the fall. This week’s WGC-Mexico Championship will be followed by the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and the finally the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August.

It’s been a fun ride so far.

TOP PLAYERS

Tiger Woods

The king of World Golf Championships is clearly Tiger Woods. His 18 wins is currently 13 more than the next best player. While he doesn’t have a HSBC Champions trophy in his case, Woods does have eight Bridgestone Invitational wins (1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2013), seven Mexico Championships (1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013 – all prior to the move to Mexico) and three Dell Technologies Match Play titles (2003, 2004, 2008). In total, he has 33 top-10 results in WGCs and has finished outside the top 25 on just seven occasions. He won two WGCs in one year six different times. He won the Bridgestone Invitational three straight years – twice -- and also won three Mexico Championships in a row as part of five wins in a six-year span.

Dustin Johnson

Johnson might be a distant 13 wins behind Woods with his five trophies, but he can lay claim to something Woods can’t. Johnson is the first man to capture the WGC Slam, having won all four of the current championships. Johnson won the Dell Technologies Match Play and the Mexico Championship last season to add to his 2015 Mexico Championship (at Doral), his 2016 Bridgestone Invitational and his 2014 HSBC Champions. The current World No. 1 has all five of his wins across his last 13 WGC starts.

Geoff Ogilvy

Ogilvy has not played in a WGC since early 2015 but there was a time he was very tough to beat in these events. The Australian has three wins on his resume, two coming in the Dell Technologies Match Play. He won in 2006 and 2009 while being runner up in 2007. But to prove he wasn’t a one-trick pony, Ogilvy also added the Mexico Championship (at Doral) in 2008.

Ernie Els

The Big Easy played second fiddle to Tiger Woods through most of his career but it didn’t stop him grabbing 11 Top-10s in WGCs, including wins at the 2004 and 2010 Mexico Championships (In Ireland and at Doral). The biggest surprise however probably came via his six first-round exits at the Dell Technologies Match Play, given the fact he has won the European Tour’s Match Play championship seven times.

Phil Mickelson

Mickelson has 18 top-10 results in WGCs including wins at the 2009 HSBC Champions and 2009 Mexico Championship (at Doral). He also won the 2007 HSBC Champions, but it had yet received WGC status at the time. He has top-five results in all four WGCs and has thrilled us with his usual swashbuckling play.

Rory McIlroy

McIlroy has played 33 WGC events and has finished inside the top 10 in an incredible 20 of those. This includes wins at the Dell Technologies Match Play in 2015 and a Bridgestone Invitational triumph in 2014. He has been outside the top-30 just three times. Clearly these events suit the Northern Irishman.

Adam Scott

The Australian has some big wins in his career and amongst those are two WGC triumphs. Scott took out the 2011 Bridgestone Invitational by starting with a sublime 62 and holding the lead or a share of it through all four rounds. He then won the last Mexico Championship held before the recent move to Mexico – getting the job down at Doral in 2016 despite falling six shots behind with 13 holes to play. Scott has 14 top-10s in his WGC career.

Honorable mentions: Sergio Garcia has 16 top-10s but no wins in 54 starts; Jim Furyk has 19 Top-10s without victory from 49 starts including an epic playoff loss to Tiger Woods in the 2001 Bridgestone Invitational and another heartbreaking loss in Akron to Keegan Bradley; Lee Westwood has been part of a record 59 WGC’s for a return of 11 top-10s with no wins.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

Tiger Woods Buries Stephen Ames

The Canadian Ames had drawn the short straw of getting Woods in the first round back when single elimination was in play at the 2006 WGC–Dell Technologies Match Play and certainly gave Woods plenty of ammunition when a tongue-in-cheek comment hit the media waves. “Anything can happen, especially where he's hitting the ball,” he had said in the lead-up. Something happened all right, as Woods shot 7-under on the opening nine to win every hole and then halved the 10th to end the match 9 and 8 in record fashion. But credit to Ames in his return to the event a year later where he met Robert Karlsson in the opening round – and dispatched him 8 and 7

Desert Snow

In one of the most bizarre scenes ever witnessed in WGC history, the opening round of the 2013 WGC- Dell Technologies Match Play in the Arizona desert at Dove Mountain was delayed … for snow. Midway through the opening day’s matches, a winter storm hit the cactus-lined layout and blanketed the course. Snowball fights ensued between some players while others huddled up with hot chocolate in the clubhouse.

Parry denies a Tiger four-peat

One of the more unlikely WGC winners was Australian Craig Parry – who was the first player not named Woods to win the WGC Bridgestone Invitational. Woods had won the first three renditions of the event at Firestone, but a move to Sahalee Country Club in 2002 changed his fortunes. Parry trailed the lead by seven shots after a 72 in the opening round before charging with a closing push of 65-66-65 for an incredible four stroke win. Woods – who finished fourth – was actually inadvertently to blame for Parry being in the field at all. Back then you earned a place if you won an event with a high-enough rating via the world rankings strength of field. World No.1 Woods, in a favor to then-caddie Steve Williams, had played in the New Zealand Open, boosting its value and ensuring the winner (Parry) would get the WGC start.

Upset Central

Before the recent change to a round robin format, the WGC–Dell Technologies Match Play used to be a straight up elimination contest, ensuring some huge upsets throughout the years. The biggest ones were generally based around top-seed Tiger Woods losing. He had issues against some journeymen Australians – losing to Peter O'Malley in the opening round of 2002 and then losing twice to Nick O'Hern. O'Hern got him in the second round of 2005 and then again in the third round of 2007. He lost to Thomas Bjorn in the opening round of 2011 and Charles Howell III in opening match of 2013. Rory McIlroy also bore the brunt of a loss as the top seed in the opening round when Shane Lowry took him out to open the 2013 event.

Giant Killers

It is one thing to get hot for a round or two; it is another thing to take it all the way through to victory of the tournament. Kevin Sutherland started the 2002 WGC–Dell Technologies Match Play ranked 62nd in the field of 64 players. He knocked off David Duval, Paul McGinley, Jim Furyk, David Toms and Brad Faxon to make a stunning push to the final and then took out another surprise finalist in Scott McCarron to get the trophy.

In the very first WGC event – the 1999 Match Play – few would have predicted a Jeff Maggert-Andrew Magee final -- yet that is what we got. Between them, they beat major winning players including Nick Price, Bernhard Langer, Tiger Woods and Darren Clark. Steve Stricker’s win in 2001 was also a big upset given he’d had two really lean years leading into it.

Hole-out Central

Last season we headed to Mexico City for the first time for what is now the WGC – Mexico Championship and were treated to highlight reel after highlight reel in terms of multiple hole-outs from off the green. With the altitude at Club de Golf Chapultepec at an incredible 7825 feet, we saw some massive shots but there was also 77 hole-outs to be exact, the most ever in a WGC event. Included in this was FedExCup champion Justin Thomas making an incredible ace on the 13th hole, which was made even better with Spanish football commentary over the top.

Great Big World

While the United States has dominated in terms of WGC wins with 37, multiple countries have had winners to ensure the World part of WGC has proven apt. Australia has eight wins, England five, Northern Ireland four, South Africa and Japan two each and one each for Germany, Canada, Fiji, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Sweden.

TOP SHOTS

French Magician

Plenty of eyebrows were raised when Frenchman Victor Dubuisson made it through to the final against Jason Day in the 2014 WGC–Dell Technologies Match Play. But by the end of the championship match, they knew exactly why he almost pulled off a famous victory. Sitting 2-down with two holes to play, Dubuisson won the 17th and 18th holes to send the match to extras. Then, seemingly dead with his ball over the back of the green tangled in a cactus he produced a miracle shot to save par and extend the match. He wasn’t done. On the next hole, stuck in another dead desert bush, he once again escaped, causing Day to just shake his head in disbelief and commentator Jim Nantz to call him “golden hands.” Eventually Day prevailed but Dubuisson stole the show.

Bubba Baby

In the last round of the 2015 WGC–HSBC Champions, Bubba Watson knew he needed some final-hole fireworks and was thinking eagle as he tried to reach the par-5 finishing hole in two. But he pushed it into a greenside bunker. Never fear. He then holed out of the sand with an incredible long bunker blast to ultimately get in a playoff … which he won with a long putt on the same hole shortly after.

Turn on the lights

The only thing trying to stop Tiger Woods during his procession towards victory in the 2000 WGC–Bridgestone Invitational was the sun. As it began to set, Woods was miles in front of his competitors, 10 shots clear. But he had no intention of coming back the next day. In almost pitch dark, his second shot at Firestone’s 18th hole from 167 yards was an epic laser and ended within two feet for another birdie and 11-shot win. Woods himself looked dead in the camera and said “How ‘bout that huh?”

Irish Eyes Are Smiling

On the same hole in 2015, Ireland’s Shane Lowry was heading for a likely win when he created a little bit of a scare by pulling his tee shot left into the trees. Not to worry – he just fired through the forest getting what Nick Faldo called “a gift” of a bounce off some limbs onto the green. He drained the putt for the win with David Feherty saying, “It’s hard to resist saying ‘ta da!’”

Amazing Aces

In 2010, the 12th hole at Doral for the WGC–Mexico Championship was proving very difficult to handle in some tough winds. Only a handful of players had held the putting surface from the tee. Now comes Robert Allenby in the second round. He pounded his 5-wood, which took a few bounces before disappearing for an ace, catapulting him to a share of the lead. He finished the week T11. Other awesome aces have been produced including the above-mentioned Justin Thomas hole-out in Mexico; Dustin Johnson and J.B. Holmes both getting the par-3 4th at Doral within 24 minutes of each other in 2015; Jim Furyk on the 15th at Firestone and K.T. Kim on the 17th at the HSBC Champions in 2015.

Watney Wizardry

When Nick Watney overshot the par-3 9th green at Doral in 2009, he looked to be in all sorts of trouble. Needing to thread a blind pitch through the gap between a grandstand and TV tower before landing on a downslope with everything running towards water … well, it did not seem like a fun proposition. But Watney nailed it by landing in the rough, bouncing on and hitting the hole. “He could try that 100 times and couldn’t do it again,” said Johnny Miller on commentary.

Fantastic Furyk

In the midst of an epic playoff with Tiger Woods in the 2001 WGC–Bridgestone Invitational, Jim Furyk left his third shot on the fourth playoff hole in the bunker with commentators declaring it was “game over.” But the gritty Furyk rid the bad thoughts of the flubbed shot out of his mind and duly holed the next one to extend the championship. The ball did a complete 360 around the hole in dramatic fashion. Woods needed three more holes before finally prevailing.

WGC RECORDS

Most Wins: 18 – Tiger Woods

Low 72 Holes: 259 (21-under) Tiger Woods (2000, WGC-BI)

Low 18 Holes: 61 (9-under) Tiger Woods, 2nd round 2000 WGC-BI; Tiger Woods, 2nd round 2013 WGC-BI; Sergio Garcia, 2nd round 2014 WGC-BI.

Largest Margin of Victory: 11 strokes Tiger Woods (2000, WGC-BI)


Oldest winner:
Vijay Singh, 45 years, 5 months, 12 days - 2008 WGC - BI

Youngest winner: Patrick Reed, 23 years, 7 months, 4 days - 2014 WGC-MC

HOST COURSES

There have been 16 courses used so far in the World Golf Championships, with just two in double digits in terms of hosting (* - current host courses)

*Firestone Country Club (South); Akron, Ohio, USA (18)

Blue Monster at Trump National; Doral, Florida, USA (10)

*Sheshan International Golf Club; Shanghai, China (8)

La Costa Resort and Spa; La Costa, California, USA (7)

The Golf Club at Dove Mountain; Marana, Arizona, USA (6)

*Austin Country Club; Austin, Texas, USA (2)

The Gallery Golf Club; Marana, Arizona, USA (2)

TPC Harding Park Golf Course, San Francisco, California, USA (2)

Mount Juliet Conrad, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland (2)

Valderrama Golf Club, Sotogrande, Andalucia, Spain (2)

*Club de Golf Chapultepec, Mexico City (1)

Sahalee Country Club, Sammamish, Washington, USA (1)

Metropolitan Golf Club, Melbourne, Australia (1)

Mission Hills Golf Club; Guangdong, China (1)

The Grove, Hertfordshire, England (1)

Capital City Club - Crabapple Course, Woodstock, Georgia, USA (1)

NOTE: Bellerive Country Club, St. Louis, Missouri was slated to host in 2011 but the event was cancelled in respect to 9/11.