Top class field lines up at Quail Hollow
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2009 Quail Hollow Championship | Preview | 30 Apr 2009
The Quail Hollow Country Club in Charlotte, North Carolina is the next stop for the 2009 PGA Tour but with Tiger Woods back for his first event since the Masters and the quality of this week’s layout, it is more than just another PGA Tour stop.
Quail Hollow Country Club has a long history of staging PGA Tour events dating back to 1969 when Dale Douglass won the Kemper Open at the original George Cobb designed, and subsequently Arnold Palmer and Tom Fazio redesigned layout. After a break of 24 years, however, tournament golf returned to Quail Hollow in 2003 when Wachovia came on board as a new sponsor and the event has grown in status since.
This year the event is renamed with Wachovia having been taken over by Wells Fargo late last year. As a result of the US Government’s recent financial support of such institutions, Wells Fargo took its name and that of Wachovia off the event.
The course by all accounts will be fast and firm ensuring that the tough test that it already was will be even more demanding.
It was at this event twelve months ago where Anthony Kim broke through to win his first PGA Tour event and announced his arrival as a world class player. Kim followed it up a few weeks later with victory on another high class golf course at Congressional Country Club and by year’s end had risen to number 11 in the world. Things have not been quite so good since although there has been enough to suggest that a successful defence is not out of the question.
Woods won this event in 2007 but did not play in 2008 due to the knee issues he was experiencing even prior to his major surgery in June. He has done well enough in the weeks since he has been back for him to be the major focus of attention this week.
Phil Mickelson made such a bold bid for victory at Augusta National that he must rate a very good chance to do battle with Woods again this week. He has not won this event but has played the tournament and the golf course well.
Nick Watney was disappointing at the Zurich Classic but prior to that he had played well for several weeks. He has a solid record at this event and if he can return to the play which saw him win at Torrey Pines and finish runner up at Doral then he could well contend again.
Jim Furyk is another with a great record in this event with a win and two top tens in his last four starts and although he surprisingly missed the cut at the Verizon Heritage there were enough signs in his previous events to indicate his good record at Quail Hollow might just continue.
David Toms appears to be getting back to the sort of form that saw him win this event in 2003. He finished 5th last week in New Orleans and earlier in the season there were one or two other good finishes including when runner up in Hawaii and when 4th in Phoenix. He plays with Tiger Woods in the opening two rounds which may not necessarily be a good thing for him.
Geoff Ogilvy has had a great season to date in 2009 and in five starts on this golf course he has not been worse than 24th. As the world number four and in the form he has been in then he must be a chance.
Sergio Garcia finished runner up in this event in 2005 and although he has not been at his best of late his efforts have not been bad. He has a streak of 26 consecutive cuts made in tournaments worldwide and it would be a surprise to see that stopped this week.
Sean O’Hair is in fine form with five top ten finishes in nine starts this season. He has not played this venue well and that is a question mark for his chances this week but if he can find a way to negotiate this layout then he is playing well enough to contend.
Another player of real interest is Angel Cabrera who plays his first event since Augusta. It might be a bit much to expect him to contend after what has no doubt be two weeks of celebrations but it will be fascinating to see how he backs up.
Of the Australians other than Ogilvy there will be much interest in Adam Scott who has disappeared from the radar in recent times. Scott does have a very good record at Quail Hollow finishing 3rd and 8th in two of his four appearances at the tournament. The concern for Scott and his admirers however is his current form. Since his very good start to the season when runner up in Hawaii he has gone backwards, missing his last three cuts and as to how he goes this week well it might just be anyone’s guess.
Other Australasians in the field are Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Aaron Baddeley, Rod Pampling Mattie Goggin, John Senden, Nick O’Hern, Nathan Green, Peter Lonard, Danny Lee, James Nitties, Jarrod Lyle, Greg Chalmers, Aron Price, Steve Elkington, Marc Leishman and Stephen Leaney.
