Tiger-less Funai Classic an open contest
IN: News | US PGA | Funai Classic (2006) | Preview | by Bruce Young | 18 Oct 2006
The final two full field events of the 2006 PGA Tour will be played in Florida and start this week at the Funai Classic at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando.
The Funai Classic is again played over the Palms and Magnolia courses at the Disney World Resort, as it has since its inaugural staging back in 1971, although in its very first year just the Magnolia course was used while the Palms course was being completed. For sixteen of those years a third course was added when the adjacent Buena Vista layout was also included but since 1998 just the two courses have been included in the rota.
The winner back in 1971 was Jack Nicklaus, in fact he would win the event in each of its first three years. Nicklaus has been the most dominant player in the event with no other player having won it more than twice. After three years as an invitational event the tournament became a two man Teams Championship in 1974 and was played as that for the next eight years. Since 1982 the tournament has reverted to a 72 hole strokeplay event and is now played over the two courses on the opening two days with the host course, Magnolia, the focus of attention over the weekend.
Both courses were designed by Joe Lee although both have undergone revamps in recent years.
The disappointment for tournament organisers and local fans is the absence of Tiger Woods, a two time winner of the event. Woods' decision will mean that he will be unable to win the Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average on tour provided that the player concerned has player a minimum of 60 rounds. With Woods likely to play the season ending Tour Championship he will have played 59 rounds when that event is completed.
The defending champion is Lucas Glover who, when winning twelve months ago, became a first time winner on the USPGA Tour. While he has yet to win in 2006 his season has been even more productive than 2005 in terms of overall earnings and that he has been even more consistent. His recent sixth place at the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro was his 8th top ten of the year and it would be no surprise if he was to repeat his heroics of last year when his last round of 65, which included a holed bunker shot at the final hole, swept him to victory. Glover was also 10th in 2004 indicating his liking for the tournament layouts.
The most highly ranked player in the event is Vijay Singh, a four shot winner in 2003 and runner up in 2004 but a golfer who has not played to his customary level of consistency in recent weeks.
Davis Love 111 has really found some form in his past few starts and with the win at Greensboro behind him he returns to a tournament where he has been twice runner up and a consistently good placegetter no doubt with a far greater belief in his ability to win than was the case two months ago.
Justin Rose was third in 2005 and played well also in his first start in this event in 2004. His form prior to missing the cut recently in Greensboro was building towards a win and it might it would be no surprise to see him contending again. He has perhaps been guilty of not finishing off some of the very good starts he has made in 2006 but this provides a good opportunity to prove he has what it takes to win on the PGA Tour.
Scott Verplank has often played this event well including when runner up to Singh in 2003. He started last week's Frys.com event well but was lost in the rush at the weekend. It might be that he goes a little better here.
Harrison Frazar has a third place in 2005 to his credit in this event and he has been playing well in recent weeks. Frazar has not won on the USPGA Tour but he has a good chance to contend this week at juicy odds.
Bart Bryant seems to be finding the sort of form that saw him such a success on the PGA Tour in 2005. He has played solidly without any real success in this event but things seem to be falling into place for a good week this week.
Shigeki Maruyama has been on the fringe of contention in recent weeks and has played well in Florida on occasions although not at this event. On the one occasion he has played at Disney World he missed the cut but he can do better this week.
It is always a challenge for a player to back up after a victory but Troy Matteson displayed a capacity to back up one good week after another in 2005. He has found a rich vein of form over the past three starts and it may not yet be exhausted.
The Australians are represented by two of their best players and both have had considerable success on Bermuda grass. Neither Stuart Appleby nor Robert Allenby has played well in this event but Allenby in particular has been playing very well in recent weeks. Appleby also was 6th at his last start at the American Express event in England and therefore has claims.
Nathan Green, Peter Lonard, Stephen Leaney, Mark Hensby, Craig Parry, Phil Tataurangi, Greg Chalmers and Craig Perks make up the rest of the Australasians.
