The 2004 Ford Championship at Doral had one of the most thrilling and surprising finishes in PGA Tour history.
In a playoff, Craig Parry holed out for eagle from 176 yards with a 6-iron on the diabolical par-4 18th to claim the victory over Scott Verplank.
What made the shot—and win—even more impressive was that it came on one of the Tour’s historically hardest holes. That year in particular, it was ranked the most difficult on Tour, with a scoring average of 4.48.
Now, for this week’s Cadillac Championship, the Tour is back at Doral for the first time in a decade. And players are bracing for the Blue Monster, which was the 11th hardest course on Tour in 2016.
But there’s a close eye on that rigorous closing hole.
“You know if you make bogey you’re not going to kill yourself,” Jhonattan Vegas said of No. 18 on Tuesday. “Obviously, you can make a massive number on that hole. So you have to attack that hole very conservatively. You just can’t let that hole beat you, or be your week. So you have to attack that probably very conservative and try to execute the best four shots that you can on that hole.”
Stretching 473 yards, it’s imperative to hit a good tee shot. The fairway is only about 30 yards wide and water lines the entire left side of the hole. A drive in the right rough essentially eliminates any chance of birdie, with trees up the right side, too.
“You’re in the lap of the gods there in terms of the lie you get [in the rough], what have you,” said Justin Rose, who won at Doral in 2012. “Just a very narrow tee shot, and then obviously hazards along the way. So you’re trying to manage the risk really on that hole. To play it properly, you have to stand up and make two great swings.”
The green is no bargain, either. It’s narrow and elongated, with water on the left and two deep bunkers on the right.
“Any way you want to look at it, it’s pretty hard,” Scottie Scheffler said.
In 2016, it was the ninth-hardest hole on Tour, playing .425 strokes over par. The year before that, it was ranked the second-most difficult. And in addition to 2004, it was first in 2007.
If the wind’s howling, which it often is, that gives the hole another layer of toughness.
“If 18 was downwind, it wouldn’t be that hard of a hole for me, just because the fairway is significantly wider once you get to that 320 carry,” said Scheffler, the world No. 1. “But if it’s into the wind, now all of a sudden the fairway’s 25 yards wide at the most, also playing into the wind and so now instead of hitting a wedge into the green I’m going to be hitting a 4-iron. That’s if I can get the ball in the fairway … so that hole depends on the wind direction.”
If that’s the case, scorecards will inflate.
“I guarantee that hole’s going to play way over par,” Vegas said. “At least [a scoring average of 4.5] or something like that.”
Yet the carnage can yield a thrilling finish. Of course, someone could defy the odds as Parry did. However, just trying to grind out a par can keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
Look at Adam Scott in 2016, for example. After a late rally in the final round, the Aussie, holding a one-stroke lead, needed a par on the last for the win. Things didn’t look good for him when his tee shot fell in the right rough, with a palm tree hindering his line to the green. So he hit left around the tree and his shot seemed destined for the water. But the ball was caught in by rough, and he’d chip to 6 feet en route to clinching the victory.
“It’s a great closing hole for championship golf because it demands two great shots to have a kind of a regulation par,” Scott said Tuesday. “I quite like that, to be honest.”
Maybe he and Parry do. Many others, though, who have fallen victim to the brute, might not echo that sentiment.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Trump Doral’s Daunting 18th Is Back and Ready to Wreak Havoc on the PGA Tour’s Best.
