CA Championship: Players To Watch

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Mar 20, 2007

CA Championship: Players To Watch

Tiger Woods

Woods has ruled the World Golf Championships, winning 12 of his 23 starts since its inception in 1999. Among those 12 wins (he also shares a 13th win with David Duval at the 2000 World Cup) are five CA Championships, including last year's win in London. He also loves Doral -- in his last eight rounds, Tiger is 44-under.

Vijay Singh

Singh comes off a two-shot win at Bay Hill in which he carded consecutive 67s on the weekend. He now has two Tour wins this year, the first multiple-winner of this season.

Phil Mickelson

Mickelson has never won a WGC event, but he has played well at Doral, including his celebrated duel with Tiger Woods in 2005. Lefty already has a win this year (Pebble Beach).

Ernie Els

The Big Easy's last PGA Tour win came in 2004 at the CA Championship in Ireland. He has also tasted success at Doral, having won the Tour event there in 2002. Last week, he tied for 18th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational while playing with a full set of Callaway clubs for the first time since switching from Titleist.

Henrik Stenson

Stenson won the first WGC event of the year, the Accenture Match Play Championship at The Gallery in Tucson, Ariz., when he beat Geoff Ogilvy 2 & 1 in the 36-hole final. He also won the Dubai Desert Classic on the European Tour this year.

Retief Goosen

The Goose has played well early on the European Tour this season, winning the Qatar Masters. But he has not won on the PGA Tour in his last 26 starts and has dropped to ninth in the World Rankings. He teamed with Ernie Els to win the WGC-World Cup in 2001.

David Howell

Howell has struggled for most of 2007 while adjusting to a new caddie following his split with Mick Doran. He won twice on the European Tour last year, but plans to play more PGA Tour events this year.

Jim Furyk

Furyk withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitation due to soreness of his left wrist, the one that required surgery in 2004. But Furyk is hoping to use Doral, where he won in 2000, as a springboard in preparation for the Masters.

Sergio Garcia

Garcia has two top-10 finishes in four starts on the Tour this year, including a tie for fifth at last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational. But he has not won in his last 31 Tour starts and has not played particular well at Doral the last two years, with finishes of T-57 and T-64.

David Toms

Tom has three top-10 finishes in six starts this year, and he also usually plays well at Doral, having finished in the top five in his last three starts at the Blue Monster.