One of my favorite events of the year is this week on the PGA Tour. It's the Chrysler Championship at the Westin Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla., just outside Tampa.
It's special to me because it's my home course. I've been a member there for about a year and a half and absolutely love it.
I also absolutely love that the players love the course so much. Many of the 132 pros on hand for the final full-field event of the year just rave about the course and how it's such a great challenge.
They're complaining about the rough being too high, and I can sympathize. I've been losing balls in the high stuff for two months now.
But that's good. These guys need challenges, and that's why they like playing here. No one will shoot 25-under here like they do at Disney. There will be no 59s or 60s shot here. It's that tough, and when that's the case the cream usually rises to the top. The key to playing well here is to keep the ball in the fairway and adeptly maneuver on the quick, slick and tricky greens.
Keeping it in the fairway isn't all that easy, even for these guys. I've watched them plant another 25 trees or so since last year, and they did it on the holes that already were very narrow. It takes a good player on top of his game to win here.
That's what so great about golf. I can't go play baseball at Fenway Park or Wrigley Field with the pros, and I can't lace them up against the big boys in Madison Square Garden or the United Center.
But I can play the same course as these guys, and I can marvel at their abilities from spots I've been in before.
It should also be a great tournament. There are plenty of big names in the field, including Vijay Singh and Ernie Els, who are the WagerWeb.com favorites, going off at 14 to 1. Adam Scott (16 to 1) and Retief Goosen (20 to1) are in the field as well. Goosen and Singh are prior champions here. Last year it was Carl Pettersson who won, as have John Huston (2000) and K.J. Choi.
Notice something in that group? Ball-striking is at a premium.
Singh put on a great display here in 2004, winning by five shots with an 18-under score, the lowest winning score to date. He was on fire at the time, concluding his best year on tour. He loves this course, and you can expect big things from him again this week. He posted some low numbers at Disney last week and seems to be on his game.
Some others I like this week are Mike Weir (65-1), J.J. Henry and Tim Herron (both field, 15-1), for the superstitious reasons. Like Huston, Goosen and Singh before them, these guys were the first guys I'd seen this week at different spots: Weir in the parking lot, Henry walking to the clubhouse and Herron at dinner at Carrabba's on Tuesday night. There's karma there, and maybe one of those three long shots will hit it big this week.
In any case, I'm looking forward to watching the stars in person this week. It should be fun.
And then I'll cheer even louder when they fire up the mowers and cut the rough back!
Selfish, aren't I?
