Conference 7.286::golf

2068.0. "96 DORAL OPEN" by STOWOA::tavo.ogo.dec.com::ODIAZ (Octavio Diaz) Thu Feb 29 1996 15:23

For those of you Internet-impared, here is some info on this weekend's US PGA 
tournament from the ESPN page.

ESPNET SportsZone | Golf

Doral Open

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When: Feb. 28-March 3, 1996.
Where: Doral Country Club, Miami.
Purse: $1.8 million.
Par: 36-36--72.
Yards: 6,939.
Tournament record: 265, Greg Norman (1993).
TV: Thursday and Friday, USA, 4-6 p.m. ET; Saturday and Sunday, CBS, 4-6
p.m.

Hole-by-hole:

1  Par 5    514 yards      10  Par 5    563 yards
2  Par 4    355 yards      11  Par 4    348 yards
3  Par 4    398 yards      12  Par 5    591 yards
4  Par 3    237 yards      13  Par 3    246 yards
5  Par 4    371 yards      14  Par 4    418 yards
6  Par 4    427 yards      15  Par 3    174 yards
7  Par 4    415 yards      16  Par 4    360 yards
8  Par 5    528 yards      17  Par 4    406 yards
9  Par 3    163 yards      18  Par 4    425 yards
---------------------      ----------------------
      36  3,408 yards             36  3,531 yards

Top players entered

Billy Andrade -- Finished second in 1994, three strokes behind John Huston;
three top-10 finishes in 1995; two career titles came back-to-back in 1991;
ranked 69th on 1995 money list, earning $276,494; career earnings of over
$2 million; was a member of the 1986 N-C-A-A championship team at Wake
Forest.

Paul Azinger -- Had only one top-10 finish in 1995; has won 11 career
titles; was out of action most of 1994 after undergoing treatment for
lymphoma and has not won on Tour since; eighth on the all-time money list
with over $7 million.

Ben Crenshaw -- Won tournament in 1988; won his second Masters championship
in 1995 and made the Ryder Cup team, where he went 0-3 in his matches; had
four top-10's and earned $737,475 in 1995; ninth on all-time money list
with over $6.8 million; 22nd in the world rankings; has won at least one
tournament each year since turning 40 in 1992. 18 career Tour victories,
including the 1984 Masters and the 1998 Doral Open.

John Daly -- Had only one top-10 finish in 1995, but it was good for a win
at the British Open; became the youngest active player on Tour with two
major titles, the first being the 1991 PGA Championship; 43rd in world
rankings; driving average of 289.0 yards in 1995 was the longest since
records were first kept in 1980 and it was the fourth time in five years
that he led the Tour in driving distance.

David Duval -- 1995 Rookie of Year candidate finished 11th on the money
list with $881,436; burst onto the scene with runner-up finishes at Pebble
Beach and Bob Hope Classic in a two-week stretch last year; had two other
Top Three finishes in 1995; 47th in world rankings; became one of only
three N-C-A-A Division I golfers to be named a four-time, first-team
All-American while attending Georgia Tech.

Steve Elkington -- Finished tied for fourth in last year's tournament: won
first major title of his career at the 1995 P-G-A Championship, also
finished second at the Memorial, fifth at Masters and sixth at the British
Open; was fifth on the money list with $1,254,352, his first million-dollar
season; ninth in the world rankings; had a 69.59 scoring average in 1995,
second only to Greg Norman.

Ernie Els -- Won 1995 Byron Nelson Classic; finished second at the
International, tied for third at the Buick Open and the PGA Championship;
won 1994 U.S. Open; third in the world rankings; has made the cut in six
consecutive tournaments.

Nick Faldo -- Defending champion as he posted a one-stroke victory over
Peter Jacobsen and Greg Norman; victory at Doral Open was one of six top-10
finishes in 1995; finished tied for second in Mercedes Championships;
seventh in the world rankings; has made the cut in thirteen consecutive
tournaments; two-time Masters champion (1989-1990); three-time British Open
champion (1987, 1990, 1992).

Raymond Floyd -- Three-time Doral Champion (1980-81, 1992); 1992 victory
was last P-G-A Tour victory; later that year he became the first player to
win on both the P-G-A and Senior Tours in the same year; he and Sam Snead
are the only two players to record Tour victories in four different
decades; played just four events on the regular tour last year, but made 21
Senior Tour appearances; career earnings of over $5.1 million are 23rd
all-time.

John Huston -- Won 1994 Doral Open by three strokes over Billy Andrade and
Brad Bryant for third career victory, and has not won on the tour since;
runner-up at last month's Bob Hope Classic; tied for 69th in world
rankings; recorded five Top 10 finishes in 1995.

Peter Jacobsen -- Enjoyed a banner year in 1995, had five top-10 finishes,
including back-to-back wins at Pebble Beach and the Buick Invitational; all
five of his top-10 finishes were in the top three positions; was over $1
million in earnings in 1995; 25th in world rankings; 31st on all-time money
list with over $4.5 million.

Tom Kite -- Won 1984 Doral Open; last victory on tour came in the
rain-shortened 1993 Nissan Open; second on all-time P-G-A money list behind
Greg Norman, with over $9.3 million in career earnings; was the first
player to reach $9 million in career earnings; biggest victory came at the
1992 U.S. Open, one of 19 career titles; 85th in world rankings.

Bernhard Langer -- Two-time Masters champion; finished second in the 1995
Players Championship; winner of 33 international tournaments, including two
in 1995; has at least one European Tour victory in each of the last 17
years; currently fourth in the Sony world rankings.

Mark McCumber -- Two-time Doral champion (1979, 1985); finished tied for
twelfth last year, six strokes off the lead; 27th on all-time money list
with over $4.7 in career earnings; owns 10 career victories, including 1988
Players Championship; 20th in world rankings.

Phil Mickelson -- Is off to a blistering start in 1996; leads Tour in
earnings at over $600,000 after winning the Nortel Open and Phoenix Open;
is the first to win at Tucson and Phoenix in the same year since Johnny
Miller in 1975; was in position to earn yet another win at Pebble Beach
four weeks ago, sitting two shots back after two rounds before the event
was canceled; was runner-up to Davis Love III at the Buick Invitational the
following week, giving him three top 10 finishes in four events this year;
25-year-old has already amassed seven career titles and over $2 million in
career earnings; 14th in world rankings.

Jack Nicklaus -- Two-time Doral champion (1972, 1975); finished sixth at
the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in his only start on the P-G-A Tour in
1995, his best result on the Tour since he tied for 10th at the 1990 Doral
Open; recorded seven top-ten finishes; 22nd on career earnings list with
over $5.4 million; owns 70 career titles, the last being the 1986 Masters
at age 46.

Greg Norman -- Two-time Doral champion (1990, 1993); 1993 Doral four-round
total of 265 is tournament record; finished tied for second in last year's
tournament, one stroke behind Nick Faldo; world's number one ranked player;
won the World Series of Golf, The Memorial and the Greater Hartford Open in
1995; has won at least one event each of the past four years; is the game's
all-time leading money winner with over $9.6 million; nine top-10s in just
16 events in 1995, including finishing second at the U.S. Open, his seventh
runner-up in a major.

Nick Price -- Returns to the P-G-A Tour this week after playing in several
European events; had five top-10 finishes in 1995, including a tie for
second at the World Series of Golf and a tie for third at the Canadian
Open; has 14 career P-G-A titles, including the British Open (1994) and two
P-G-A Championships (1992, 1994); first player to win two majors in same
year since Nick Faldo in 1990; named P-G-A Tour Player of the Year in 1993
and 1994; second in world rankings behind Greg Norman; fourth on all-time
money list with over $7.3 million.

Lanny Wadkins -- Won Doral Open in 1987; tied for seventh in 1995 Nissan
open, his best finish of 1995 and his first top-10 finish since a
third-place tie at the 1993 Anheuser-Busch Classic; captain of Ryder Cup
team; has won 21 career titles; 13th on all-time money list with over $6
million.

1995 Top 10 finishers

Nick Faldo             -15, 273    $270,000
Peter Jacobsen         -14, 274    $132,000
Greg Norman            -14, 274    $132,000
Steve Elkington        -13, 275    $ 62,000
Justin Leonard         -13, 275    $ 62,000
Davis Love III         -13, 275    $ 62,000
Woody Austin           -12, 276    $ 48,375
Hale Irwin             -12, 276    $ 48,375
Steve Stricker         -11, 277    $ 43,500
Steve Lowery           -10, 278    $ 39,000
Mark O'Meara           -10, 278    $ 39,000

Past champions

1995 Nick Faldo            -15, 273
1994 John Huston           -14, 274
1993 Greg Norman           -23, 265
1992 Raymond Floyd         -17, 271
1991 x-Rocco Mediate       -12, 276
1990 x-Greg Norman         -15, 273
1989 Bill Glasson          -13, 275
1988 Ben Crenshaw          -14, 274
1987 Lanny Wadkins         -11, 277
1986 x-Andy Bean           -12, 276
1985 Mark McCumber          -4, 284
1984 Tom Kite              -16, 272
1983 Gary Koch             -17, 271
1982 Andy Bean             -10, 278
1981 Raymond Floyd         -15, 273
1980 x-Raymond Floyd        -9, 279
1979 Mark McCumber          -9, 279
1978 Tom Weiskopf          -16, 272
1977 Andy Bean             -11, 277
1976 Hubert Green          -18, 270
1975 Jack Nicklaus         -12, 276
1974 Brian Allin           -16, 272
1973 Lee Trevino           -12, 276
1972 Jack Nicklaus         -12, 276
1971 J.C. Snead            -13, 275
1970 Mike Hill              -9, 279
1969 Tom Shaw              -12, 276
1968 Gardner Dickinson     -13, 275
1967 Doug Sanders          -13, 275
1966 Phil Rodgers          -10, 278
1965 Doug Sanders          -14, 274
1964 Billy Casper          -11, 277
1963 Dan Sikes             -15, 283
1962 Billy Casper          -15, 283

x-won playoff

Fyi, I played Doral's Blue course about 8 years ago. The course is long
but fair. Also, it kind of amazing to see Fred Couples pull an iron out
and reach #13.  (13  Par 3    246 yards). #1 is not real hard to reach
in 2, but #12 is!

    here's the poop...
    
    
    Greg Norman caught fire on the back nine today and pulled away for his
    third victory in seven years at the $1.8 million Doral Open, a two-stroke 
    triumph at the Doral Resort and Country Club in Miami. 
    
    Norman, who returned to the PGA Tour this week for the first time in
    two months, shot a 6-under-par 66 to capture his 16th career victory and 
    fourth in nine months. His 72-hole total of 19-under 269 is the second 
    best in tournament history behind his own 265 in 1993. 
    
    The 41-year-old Australian who plays out of nearby Hobe Sound, Florida,
    was tied with Vijay Singh of Fiji after completing his third round this 
    morning. Norman fell behind briefly before collecting five birdies in an 
    eight-hole stretch on the back nine. He stumbled only with a bogey at
    the 18th. 
    
    < from golfweb >