This weekend, the PGA Tour is playing their Northern Trust Open which will be held at the Riviera Country Club
As I am posting this on Tue morning, the Tee Times are not even set...so lets start with a break down of the course:
Riviera Country Club is in California (near LA) and while it has some lenght (7,200+ yards par 71), it is much more of a Shot Making stylecourse. The course ranked as the 32nd (out of 51) in terms of difficulty on the PGA Tour in 2009...so expect to see some low scores. The players start with a par 5 which can be reached in 2 without much trouble...so most players should get off to a great start going into the 1st hole. While the start of the back nine isnt too hard either (many players will be going for the green), there is quite a lot or risk in trying to hit this par 4 in 1. California has had some rain recently and that may add a bit of lenght to the course (something to keep an eye on early), but in the end, Riviera is about quality shot making and risk/reward plays. This will favor the players who have not only played here before, but have played well here. In the end, as some players may struggle, the majority will be able to go low and we will see double digits under-par winning this event. We saw a few big name players come out last week (including Phil) and this week we will add quite a bit more. Those playing in the event who rank in the top 10 in the world include: Phil Michelson, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Padraig Harrington (only phil played last week). Other players we will see are: Vijay Singh, Adam Scott, Luke Donald and Angel Cabrera. Phil won this event last year at -15 ... he also won this event two years ago and was runner up in 2007 to Charles Howell III. There have been a handful of back to back winners of this event but no one has ever won this tourney 3 years in a row.