Golf Channel on NBC Analyst Mark Rolfing is in Doral, Florida this week for the WGC-Cadillac Championship. In reaction to Gil Hanse winning the bid to design the Olympic Course, he said that he loves Hanse’s works and that he is a minimalist course designer. His impression of the decision is that it was not a political one and that the judges made their choice based on ability and presentation which is a great thing. He is interested to see how Hanse reacts to the kind of land he will have in Brazil.
It seems clear now that Rory McIlroy is the best player in the world no matter what the OWGR says. He also added that that was not necessarily the case with Lee Westwood when he became World #1. Rolfing also said that McIlroy is more capable of being involved in a rivalry with someone than Luke Donald was because McIlroy seems to be willing to say things that Donald is not and golf needs rivalries right now.
The most important thing for Tiger and for everyone watching this week is how Tiger is able to maintain the momentum he gained from shooting 62 and finishing runner-up at PGA National. The key to keeping up that momentum is the putter because he putted very well in the final round 62 and will have to putt well at Doral this week to keep going.
Rolfing thinks that this week will be more of a power game than The Honda Classic was as the big hitters will be hitting driver more often. The winds are expected to blow but you have to be more aggressive in order to play well at Doral. Tiger Woods and others will have to take advantage of the par 5s. Tiger did not do that at PGA National last week.
Everyone is anticipating Donald Trump’s arrival to Doral today. Trump will be taking a real close look at how his property is looking during tournament week. He has said that he is planning big changes to both the hotel and the courses and it will be interesting to find out his reaction to how everything looks.
