From Miami to Mexico: Memorable moments
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1. 2005: Tiger vs. Phil
The best head-to-head duel between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson? Consider the case for the 2005 Ford Championship at Doral. Lefty went into Sunday with a two-shot lead, and the two heavyweights traded haymakers on the back nine. Pow! Woods pulls into a tie with a birdie at the 10th. Bam! Woods goes two ahead with an eagle at the par-5 12th. Sock! Mickelson gets up off the canvas and birdies the next two holes. Thwack! Woods answers with a birdie at the 17th. Mickelson had a chance to tie at 18, but his birdie chip caught only the lip of the cup. “What a day,” Woods said. “… we were both excited. … we both knew that we had to make birdies.”
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2. 2004: Parry’s winning thrust
On the first hole of a sudden-death playoff with Scott Verplank, Craig Parry pulled his 7-iron to hit his second shot on the 18th hole from 176 yards. As the ball was in the air, NBC’s Roger Maltbie knew it would be close. “Solid shot,” he said. “This is a good looking shot. This is going at the hole!” Dan Hicks finished off the narrative: “What a shot by Craig Parry! Unbelievable! Championship over!” Of more lasting memory, however, was an earlier comment by Johnny Miller, who said Parry’s swing was “enough to make Ben Hogan puke.”
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4. 1990: Norman Conquest I
Consider where Greg Norman was in his career arc in the first week of March, 1990 – ranked No. 1 in the world, with one major to his credit and at least three others he had a great chance to win. But he also had lost twice to final-green hole-outs: in the 1986 PGA (Bob Tway) and 1987 Masters (Larry Mize). So when he shot a final-round 62 and then chipped in for eagle on the first hole of a four-man playoff to win at Doral, it appeared to be a measure of payback. Apparently the golf gods don’t much like payback, though. Later that year two more players holed out to beat Norman: David Frost in New Orleans and Robert Gamez at Bay Hill.
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5. 1978: Weiskopf survives Nicklaus’ wedge assault
Just two weeks after he shot 30 on the back nine to come from behind and win at Inverrary, Jack Nicklaus closed with another 30, this time at Doral, but came up one stroke short of Tom Weiskopf. Nicklaus holed out with a wedge three times – for birdie at the ninth and for eagles at the par-5 10th and 12th holes – and just missed holing another wedge shot at the 18th. It was the first Doral win for Weiskopf after three runner-up finishes.
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5 / 10
6. 1993: Norman Conquest II
Blue Monster? What Blue Monster? Greg Norman, to borrow a phrase from Ben Hogan, brought the Monster to its knees in a four-shot win over Paul Azinger and Mark McCumber. Norman matched his own course record with a 62 on Saturday, then cruised home with a 70 on Sunday for his second win at Doral. His 72-hole score of 265, 23 under par, also was a record.
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7. 1980: Despite loss to Floyd, Jack is back
Raymond Floyd, who had one of the best short games on the PGA Tour, made a 50-foot putt at the 17th hole, then chipped in on the second hole of sudden death to top Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus lipped out a potential winning birdie on the first extra hole, and Floyd ended it with his chip-in on the second. Despite the loss, Nicklaus, who in 1979 had gone winless for the first time in his PGA Tour career, was encouraged. "This should help me a great deal as the year goes on, but it would have helped more if I'd won," he said. As it turned out, it helped enough; Nicklaus went on to win the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in 1980.
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7 / 10
8. 2007 – Tiger wins his 13th WGC
2007 was the year of transition of the Doral tournament from a regular Tour stop to a World Golf Championship. One thing didn’t change, though – Tiger Woods won for the third year in a row. Woods shot to the top of the leaderboard with a second-round 66, then followed with a 68 that gave him a four-shot advantage heading into Round 4. Despite a final-round 73, he cruised to a two-shot win over Brett Wetterich. It was Woods’ 13th WGC title.
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8 / 10
10. 2003: A little night putting
Scott Hoch and Jim Furyk were on the second hole of their sudden-death playoff when Hoch decided it was too dark to read his putt. Some of the fans surrounding the first green booed the decision, but Hoch and Furyk had been told it was their call whether to continue. Shortly after 8 a.m. on Monday, Hoch, 47, made his 9-foot birdie putt, and Furyk matched him with a 6-footer. Perhaps both had read Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel columnist Dave Hyde, who went out to the green late Sunday night and tried both players’ putts several times, reporting the results in Monday’s newspaper. Oh, and Hoch won with a birdie putt on the third extra hole. Hyde didn’t try that one.
Associated Press
9 / 10
9. 2017: South of the border
In 2017 the PGA Tour said goodbye to Doral after 55 years, replacing the iconic Miami stop with a World Golf Championship in Mexico. Then-tour commissioner Tim Finchem denied the move had anything to do with Doral owner Donald Trump and his controversial remarks about immigrants, but rather was necessitated by an inability to secure a title sponsor for the event at Doral. When it came down to actually playing the tournament, the winner was Dustin Johnson in his first tournament as the world No. 1.
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10 / 10
3. 2012: Trump in, Tiger out
Justin Rose won, but he was upstaged by Donald Trump and Tiger Woods. On Thursday, Trump showed up to talk about his $150 million purchase of and plan for reviving the historic Doral Resort. Then on Sunday, Woods withdrew from the tournament after hitting his tee shot on the 12th hole, citing a sore left Achilles’ tendon. It was the second time in 10 months that the tendon prevented Woods from finishing a tournament. However, the injury did not sideline him long, as just two weeks later he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational. As for Rose, he edged Bubba Watson by one shot and Rory McIlroy by two to claim his first WGC title.
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