The first three years of the NEC Invitational
were held here at Firestone. After a
one-year stop at Sahalee Country Club
in Washington in 2002, the event moved
back to Firestone in 2003.
This will be the 50th time in Firestone
South history that the course is hosting
a PGA Tour event. The first was the
Rubber City Open from 1954-59. The
old World Series of Golf was held
at Firestone from 1962-98 while the
PGA Championship was also held at
Firestone in 1960, 1966 and 1975.
Last year, Darren Clarke shot rounds
of 66-67 over the final two days to
cruise to a four-shot win over Jonathan
Kaye for his second career WGC title.
Jim Furyk and Robert Allenby, who
tied for sixth, were the only players
in the field to post all four rounds
in the 60s.
Four of the five third-round leaders
of this event have gone on to victory
-- Tiger Woods (1999 and 2000), Craig
Parry (2002) and Clarke last year.
Only Jim Furyk in 2001 failed to register
a win, as he lost to Woods in a playoff.
Woods and Furyk are the only players
to record top-10 finishes in all five
NEC Invitationals. Woods is a combined
60-under-par in his five appearances
at this event, all top-five finishes.
Of those 20 rounds of golf, five have
been in the 70s and the rest in the
60s. His stroke average for this event
is 67.20 and his overall earnings
are $3,450,000.
There have been three holes-in-one
recorded at this event, all in 2000.
Hal Sutton registered the first ace
when he holed out on the 12th hole
during round three. Stewart Cink and
Retief Goosen made holes-in-one during
the final round. Ernie Els made an
albatross on the second hole during
the final round, also in 2000.
This event is co-sanctioned with
the PGA Tour by the European Tour,
Asian PGA, Japan Golf Tour, PGA Tour
of Australasia and the Southern Africa
PGA Tour.
The European Tour moves to Germany
next week for the BMW International
Open, where Lee Westwood is the defending
champion. The PGA Tour moves to Connecticut
for the Buick Championship, where
Peter Jacobsen won last year when
the event was called the Greater Hartford
Open.
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