Wachovia Championship (PGA)
Course: Quail Hollow Club
Date: 02 May - 08 May 2005
Location: Charlotte, NC, USA
Winner: NA
Defending: Joey Sindelar
Money: USD$5,600,000
After 21 solid but not spectacular
years on the PGA Tour, Joey Sindelar
knew enough not to get caught staring
at leader boards and imagining the
possibilities as the Wachovia Championship
began defining and discarding its
possible champions late Sunday afternoon.
When you haven't won since Tiger
Woods was a 14-year old and you spend
most weeks playing to get to the weekend
and another paycheck, reality has
a way to sticking in your mind the
way Sindelar's sweat-soaked shirt
was clinging to his stomach.
Plus, Tiger Woods was on the prowl,
Vijay Singh was closing like a thunderstorm,
Phil Mickelson was close and third-round
leader Arron Oberholser wouldn't go
away.
Tiger Woods had his first bogey-free
round of golf in 2004 during Thursday's
opening round coverage on USA. Kirk
Triplett set a new course record with
an 8-under-par 64 to finish Day One
with the lead. Day Two on USA saw
Woods shoot a 6-under-par 66 to take
a two-shot lead over Triplett, Notah
Begay, and Arron Obelhoser. In the
end, 14 years and 370 tournaments
removed from his last PGA TOUR victory,
Joey Sindelar defeated Oberholser
on their second playoff hole (after
both finished with an overall 11-under-par
277) to earn a winning purse of $1,008,000.
The Wachovia Championship may still
be the new kid on the block among
PGA TOUR events, but one could never
tell by looking at the impressive
field assembled in Charlotte, N.C.
this week.
Preparing for only it’s second-ever
event, the Wachovia features winners
of 23 major championships among its
field, a number greatly increased
last week with the late entry of Tiger
Woods into the event. Also among the
major winners playing at the famed
Quail Hollow Golf Club this weekend
is Master reigning champion Phil Mickelson,
Davis Love III, Nick Price, Mike Weir
and defending champion David Toms.
Oh, Vijay Singh is also in the field,
but what tournament doesn’t
that guy play in, The John Deere Classic?
To be sure, the $5.6 million event
has assembled a field that belies
its age and provides significant insights
into the greatness of the Quail Hollow
course that hosts it.
The layout, located just minutes
from downtown Charlotte, is one of
the finest and most revered private
courses in the Southeast. The club,
which hosted the Kemper Open from
1969 to 1979, was designed by George
Cobb in 1961 and boasts as one of
its member’s golf legend Arnold
Palmer, who made some modifications
and improvements to the course in
1986.
A traditional style course, Quail
Hollow stretches to more than 7,400
yards, and features elevation changes,
strategic bunkering and a stretch
of finishing holes that is among the
toughest on Tour.
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