Bridgestone Invitational

[FC Basher]

Past winners:
1999 – Tiger Woods,
2000 – Tiger Woods,
2001 – Tiger Woods,
2002 – Craig Parry,
2003 - Darren Clarke,
2004 – Stewart Cink,
2005 – Tiger Woods,
2006 – Tiger Woods
2007 – Tiger Woods

Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, hosts the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational this week opposite the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open. Here's all you need to know about the course.
Fast facts
Original Architect Bert Way (1920)
Course Redesign Robert Trent Jones, Sr. (1960)
Number of TOUR events as host venue 32 (including 2008)
Course Ranking Ranked fourth (out of 55 courses) in difficulty on the PGA TOUR in 2007
Yardage History 7,149 yards (1976-1996)
Firestone North Course 1994 (6,918 yards)
7,189 yards (1997-1998)
7, 139 yards (1999-2001)
7, 230 yards (2003)
7,360 yards (2004-2006)
7,400 yards (2007-present)
Course Tour Click here
Course record
Player
Tiger Woods Year
2000 Round
2nd Finish
Won
Holes in one
There have been six aces recorded during the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone CC.
Player Hole Year
Jim Furyk 15 2006
Hal Sutton 12 2000
Retief Goosen 7 2000
Stewart Cink 15 2000
Nick Price 5 1997
Bob Tway 5 1986
2007 Rankings
Most Difficult Hole
The par-4, 494-yard 9th Players must avoid fairway bunkers off the tee on this straight-away par 4. The elevated green is relatively small and slopes from back-to-front. Par is a good score.
2007: 0 eagles, 20 birdies, 162 pars, 130 bogeys, 15 double bogeys, 2 others.
Easiest hole in 2007
The par-5 526-yard 2nd This narrow dogleg left is reachable in two shots. Overhanging trees make a high, right-to-left ball flight on the tee shot a must. A series of bunkers protect this undulating green that features a false front.
2007: 9 eagles, 131 birdies, 152 pars, 33 bogeys, 2 double bogeys and 2 others.
Source: ClubCorp
Brown Deer Park GC 2007 rankings Last 15 years
Hole Par Yards Avg. score Rank Avg. Score Rank
1 4 399 4.076 15 4.050 13
2 5 526 4.678 18 4.586 18
3 4 442 4.119 11 4.059 11
4 4 471 4.432 2 4.355 1
5 3 200 3.012 17 2.983 17
6 4 469 4.164 7 4.142 7
7 3 219 3.079 14 3.063 9
8 4 482 4.231 6 4.031 14
9 4 494 4.447 1 4.270 2
10 4 410 4.137 10 4.062 10
11 4 418 4.036 16 4.001 15
12 3 180 3.085 13 2.995 16
13 4 471 4.264 5 4.203 4
14 4 467 4.316 3 4.203 5
15 3 221 3.100 12 3.088 8
16 5 667 5.158 8 5.159 6
17 4 400 4.143 9 4.051 12
18 4 464 4.310 4 4.221 3
NOTES: Nos. 4 and 9 on the Firestone course were ranked in the top 20 most difficult holes on the PGA TOUR in 2007.
• No. 9 was the 12th most difficult on the PGA TOUR while the No. 4 was 15th.
• The last hole on the front nine is the most difficult on the entire course and ranked the second toughest ninth hole on TOUR in 2007.
Course origins
Established in 1929 by Harvey Firestone and later acquired by ClubCorp in 1981, Firestone Country Club remains a one-of-a-kind golf facility. It is the only course in the world to have held three televised golf events in one calendar year, The American Golf Classic, The CBS Golf Classic and The World Series of Golf. With its three championship level courses, Firestone Country Club is as unique today as it has ever been.
The latest addition to Firestone was the West Course. Opened in 1989 and redesigned by Tom Fazio in 2002, this course -- together with the North and South courses -- makes the Firestone Country Club family complete.
Noted for its length, the par-70, 7,360-yard South Course includes a series of intimidating, long par-4 holes and one of the longest par 5s anywhere. The 16th hole plays to 667 yards. A pond in front of the green captures its share of errant shots. Usually, the casualties aren't the result of futile attempts to reach the green in two. They are third shots from players who hit errant tee shots and find the woods. A well placed long tee shot does not guarantee the opportunity to get home in two.
It has ranked as the second- and first-toughest challenge for professionals at Firestone over the years. When Robert Trent Jones redesigned Firestone into "The Monster" in 1959, this hole made par an excellent score.
Easier said than done, that's the best way to sum up Firestone Country Club's South Course.

Bridgestone Invitational Book Closes 31 Jul 13:30
Each-way 1/4 1-2-3-4-5
Phil Mickelson 12.00 Bet
Sergio Garcia 17.00 Bet
Jim Furyk 19.00 Bet
Anthony Kim 19.00 Bet
Kenny Perry 21.00 Bet
Padraig Harrington 21.00 Bet
Stewart Cink 21.00 Bet
Adam Scott 23.00 Bet
Ernie Els 26.00 Bet
Geoff Ogilvy 31.00 Bet
Henrik Stenson 31.00 Bet
Vijay Singh 34.00 Bet
Robert Allenby 36.00 Bet
Hunter Mahan 36.00 Bet
Lee Westwood 36.00 Bet
K.J. Choi 41.00 Bet
Justin Rose 41.00 Bet
Steve Stricker 41.00 Bet
Robert Karlsson 41.00 Bet
Justin Leonard 46.00 Bet
Paul Casey 46.00 Bet
Retief Goosen 46.00 Bet
Trevor Immelman 51.00 Bet
Andres Romero 51.00 Bet
Ian Poulter 56.00 Bet
Sean O'Hair 61.00 Bet
Miguel Angel Jimenez 67.00 Bet
Stephen Ames 67.00 Bet
Boo Weekley 67.00 Bet
Chad Campbell 67.00 Bet
Graeme McDowell 67.00 Bet
Rod Pampling 67.00 Bet
Stuart Appleby 76.00 Bet
Angel Cabrera 76.00 Bet
Scott Verplank 81.00 Bet
David Toms 81.00 Bet
Tim Clark 81.00 Bet
Aaron Baddeley 81.00 Bet
Rory Sabbatini 81.00 Bet
Martin Kaymer 81.00 Bet
Fredrik Jacobson 81.00 Bet
Zach Johnson 81.00 Bet
Brandt Snedeker 91.00 Bet
Rocco Mediate 91.00 Bet
Ross Fisher 91.00 Bet
Nick O'Hern 111.00 Bet
Woody Austin 111.00 Bet
Colin Montgomerie 126.00 Bet
Oliver Wilson 126.00 Bet
Lucas Glover 126.00 Bet
Charles Howell 126.00 Bet
Soren Hansen 126.00 Bet
Richard Green 141.00 Bet
DJ Trahan 141.00 Bet
David Howell 151.00 Bet
Paul McGinley 151.00 Bet
Darren Clarke 151.00 Bet
Steve Flesch 151.00 Bet
Daniel Chopra 151.00 Bet
J.B. Holmes 151.00 Bet
Chez Reavie 176.00 Bet
Niclas Fasth 176.00 Bet
Vaughn Taylor 176.00 Bet
Nick Dougherty 176.00 Bet
Peter Lonard 176.00 Bet
Chris DiMarco 176.00 Bet
Johnson Wagner 226.00 Bet
Pablo Larrazabal 251.00 Bet
Brett Wetterich 276.00 Bet
Brendan Jones 301.00 Bet
Brett Rumford 301.00 Bet
JJ Henry 301.00 Bet
Steve Lowery 301.00 Bet
Richard Finch 301.00 Bet
Steve Webster 301.00 Bet
Mark Brown 351.00 Bet
Scott Strange 351.00 Bet
Craig Parry 351.00 Bet
James Kingston 351.00 Bet
Hidemasa Hoshino 401.00 Bet
Prayad Marksaeng 401.00 Bet

[FC Basher]

Stuart Appleby has played this event last two years,2006 he went 75-68-75-69 in 2007 68-74-69-74,this is a tough and long course,im looking back him in the 1st round leader market aswell as the outrights

1st round leader, bet365 place 1/4 1,2,3,4,5
Stuart Appleby @ 61
Others Im backing in the above market
Boo Weekley @ 51
Robert Allennby @ 41

Outrights
Allenby 35
Appleby 75
and Vijay Singh 34 he looks to me a player to back here even tho has no real form in this event.

[Snodser]

Going with:

Lefty 14/1 1pt

Furyk 16/1 1pt

Harry 20/1 5pts

Ogilvy 28/1 1pt

Leornard 35/1 1pt

Poulter 50/1 1pt

all ew :groucho

[FC Basher]

Me and Snodser are sitting pretty with our selections at the mo

Singh leads and Appleby tied 7th 3 back

and Snodser has Mickleson 2nd and just 1 back aswell as Furyk tied 12th and 4 off the lead.

Singh has 3 holes to play

[Beanie]

Few system picks for the 3rd round...

2pt Vijay @ 4.9
0.8pts Westwood @ 14.5
0.6pts Cink @ 17
0.3pts Goosen @ 36
0.15pts Ogilvy @ 80
0.15pts Karlsson @ 95
0.1pts Immelman @ 150
0.1pts Choi @ 310

[Snodser]

Happy enough for the 'mo, Harry had a 'mare though

[Beanie]

Good day today with Westwood and Vijay joint leaders with Mick...couple of quick trades to finalise position for the final round...

2pts Lay Vijay Singh @ 4.5
4pts Mickelson @ 2.96

So just trading out of green on Vijay, not convinced he can follow through here, and reinvest on Mickelson who looks bang in the mood, leaving a nice result on Mickelson, Westwood, or Goosen winning.

[TopDog]

Well Done Basher

[Beanie]

Aye congrats Bash - a 1-2

[Snodser]

Nice one FC

[FC Basher]

Thanks guys

But we learnt some lessons this week,ill explain

Mickleson,he plays himself into a winning position playing some truly brillant golf,even if he still is trying to hit yardages with the shortest club instead of using one club more and a more relaxed swing,hes poor stats on par 3's underlines that,he has no game plan and lacks any idea about playing his opponent or seeing a tournement out,hes 3 bogeys in the last for 4 holes were nothing more than ameturish.

Singh,What we saw was some fantatic golf,but the putter was horrific at times,and the confidence has gone hence the poor putting stoke,he left 2 uphill putts woefully short and inside 6ft well he knew inside they were missed already,any golfer will tell you putting is a confidence thing.The putter he was using was a horrid looking thing and surely needs to go back to a standard blade putter similar to the one Garcias using.He missed two greens well inside 150 not the norm for a player of this quality,the commentater was bemused as why hes missed two easy greens,simple when your trying to win tournaments and your missing putts they were simply playing on his mind,even his putt on the last was woefully short tho he actually managed to hole the second.

Westwood,apart from a couple of blips it was a very solid game he played and come back at Singh and Mickleson even after thoose blips.

[Snodser]

Good analysis FC.

I saw very little of the comp (time diff etc) but looking at the scores I did notice one thing of interest.

Harrinton had a 75, but the rest were sub par, much better than last year.
He seems to be keeping things together a bit better.

I think he'll be there or thereabouts over the rest of the season.