TOUR Insider: Buick Open  PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent Confidence is such fleeting condition in golf. You either build towards it, or think you have it, or fear you don't have it and try building towards it. The cycle renews itself again and again and again.  Tiger Woods said he will skip the Buick Open after the birth of his first child last week. (WireImage) The attainment of confidence disappears in that same instant you believe you've got it. While there are no easy courses on the PGA TOUR, there is definitely a subset that promotes a felt-good attitude, and this week's venue, Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club in Grand Blanc, Mich., fits that description. Long-time site of the Buick Open, Warwick Hills is a relatively short parkland course -- 7,127 yards, par 72 -- featuring large, flat greens and surrendering small, round scores. Winged Foot, Augusta National, Oakmont ... they are the very antithesis of Warwick Hills. Blood suckers. Kill joys. Not Warwick Hills. It is a wonderland, an amusement park. Water balloons, cotton candy and a shooting gallery full of fun. "Our golf course is a good confidence-builder ... (players) make a lot of birdies," Mike Mattucci, the tournament director, said recently. Warwick Hills was the ninth easiest course on the PGA TOUR last year. In the two years previous it ranked 13th and sixth, respectively, in resistance to scoring. No course north of the Mason-Dixon Line allowed a lower scoring average than the 70.438 (which is 1.652 under par) that the 156-player field assembled in 2006. If this were a highway, it would be Route 66. It might take that much to get in the passing lane, especially with benign weather conditions (mild temperatures, negligible winds) moving in by Thursday. Worth Knowing: • Jim Furyk, the No. 3 player in the world, is the overwhelming favorite this week. Coming off a tie for second at the U.S. Open, Furyk won the 2003 Buick Open and has finished in the top 10 six straight years and seven of the last eighth, with no finish higher than 16th in his last nine appearances. He was runner-up in 2006 and '01.Never one to dwell on which players are sitting out from week to week, the TOUR Insider would be remiss in not pointing out Vijay Singh's absence. A three-time Buick Open champion, Singh is sitting out until the British Open because of an ankle injury that has plagued him since mid-March and newly developed sore elbow. • Harrison Frazar has yet to win on the PGA TOUR, but Warwick Hills is a good venue for him to possibly break through. He tied for seventh last year but would have finished lower had he not suffered a triple bogey to open his final round. That start nullified 26 birdies for the week, second most behind winner Tiger Woods. • This year's tournament marks the 20th anniversary of Robert Wrenn's only TOUR victory when he shot a ridiculously sizzling 26-under-par 262 that still stands as the tournament record. Since then, six winners have shot below 270, and four of them are in the field: Scott Verplank, Kenny Perry, Rocco Mediate and Justin Leonard.  Darren Clarke (WireImage) • Four men have will have 20 or more starts at the Buick Open come Thursday. Verplank and Tom Byrum each is making his 20th appearance. Jeff Sluman tees it up for the 23rd time and John Cook is going one better at 24. The latter three have three top-10s while Verplank triumphed in 1988 and added a second in '98 among his four top-10s. • Fresh off an unofficial victory in Canada in a four-man skins game, John Daly has accepted a sponsor's exemption to the Buick Open and might come in a bit of a dangerous wild card. He finished second '04 and has broken 70 in 11 of his last 16 rounds at Warwick Hills. • Euro Ryder Cup player Darren Clarke is set to make his second straight PGA TOUR start in what is becoming a miserable season following a sad '06 in which he lost his wife to cancer. Hampered by a bad hamstring, Clarke didn't qualify for the U.S. Open, and in his six U.S. starts this year he has missed three cuts, withdrawn twice and was knocked out in the first round of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. • Fred Funk is devoting his season to making the Presidents Cup team, and he just finished fifth in the Travelers Championship after an arduous U.S. Open at Oakmont. His participation in the Buick Open could yield another points bonanza; Funk has six top-10 finishes and 13 in the top 25 in his 16 starts at Warwick Hills. TOUR Insider's power ranking for the Buick Open: |
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