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The 18th at Doral: How it has ranked over the years

Mar. 17, 2008

Will the water-logged 18th at Doral Golf Resort and Spa retain its title as the hardest hole on the PGA TOUR? Depending on the wind, the hole can wreak havoc on a score -- and your wallet.

The fairway is only 32 yards wide at its most generous point, and most of the 300-yard hitters have to deal with a fairway that is only 28 yards wide. If a drive lands in the right rough, it us extremely difficult to hit the green, which is narrow and surrounded by water and bunkers.

Tiger Woods preserved a two-shot win at the 2007 World Golf Championships-CA Championship by hitting a long iron off the tee, then laying up to wedge length.


Quotes about the 18th hole at Doral:
"When the tees got moved back another 30 or 40 yards, the landing area became the heart of where the water pinches in. You no longer could carry it over the water, and so guys were actually laying up. I think Tiger laid up one year, either last year or the year before, and laid up short of that little inlet, which isn't a bad play, to play it as a par 5. There's no room in the fairway in the landing area, you have to go off to the right. I think that's why it was the hardest hole on the TOUR last year." -- Phil Mickelson

"If you don't hit a good drive, you're going to make double bogey because you won't reach the green with your second shot or if you go in the water on your tee shot." -- Craig Parry, who eagled the hole in 2005

"It's definitely one of the toughest, mainly because it's not only just on the tee shot, which is very -- it's testing you a lot there. It's also testing you on the second." -- Sergio Garcia

"I still wasn't, no." Tiger Woods, asked if he was comfortable playing the 18th hole on Saturday of the 2007 World Golf Championships-CA Championship with a four-shot lead

How the 18th hole has ranked on TOUR:
2007: Hardest hole on the PGA TOUR
467 yards, Par 4

Score Eagle Birdie Pars Bogey Dbl Bogey
4.625 0 13 130 109 32

How the 18th hole has ranked on TOUR:
2006: 17th-hardest hole on the PGA TOUR
467 yards, Par 4

Score Eagle Birdie Pars Bogey Dbl Bogey
4.388 0 33 244 111 34

How the 18th hole has ranked on TOUR:
2005: 136th-hardest hole on the PGA TOUR
467 yards, Par 4

Score Eagle Birdie Pars Bogey Dbl Bogey
4.211 1 56 275 93 19

How the 18th hole has ranked on TOUR:
2004: Hardest hole on the PGA TOUR
467 yards, Par 4

Score Eagle Birdie Pars Bogey Dbl Bogey
4.480 0 31 231 125 53

How the 18th hole has ranked on TOUR:
2003: 323rd-hardest hole on the PGA TOUR
443 yards, Par 4

Score Eagle Birdie Pars Bogey Dbl Bogey
4.104 0 65 296 74 13

How the 18th hole has ranked on TOUR:
2002: 37th-hardest hole on the PGA TOUR
443 yards, Par 4

Score Eagle Birdie Pars Bogey Dbl Bogey
4.296 0 37 284 100 25

How the 18th hole has ranked on TOUR:
2001: 153rd-hardest hole on the PGA TOUR
443 yards, Par 4

Score Eagle Birdie Pars Bogey Dbl Bogey
4.157 0 56 293 72 24

How the 18th hole has ranked on TOUR:
2000: 521st-hardest hole on the PGA TOUR
443 yards, Par 4

Score Eagle Birdie Pars Bogey Dbl Bogey
4.014 0 66 299 57 6