Back To Playing Golf Current Pga Stop Should Help Return Focus On The Game

Finally, Florida. Finally, the Doral-Ryder Open where it always feels like the PGA Tour really gets started. Never was that more true than this year.

El Nino blew away parts of the West Coast swing.

Casey Martin and his cart pushed attention off the course and into the courts.

Tiger Woods, Greg Norman and Ernie Els were winning tournaments - except none were in the United States.

The PGA Tour, which seemingly could do no wrong last year when Tiger-driven attention pushed golf to unprecedented popularity, needs to get attention back on the game.

That should happen at the Doral Resort beginning today when the best field so far this year tees off for the first round of the tournament, the start of the run-up to the Masters five weeks from now.

For this first time this year, Woods, Norman, Davis Love III, Nick Price and Colin Montgomerie - five of the top six players in the World Golf rankings - are in the same field.

Throw in David Duval, Justin Leonard, Nick Faldo and defending champion Steve Elkington, and the Doral-Ryder Open has the feel of a major championship.

Just about the only big names to pass up Doral this year were Els, Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson, Tom Lehman and Mark O’Meara, and it’s likely some of those absences stemmed from dissatisfaction with the course last year.

And as much talk as there is among the players about the redesign of the redesigned Blue Monster course that was roundly criticized last year as being unfair, there is even more talk about Augusta, the first of the four majors.

“They are the biggest tournaments,” Elkington, the 1995 PGA Championship winner, said Wednesday before playing in the proam. “At this stage, adding majors to what I’ve already got would satisfy my career.”

Elkington, Woods, Montgomerie and Norman all made it clear that this week was the beginning of an effort to get their games to peak that one week in April at Augusta National Golf Club.

Montgomerie, still seeking his first major championship, has changed his ball flight from a fade to a straighter ball with one thing in mind.

“I think it will (be helpful) at the Masters particularly,” Montgomerie said. “I hit the ball farther now than I ever have, so I’m more confident.”

Montgomerie also is pleased with the changes at Doral. Trying to put some teeth back into the Blue Monster, Raymond Floyd did a redesign last year that all but eliminated landing areas on some holes by plopping fairway bunkers all over the place.

And on several holes Floyd brought the water severely into play by shaving the rough so wind-blown bounding balls - and the wind is always blowing on this course - could roll unimpeded into the water.

“I think the little changes they’ve made are better, especially 18,” Elkington said.

Now, perhaps, everyone can just focus on golf. Finally, the Florida swing can begin.