PGA: 84 Lumber Classic Preview

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Ten Presidents Cup members tee it up just one week before the big match-play event.

84 Lumber Classic LogoWith the Presidents Cup just one week away, the 84 Lumber Classic is this week's stop on the PGA Tour. The field is very strong, including seven members from the United States team and three members from the International team. These ten golfers want to keep their golf games in great shape heading into the Presidents Cup next week. And besides, the course is one of the toughest on tour and has been rated by Golf Digest as one of the best places to play in the United States.

The field will be headlined by Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson. They will battle it out at the 84 Lumber Classic this week and at the Presidents Cup next week. Singh comes in as the defending champion for the third straight week. He had to miss the Deutsche Bank Championship two weeks ago with a bad back, but he played last week in the Canadian Open. Singh played well north of the border, finishing in a tie for seventh.

Last year at the 84 Lumber Classic, Singh shot a final-round 69 to finish at -15 overall. That was good enough to outlast Stewart Cink, who finished one shot back at -14. Singh started fast by shooting a first-round 64 and held onto the lead until the dust had cleared. Pat Perez, Zach Johnson, Chris DiMarco, and Jonathan Byrd all finished three shots back in a tie for third. All of these golfers will be teeing it up this week as well.

Phil Mickelson will be making his second start since winning the PGAChampionship last month. Mickelson has been relaxing and spending time with his family the past few weeks. He originally decided to forego this event to finish his preparation for the Presidents Cup, but he decided he couldn't pass up the opportunity to play Mystic Rock Golf Course this week. Mickelson has yet to play in the 84 Lumber Classic, an event that replaced the Pennsylvania Classic.

Stewart Cink and Chris DiMarco were mentioned earlier in this preview, but both have had success in the past at this event. DiMarco won the event in 2000 when it was the Pennsylvania Classic, and he is also the leading money winner in the short history of the event. He also has a couple top-15 finishes in the event. Cink just has the runner-up finish last year and a missed cut in 2001.

Joining Cink and DiMarco from the United States Presidents Cup team will be Jim Furyk, David Toms, Justin Leonard, and Fred Couples. Furky, Toms, and Leonard have all won on the PGA Tour in 2005, and Couples has come close on a couple different occasions. Leonard and Couples were selected by Jack Nicklaus as captain's picks for the Presidents Cup, and both will get a lot of attention this week. The same can be said for Furyk and Toms, who are ranked eighth and eleventh in the world rankings, respectively.

Three members of Gary Player's International squad will be represented this week at the 84 Lumber Classic. Vijay Singh needs no introduction, and he has already been talked about in this preview. Joining him will be Peter Lonard and Stuart Appleby. Both of these golfers have fought inconsistency at times in 2005, but both guys have won once this year and are always capable of going low at any given time.

The Presidents Cup members will get most of the attention this week, but there are other notables in the field as well. John Daly, who is sponsored by 84 Lumber, will once again be playing in this tournament. Daly has been the spokesperson for the tournament ever since it was renamed in 2003. He withdrew from the tournament in 2003, but he bounced back last year and finished in a tie for 13th. Daly will be one of the crowd favorites as always, and his best finish this season was a runner-up finish to Vijay Singh at the Houston Open.

Other notables teeing it up in Pennsylvania this week include Zach Johnson, Charles Howell III, Mark Calcavecchia, Jason Gore, and Ryan Moore. Johnson and Howell III have both been playing much better as of late, and both continue to move up the money list. Calcavecchia was the winner last week at the Canadian Open. He started off red-hot on Thursday and Friday, and that was good enough for him to coast to victory on the weekend.

Jason Gore will be playing once again this week. Gore has played about every tournament here recently and has been slowly improving. Ryan Moore finally broke out and performed like I expected him to last week in Canada. He had a good chance at winning the event, but he finished one shot back in a tie for second along with Ben Crane. Gore and Moore are both fan favorites and will be looking to move up the PGA Tour money list this week.

Mystic Rock Golf Course is the host-course this week, and as I mentioned earlier, it has received excellent reviews from more than one source. The course has an amazing 78.1 rating and a slope of 151. This ranks it as one of the toughest courses in the nation. The course is 7,516 yards and par is 72. Not only is the course one of the toughest, it's definitely one of, if not, the longest on the PGA Tour. The course alone was the main reason Phil Mickelson decided to play this week, so it must be awesome!

The par-5s at Mystic Rock Golf Club average 579 yards, including the monster 11th hole. The 11th hole is 633 yards, and the players will be faced with a blind tee shot. The tee shot must be accurate and lengthy to give the players a chance to go for the green in two. The shorter tee shots will force the players to carry the water on the second shot in order to set them up for their third from the fairway. Once they get to their approach shots, golfers must stay left to avoid the rocks and bunkers on the right side.

The finishing hole is a 463-yard par 4 that will definitely test the golfer's patience all week. The tee shot must be accurate to avoid fairway bunkers. The approach shot will be uphill to a severely-sloped right to left green. The players must avoid the bunker to the left side of the green. The bunker is 20 yards below the surface of the green, and anyone who finds this bunker will struggle mightily to save par. There is no doubt the finishing hole at Mystic Rock will play its role in deciding who wins the tournament.

Last week, I picked Mike Weir to win the Canadian Open. It might have been too much of a sentimental pick, and to nobody's surprise, he missed the cut. If I pick someone to win, don't pick them on your fantasy golf teams. My picks have been killing my teams lately. Moving on, I'm picking Stewart Cink this week. Cink usually plays well late in the season, and he finished second last year at this event. For my "sleeper" pick, I'm going with Pat Perez. Perez finished in a tie for third last year in this event, and he finished in a tie for sixth at the PGA Championship last month. Here's to me finally picking some winners!

The weather forecast shows clear conditions for the 84 Lumber Classic. There is a small chance for precipitation on Thursday, but it's a very small chance at that. The temperatures will be a little cooler than the players have become accustomed to lately. The highs in the morning will be in the upper-50s, and the highs in the afternoon will be in the low-to-mid 70s. The field will be playing for a total purse of $4.4 million, with $792,000 going to the winner.

The 84 Lumber Classic boasts a very strong field this week, and it will be very interesting to watch with the Presidents Cup just one week away. The members of both teams will be trying to get one more tune-up before the big match-play extravaganza. The 84 Lumber Classic can be seen on ESPN all four days at the following times:

Thu 4-6pm ET ESPN
Fri 4-6pm ET ESPN
Sat 4-6pm ET ESPN
Sun 3-6pm ET ESPN

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