Mar7 Bowing out in style…or disaster

Any decent golf course designer worth his salt – and sizeable fee – will inform you that the last, the final, the 18th hole is the most important and significant of the bunch so as a result much care and attention is paid to getting the climax  just right.

Of course that doesn’t always happen owing to the course’s location – the lie of the land – the budget available (circumstances beyond the designer’s control in other words), but generally-speaking it’s a safe bet that the hole you’ll remember most is the last one you played. Just ask Jean Van de Velde who came to grief at the death in the 1999 Open at Carnoustie or Ryder Cup gladiators – from both camps – whose hopes of glory were crueally dashed, or rather splashed, at the notorious 18th at The Belfry.

In an ideal world and scenario, the course designer is looking to build up a momentum during the round leading to a crescendo, leaving golfers to finish with a bang rather than a whimper and if there’s a chance of a sting in the tail more power to his elbow: with all the fancy dan equipment available to them these days, golfers, specially the pro’s, have everything in their favour and if they can be tripped up at the final hurdle then so be it. You just can’t beat a bit of last-gasp drama and excitement can you?

And there’ll certainly be plenty of that at the WGC-CA Championship at Doral in Florida later this month. It’s not known as the ‘Blue Monster’ for nothing and certainly the 467-yard par 4 18th is a real brute and beast rolled into one, a grand finale which even the game’s very best will struggle to tame.

It’s simply fraught with trouble – water all the way down the left and trees and a battery of bunkers and dense rough on the right – and is usually played into a strong wind. Make no mistake, it’s a potential card – and title wrecker…last time round it yielded 111 bogeys, 34 double bogeys and six of the worst triple bogeys.

It’s widely regarded as the hardest finishing hole on the US PGA Tour and that tells you all you need to know about it as does double US Open champion Curtis Strange’s “son of a bitch” description which was pretty similar – but not quite as strong as former TG colleague Toby Keel’s assessment after he had the “good fortune” to tackle the Blue Monster last year. “Everything about it scares you to death,” was about his only printable verdict.

Tiger Woods triumphed at Doral in 2005 and will obviously fancy his chances of emulating that feat but he’ll clearly be wary that the Monster can bite, specially at the death. “Anything can happen at no. 18,” he admitted.

Should make for some pretty fascinating viewing though when Sky show all the action on March 22-25.

* What’s the toughest, scariest finishing hole you’ve ever played. Let us know your experiences – good or  bad.