Pre-tournament notes: CA Championship

What: World Golf Championships-CA Championship
Dates: March 17-23, 2008
Where: Doral Golf Resort and Spa, Doral, Fla.
Purse: $8 million; $1.35 million to champion
Course: Blue Course
Format: Four-day, 72-hole stroke-play competition; no cut
Defending Champion: Tiger Woods
FedExCup Points: 26,250

Field:
• The top 50 players, including any players tied for 50th available place, from the Official World Golf Ranking as of Monday, March 10, 2008.

• The top 50 players, including any players tied for 50th available place, from the Official World Golf Ranking as of Monday, March 17, 2008.

• The top 30 players from the final 2007 FedExCup points list.

• The top 10 players from the FedExCup points list as of March 10, 2008.

• The top 10 players from the FedExCup points list as of March 17, 2008.

• The top 20 players from the final 2007 European Tour Order of Merit

• The top 10 players from the European Tour Order of Merit as of March 10, 2008.

• The top 10 players from the European Tour Order of Merit as of March 17, 2008.

• The top 3 players from the final 2007 Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit.

• The top 3 players from the final 2007 Australasian Tour Order of Merit

• The top 3 players from the final 2007/2008 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit.

• The top 3 players from the final 2007 Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Headlines:

1.) Defending Champion Tiger Woods -- Tiger Woods' recent victory at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship meant that the world's No. 1 player is currently the defending champion of all three World Golf Championship events, including the CA Championship. Woods will be looking for his seventh victory at the CA Championship and his fourth in a row at a tournament he has won on six different golf courses. Only Sam Snead has more victories in a single tournament, with eight wins in Greensboro, N.C.

The CA Championship, the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and the Buick Invitational are three tournaments that Woods has won six times. Sam Snead and Jack Nicklaus are the only two other players to have at least five victories in three different tournaments.

Woods has won 15 World Golf Championships events out of 26 starts (missed the 2001 edition of the Accenture Match Play Championship).

Woods has recorded 10 victories in the state of Florida. The only state in which he has won more times is California (12).

Florida Victories -- Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, 4 (2000-03); FUNAI Children's Miracle Network Classic presented by Wal-Mart, 2 (1996, 1999); Ford Championship at Doral, 2 (2005-06); THE PLAYERS Championship, 1 (2001); CA Championship, 1 (2007).

All-time PGA TOUR Victories:
1) Sam Snead - 82; won 64th at the age of 39 years, 11 months, 21 days
2) Jack Nicklaus - 73; won 64th at the age of 37 years, 4 months, 1 day
3) Ben Hogan - 64; won 64 at the age of 46 years, 8 months, 20 days
4) Tiger Woods - 63; won 63rd at the age of 32 years, 1 month and 25 days

2.) DORAL RESORT & SPA and The Blue Monster -- Of the 990 golf holes played in official PGA TOUR competition in 2007, two of the toughest holes for the world's best players were at Doral Golf Resort & Spa, site of the CA Championship. The par-4 18th ranked as the hardest hole on TOUR, playing at 4.625 during the 2007 event, and the par-4 3rd ranked as the fourth most difficult with a 4.567 scoring average.

Doral Golf Resort & Spa is one of only two courses that hosted non-major championship to make the top 10 (No. 6 at Spyglass Hill Golf Club ranked fifth). Only Oakmont Country Club, site of the U.S. Open Championship, had more holes in the top 10 than Doral (with four).

Top-10 toughest holes on the PGA TOUR in 2007, complete listing:

1. Doral Golf Resort & Spa, No. 18, par 4, 4.625 scoring average, CA Championship|
2. Carnoustie Golf Club, No. 18, par 4, 4.611 scoring average, British Open Championship
3. Oakmont Country Club, No. 18, par 4, 4.602, U.S. Open Championship
4. Doral Golf Resort & Spa, No. 3, par 4, 4.567, CA Championship
5. Spyglass Hill Golf Club, No. 6, par 4, 4.531, AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
6. Oakmont Country Club, No. 10, par 4, 4.529, U.S. Open Championship
7. Oakmont Country Club, No. 1, par 4, 4.515, U.S. Open Championship
8. Augusta National Golf Club, No. 11, 4.510, Masters Tournament
9. Oakmont Country Club, No. 9, par 4, 4.494, U.S. Open Championship
10. Augusta National Golf Club, No. 1, par 4, 4.474, Masters Tournament

3.) Camilo Villegas returns to Doral after missing out on the CA Championship field in 2007 -- As a rookie on the PGA TOUR in 2006, Camilo Villegas captured the interest of local fans at the then Ford Championship at Doral after holding a share of the second-round lead with Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Scott Verplank. The native of Colombia finished in second that week, which earned him a position in THE PLAYERS Championship that year. Shortly after the 2006 event at Doral, Villegas' popularity in native Colombia caused Colombian TV to pick up 30 PGA TOUR golf broadcasts in 2006.

After not earning a spot in CA Championship field last year, Villegas returns to the area by qualifying for the CA Championship via his 24th place finish in the 2007 FedExCup standings.

4.) Players with successful starts in 2008 earn spots in the CA Championship -- With eligibility for this event based not only on how players finished their respective 2007 campaigns, but also how they began their 2008 season, golfers who began the year playing extremely well have been able to earn a spot in the CA Championship field. A few notables are listed in the table below:

5.) THE CA COURSE REPORTERS -- Through CA, the tournament's sponsor, the CA Course Reporters program will place four exceptional youths at the 2008 CA Championship at Doral Golf Resort & Spa. The CA Course Reporters will become the eyes and ears of the tournament for young golf fans around the world, and share their unique experiences through their own blog at www.WorldGolfChampionships.com.

Through its growing partnerships with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and The First Tee on both a national and local South Florida level, CA has enlisted four youths who display a passion for the game of golf, outstanding scholastic achievement and community involvement in their hometowns to help tell the story of the 2008 CA Championship to other young golf fans. Stefano Diaz (Key Biscayne, Fla.); Andrea (Ellie) Maniery (Sacramento, Calif.); Philip Spano (Bronx, N.Y.); Desi Brantley (Miami, Fla.) will make up the CA corps of reporters who will delve into every aspect of the tournament from interviewing caddies about what it's like to lug around a golf bag for 72 holes in the Florida heat, to an inside look at the players' locker room. In addition, the kids will report on the play of the game's best golfers during their quest to tame the legendary "Blue Monster."

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

• Stuart Appleby is participating in his 28th career World Golf Championships event at the 2008 CA Championship, having competed in every World Golf Championships event since the inception of the series in 1999. This event was cancelled in 2001 due to the events of Sept. 11.

• Craig Parry, one of eight players who are currently qualified who have won a World Golf Championships event (2002 Bridgestone Invitational), qualified for this year's CA Championship via his finish atop the 2007 Australasian Tour's Order of Merit. While Parry has had success in the past at World Golf Championships, he is probably best remembered winning the 2004 Ford Championship at Doral with a miraculous eagle from the fairway, on the par-4 18th, the first playoff hole, to beat Scott Verplank. His eagle, a 6-iron from 176 yards, came on the Blue Monster's signature 18th hole. It was his first start of the season on the TOUR. Nearly missed first-round 7:54 a.m. tee time as he slept through his alarm.

"My brother (Glenn) awoke me at 7:40 a.m. It was a mad dash to the 10th tee grabbing whatever clothes I could find in the wardrobe," Parry later explained.

He posted a first-round 1-under-par 71 and then finished 67-65-68 to force the playoff with Verplank.

• Mike Weir and Ernie Els, the only players other than Tiger Woods to ever win the CA Championship, are both in the field. While Weir has played well this season, including fourth at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, Els appears to have regained the form that made him a perennial top-3 player in the world for the past decade. Els recorded his first victory on the PGA TOUR since 2004 with a win earlier this year at The Honda Classic. Els, who won the CA Championship in 2004 at Mount Juliet Conrad in Kilkenny, Ireland, also has a history at Doral Golf Resort & Spa. The 38-year-old won the 2002 Genuity Championship held at Doral. That year, rounds of 66-67-66 gave him an eight-stroke lead with 18 holes to play. Final-round 72 earned a two-stroke victory over Tiger Woods.