Florida Swing Special Report Monday 25 February

He has won a PGA Tour Playoff event, he is The Players Champion and now Matt Kuchar is a World Golf Champion after he ended Hunter Mahan's defence of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship on the 17^th hole of the 15^th final of the first WGC of the year. Kuchar made an impressive start winning four of the first eight holes of the final before a valiant fight back from Mahan on the back nine, the defending champion won the 10^th, 11^th, 14^th and 16^th to get back to 1 down playing the 17^th but he found a bad lie in the fairway bunker and followed this by coming up short with his approach and finding a bush in the desert. Kuchar by contrast having also found the bunker produced a stunning approach to put the pressure on Mahan. Hunter attempted the recovery but the ball was smothered by the bush and his shot went no more than a yard meaning he had to hole his fourth shot to even make Kuchar putt, his approach went to some six feet and he conceded the hole and the match.

Matt Kuchar went 7 years without a win after his first win in 2002, but now has won four times in less than four years including The Barclays, The Players and now a WGC title. The win moves the Floridian to 8^th in the world ahead of the Florida Swing and second World Golf Championship, the Cadillac Championship in 2 weeks time.

The runner-up Mahan had earlier ended Ian Poulter's imperious run and Kuchar eliminated the Australian Jason Day, both by a margin of 4&3. Day defeated Poulter on the 18^th hole in the 3^rd/4^th place play-off.

Once again the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship delivered a series of upsets but also delivered a compelling final four and close final reaching the 17^th hole.

The final of the WGC-Accenture Match Play was somewhat overshadowed by an announcement made by PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem yesterday. He confirmed the Tours' opposition to the proposed ban on anchoring by the R&A and USGA from 2016. I find this completely wrong and shows how the International Federation of PGA Tours does not really do anything, because if it did there would have been a unilateral announcement where all of the tours either agreed with or opposed the stance taken by the games rule makers. This announcement further separates the PGA Tour from firstly the R&A and USGA and secondly from the other tours in world golf.

They have an ally in the PGA of America but they seem to be forgetting that the rules of golf are made by the R&A and USGA, NOT THE PGA TOUR or any other Tour. Colin Montgomerie made the point during Sky's coverage of the WGC that what would happen if PGA Tour players play on the PGA Tour with one rule and then play in the WGC events, Majors or other tournaments sanctioned by other tours which do not use the same rule? The announcement proves the arrogance of the PGA Tour, its commissioner and the players which use the soon to outlawed stroke. The PGA Tour Players council includes 15 players, the majority of which oppose the ban, but why is it only 15?There are over 150 PGA Tour members, why don't they all have a vote?

This will run and run but I can see a situation developing soon where the PGA Tour could be in a very isolated position. And this is I believe what the PGA Tour wants, because then it can go ahead and create its own major championships, specifically The Players Championship. We will see what happens.

Pinehurst markets itself as the Home of American Golf but the real home of golf in America has become Florida. The home of the PGA Tour is at Ponte Vedra Beach near Jacksonville, Florida and the home of the PGA of America is in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The state has more than 1,250 courses and more than any other state across the United States of America, Palm Beach County has more golf courses than any other county in the United States. Golf drives Florida's economy with 167,000 people working in the industry across the state and the economic impact of the golf industry is a staggering $13.8billion, the state has 3,500 PGA professionals and over 200,000 people are members of golf clubs in the Sunshine State. The numbers are incredible, the weather tends to be incredible and golf in Florida is …... amazing.

My Special Report on the Florida Swing will be published every day from today until the final day of the Tavistock Cup on Tuesday 26 March and will cover all of the big stories from the tournaments and providing a guide to golf in the Sunshine State. I will preview each event and review the day's play, as well as giving my opinion on several issues relating to the PGA Tour and the Florida Swing, and looking back at the history of golf in Florida.

Florida's position as 'the home of American golf' makes it the perfect destination for the largest trade show in golf. The PGA Merchandise Show takes place every year in the last week of January in Orlando, Florida. The show is an exhibition for all of the top golf equipment manufacturers, is attended by over 40,000 industry professionals from at least 75 countries and is really the launch for the year's new products. As well as exhibitions there are numerous conferences which take place throughout the week relating to all facets of the golf industry and the PGA Awards take place during the show as well.


The PGA Merchandise Show, now the world’s largest and most influential golf business event, grew from humble beginnings in Dunedin, Fla., in 1954, when a handful of golf merchandisers assembled in the PGA National Golf Club parking lot during a series of PGA winter tournaments. By 1957, the number of manufacturers’ representatives had become so large, approximately 50 by then, that PGA officials leased a tent. The PGA Merchandise Show moved when The PGA of America’s winter tournaments relocated to Florida’s East Coast.

In 1963, the Show was held at the Port St. Lucie (Fla.) Country Club; from 1964–73 at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (now known as BallenIsles Country Club); and in 1974, moved back to Port St. Lucie, still under a circussized tent. The PGA Merchandise Show and winter tournaments moved to Orlando, Fla., in 1975, where the show was indoors for the first time. In 1982, The PGA of America relocated to the new PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, a mile from its former headquarters. The PGA Merchandise Show was subsequently moved to the Miami Beach Convention Center, where it remained for three years. 

Due to the continuing demand for increased space capacity, The PGA moved the Show to the new Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in 1985 and again the Show was quickly filled to capacity. As the PGA Merchandise Show grew so did the West Building of the Convention Center, which added 200,000 gross square feet in 1989 and nearly doubled in size to 1.1 million gross square feet in 1996. In 1998, The PGA of America sold an equity share of its golf shows to Reed Exhibitions, the world's leading trade show organizer. In partnership, The PGA and Reed, under the umbrella of PGA Worldwide Golf Exhibitions, produce and manage the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando and the PGA Expo in Las Vegas. 

Since the PGA/Reed partnership, the PGA Merchandise Show has evolved to become an all-encompassing global platform for the introduction of new products, indoor & outdoor product testing, wide-ranging education seminars, industry symposiums right on the show floor, national awards presentations, fashion features, player development programs, professional networking events and more. 

The PGA Show is covered extensively by the media including on PGA.com, the Golf Channel, Sirius XM Radio and ESPN Radio, there is also an App available on iPhone and Android.

Florida has staged many big golf tournaments throughout history including the Ryder Cup and PGA Championship, but on an annual basis it stages five of the PGA Tour's most significant events, four of which make up the Florida Swing in the month of March. The Florida Swing has evolved since 1970, ranging from 3 to 5 tournaments, settling on 4 tournaments in 1986 and the tournaments which make up the series have changed slightly over the years but have mainly included Bay Hill Club and Lodge, a course in Palm Beach Gardens and Doral Resort. Between 1982 and 2006 The Players Championship was played at the Tournament Players Club Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach in March and the tournament grew to be regarded as the “Fifth Major”, but coinciding with a restructuring of the PGA Tour season in 2007 The Players Championship moved to May and the event played in the Tampa Bay region replaced it as one of the four Florida Swing tournaments in March.

The LPGA will stage just one tournament in Florida in 2013, the season-ending CME Group Titleholders in Naples, Florida in November. The LPGA is also based in Florida at Daytona Beach.

Golf in Florida though has a much longer history than many give it credit for with the first golf club in Florida being established in the late 1890's at the Bellair Country Club near Clearwater in the Tampa Bay area of the state. Seminole Golf Club is consistently ranked as one of America's greatest courses and was built in 1929 by Donald Ross, but in the main Florida's golf course design boom happened from 1960 onward. The Blue Monster course at Doral was built in 1962 and was followed by the Inverrary Country Club in 1970, and Bay Hill in 1972.

These three courses have been at the core of developing the modern Florida Swing with the Doral Open first being played in 1962, the Florida Citrus Open in 1966 and the Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic in 1972. These tournaments have gone on to become three of the PGA Tour's leading early-season tournaments under different names and sponsors, and in the case of the Inverrary Classic moved to another course.

Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician and he hosted the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic at Inverrary Country Club from 1972 to 1980, following which American Motors and then Honda assumed title sponsorship. The tournament left Inverrary in 1983 after 11 successful editions of the tournament and moved to the Tournament Players Club at Eagle Trace for the 1984 edition through the 1991 Honda Classic.

Four years at Weston Hills Country Club were followed by the last playing of the tournament at TPC Eagle Trace in 1996, the event remained in Coral Springs at the TPC at Heron Bay from 1997 to 2002 before moving to Palm Beach Gardens. The Country Club at Mirasol hosted four editions of the Honda Classic prior to perhaps the most important change of course in recent years for any PGA Tour event; PGA National has elevated the tournament to a new status since first hosting in 2007 and the event seems to have the buzz of the old Jackie Gleason Classic along with a world-class field.

The Doral Open was first played in 1962 and was always played on the Blue Monster Course at Doral Country Club, later known as the Doral Resort and Spa until its final edition in 2006. The tournament had several names on a theme from 1962 to 2000 including Doral Open in the title and was sponsored by Fleet Management company Ryder from 1987 to 2000. In 2001 and 2002 Telecommunications company Genuity renamed the tournament as the Genuity Championship and for the last four years of the Doral Open the tournament was known as the Ford Championship at Doral. The tournament always attracted a strong field and in 2005 9 of the world's top 10 featured, with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson dueling for the title and Woods' win returned him to World Number One.

In 2007, coinciding with the restructuring of the PGA Tour schedule the World Golf Championships changed dates and the tournament formerly sponsored by American Express was re-located to Doral, replacing the Doral Open. From 2007 to 2010 the event was known as the WGC-CA Championship and for the last three years has been sponsored by Cadillac as part of General Motors' return to sponsoring golf tournaments. There was some debate around the changing of the management of the tournament with the PGA Tour assuming control of the event when it became a World Golf Championship in 2007. In 2012 Donald Trump purchased the resort and major renovations will be made over the next year and it will be re-branded as a Trump property.

The Bay Hill Club and Lodge was built in the 1960's and acquired by Arnold Palmer in 1974, and in 1978 the Florida Citrus Open (which was played at Rio Pinar Country Club from 1966 to 1977) moved to the course and was known as the Bay Hill Citrus Classic in 1979 and then the Bay Hill Classic until 1984. Hertz were title sponsors from 1985 to 1988 and then from 1989 onwards the tournament had the suffix 'Invitational' and was sponsored by Nestle from 1989 to 1995, Cooper Tires from 2002 to 2003 and MasterCard from 2004 to 2006. In 2007, again coinciding with the PGA Tour restructuring its season the tournament was re-branded as the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, reflecting more visibly the hosting of the tournament by Arnold Palmer.

These three tournaments have been a regular part of the Florida Swing since 1972 along with a variety of tournaments that have featured occasionally such as the Greater Jacksonville Open and the National Airlines Open Invitational, but it was the establishment and relocation of the Tournament Players Championship in 1977 to Ponte Vedra Beach which energized the Florida Swing and provided the PGA Tour with an event that it could call its own and that could contend with the four majors for worldwide fame and status.

The TPC was first played in 1974 at Atlanta Country Club and moved to Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Inverrary Country Club in Florida and then took up permanent residence at Ponte Vedra Beach in 1977, firstly at the Sawgrass Country Club in 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1981 before the biggest move it has ever made, just across the road to the new and unique (at the time) Tournament Players Club and the Stadium Course.

The course was purpose-built for the tournament and was a first of a kind stadium layout to cater for spectators unlike any course had done previously, it had a mix of traditional challenges and an abundance of water, most specifically on the closing three holes. The 17^th hole came about by accident after dirt was removed for the banking around the 16^th and 17^th and the wife of designer Pete Dye, Alice, suggested he filled the hole in with water, this creating the iconic island green which now transcends golf. The 18^th was for many years the hardest finishing hole on the PGA Tour with water up the entire left side of a narrow slither of fairway and trees up the right side. From 1986 to 2006 The Players Championship was the final of four tournaments in the Florida Swing, played two weeks prior to The Masters, the championship attracted the very best golfers from around the world and in the 1990s and early 2000's had the undoubted status as the unofficial fifth major and if there was a tournament you could pinpoint as the world championship of golf this was it. The debate around major status led the PGA Tour make drastic changes to the schedule in 2007 along with the introduction of a playoff system, moving The Players Championship to the month of May.

This was designed to give the PGA Tour big events in April, May, June, July, August and September, as well as making The Players Championship a stand alone big championship in May away from the lead-up to The Masters. However by most people's reckoning this has harmed the championship, with lower crowds and a course which just wasn't built to be played in championship conditions in the warmer, drier month of May.

When The Players Championship moved to May it was replaced on the schedule in the Florida Swing by a tournament that had until 2007 been played in the autumn as part of the PGA Tour's Fall Finish in the lead-up to The Tour Championship. The Tampa Bay Classic was first played in 2000 opposite the WGC-American Express Championship and from 2003-2006 it was positioned as the final full-field tournament on the tour prior to The Tour Championship. The tournament was sponsored by Chrysler from 2003-2006 and known as the Chrysler Championship. From 2007 to 2008 the event was known as the PODS Championship and from 2009 to 2012 was sponsored by Transitions Optical Inc. The move to March has benefited the Tampa Bay Championship and the Innisbrook Resort'sCopperhead course has seen its stature rise accordingly, with Luke Donald winning in 2012 to return to World Number One. In 2012 the championship attracted the strongest field of the three Florida Swing tournaments which didn't have World Golf Championship status, awarding 58 world ranking points to the winner.

The Florida Swing tag-line relates to a series of tournaments in March leading up to The Masters, but Florida has staged many other PGA Tour events over the years that have not been part of the swing. 2012 was the final edition of the Disney tournament which has been known under several titles but most commonly the Disney Golf Classic, played typically in October or November at the Disney World complex near Orlando. The Pensacola Open, Miami Beach Open, Miami Open, Miami International Fourball, Mayfair Inn Open, St Petersburg Open, Sunshine Open Invitational, West Palm Beach Open, Florida Open, Coral Gables Open Invitational and the Coral Springs Open among others have featured on the PGA Tour schedule over the years.

But in 2013 Florida is left with five PGA Tour events; The Players Championship in May and four tournaments in four destinations in March, tomorrow I will look at the specific destinations on the 2013 Florida Swing, feature the host courses and the impact of the PGA Tour in their host communities.