BlogMayakoba Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

• The last of the seven fall events in the new wrap-around schedule for 2015.
• For many these six weeks has become a God send because for some it’s almost guaranteed their 2016 tour cards before the end of 2014.  Example of that, for winners Sang-Moon Bae, Ben Martin Robert Streb and Nick Taylor they have gone from obscurity to instant fame and in most cases (Taylor has reached that point yet) they have won over a million dollars before the calendar rolls over to 2015.  Thanks to there wins all of them have secured spots in the first round of the FedEx playoffs and for Bae, Martin and Streb they will play in the Masters.
• Yes, Graham Delaet is #48 on the rankings and vulnerable on staying on the list, he isn’t playing this week because he is hurt, so he may miss out on a way to get into the Masters.  For some of the others like #49 John Senden, #50 Brendon Todd and #52 Russell Henley, they qualified by playing in the Tour Championship.  So there isn’t anyone on the PGA Tour really affected with this.  That is probably one of the reasons that the top player in the field is #60 Angel Cabrera.
• So with this week is golf finished on the PGA Tour?  No, we still have the Hero World Challenge the first week of December followed by the Franklin Templeton Shootout.  We may also see a player or two venture to South Africa for the Nedbank and of course the three biggest events in Australia is happening in the coming weeks.  So golf is still being played, just not for FedEx Cup points.

Course information:

El Camaleon was built by Greg Norman and opened in 2004. The course wines through three distinct landscapes tropical jungle, dense mangroves and sand-lined oceanfront. The design even incorporates a cenote – an underground cavern common to the area – into the heart of the first fairway. The PGA Tour made its first stop in 2007, spending six years opposite the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship until getting its own fall date this year. In 2016, El Camaleón will serve as one of two hosts for the World Amateur Team Championships.

Located 45 minutes south of Cancun, in the heart of the Riviera Maya, Camaleon is aptly named for its diverse layout and ever changing landscape, always in total harmony with the region’s natural beauty.

For those that think that this is a resort course and is a pushover, that’s not the case.  The last time the Tour played there last year the course played under par at 70.019 and ranked 39th toughest.  Now that is quite a drop and shows what happens when the wind blows in off the Gulf of Mexico and doesn’t.  In 2014 conditions were mild, thus a easy scoring average.  But in February of 2012 the course played over par at 71.65 and ranked 17th toughest, so it’s not a pushover. In looking at it’s characteristics it’s in the middle of the pack compared to other courses that held events in 2012.  Driving accuracy it was the 20th hardest, in greens hit the 21st hardest.  Same with putting, the overall putting average placed it T19th so it has it’s challenges.

Looking at how the course did in 2014, driving accuracy it was the 29th hardest, in greens hit the 36th hardest.  Same with putting, the overall putting average placed it T25th so it has it’s challenges.

Players will be challenge by conditions of wind on holes that get close to the sea, the par 3 7th and 15th are on the beach.  On course water hazards comes into play on six of the holes and there are 36 bunkers to avoid.  The greens average 7,000 square feet with the grass being a special blend called Sea Isle 1 Paspalum which is unique because you can use a seawater blend in irrigating the fairways, tees and greens.  The course has a rating of 73.8 from the back tees with a slope of 137.

The weather will be perfect and ocean breezes will not only challenge the players but keep the temperature perfect.  Nothing like having your office at a great resort for the week.

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the OHL Mayakoba Classic:

Key stat for the winner:

In a tournament that has a history of younger players participating, older more experience players have done well.  In it’s first year in 2007, 50 year-old Fred Funk took the title and since Champion Tour standouts John Cook and Michael Allen have contended and finished in the top-ten.  Of it’s other five champions only John Huh and Brian Gay were first time winners so experience players tend to do well. Last year Harris English won for the second time, six months before he was a first time winner in the FedEx St. Jude Classic, so maybe that is a trend to look for, those that have won before.

Here are some more key stats to look to for this week:

Tournament has only had limited stats once as in 2012 John Huh led the greens hit category missing only 13 of the 72 greens. while last year’s winner Harris English was T-10th hitting 55 of 72 greens.  One other oddity that I noticed of the winners, they did very well on the par 3s, don’t know if that means anything.