www.globalgolfpost.com
MARCH 12, 2012
Elementary, My Dear Watson
Donald’s Done Deal At Doral
MIAMI | The Donald was at Doral last
Thursday, the better to ballyhoo his
recent $150 million purchase of the Doral
Resort and Spa, including the TPC Blue
Monster course that will be renovated by
Olympic architect Gil Hanse.
Real estate mogul Donald Trump
said he plans to sink an additional $200
million into the 700-room resort on
nearly 800 acres of prime Miami real
estate and will consider combining
two of the courses now on the property – the Red and the Gold – into one.
Construction on the Blue Monster will
begin at the close of the 2013 WGC-Cadillac Championship and the course
should be ready for the 2014 event.
“I have friends that are very suc-
cessful people and they love to garden,”
Trump said. “And I like to garden, too, I
guess in a much bigger way. I also love
tremendous acreage.”
Trump had already retained the
services of Hanse to renovate the Blue
Monster and said he told him he had
“an unlimited budget” to get the job
done on a course built over 320 acres.
“We are going to make this place
really fantastic,” Trump said. “I think
everyone’s going to be really happy. It’s
going to take a little while and it’s going
to take a lot of money, but the end result
is going to be great. I think Gil (Hanse)
is going to be the star of this whole deal
because he’s going to do something
really, really special. I think everyone
who loves golf will be really happy.”
Hanse said he considers his job
a renovation, not a restoration of the
course originally designed by Dick
Wilson. Greens will be rebuilt and
Hanse said he will shift six greens to
new locations, completely re-do the 15th
hole and introduce more water on 15
and 16 to “hopefully provide some more
drama to the finish.” One hole he has no
plans to change is the 467-yard 18th, the
toughest hole on the course last week
during the WGC-Cadillac Championship.
Donald Trump (left) and Gil Hanse
Bubba Watson travels with a trainer
but says he still has no desire to ever
get himself a swing instructor.
MIAMI | Bubba Watson posted a
10-under 62 in the second round to
take the 36-hole lead by a shot, just a
stroke off the course record of 61 set
by Steven Ames in 2000. Afterward,
he said, “You know, this golf course
really doesn’t suit me.”
You certainly could have fooled
Watson’s playing partner, Justin Rose,
who came in with a 64 himself that day
and was awed by the distance and the
direction Watson was hitting the ball.
“He’s a fun guy to watch play golf,”
said Rose, who played with Watson for
the first three rounds. “When he hits
tee shots, there’s a bit of disbelief. Or
he curves one, starts one in the trees
and there’s oohing and aahing when
it goes back into the fairways. No one
knows what to expect, and I think it’s
fascinating to watch.
“He does it a little bit different to
the way I do. He takes some lines (off
the tee), that I don’t have in the locker.
It’s like, he’s dropping a (penalty) shot.
No, he’s safe. Oh, now he’s got a flip
wedge in his hand.” l
L.S.
Bubba
Watson
to do it on my own. I want to play better
for me and I want to win because of me
and I want to play good because of me.
I’ve never (sought) advice of a coach
or anything on my swing. I just swing
funny and somehow it works.”
Watson said the last time he got
help on his swing was “my dad (when)
I was about 10 years old. He could
barely break 100. I used him like a mir-
ror because he was right-handed. He
told me the basic grip, the basic swing
and I learned it from there. You know
it’s all about personality. Some guys
want somebody there. Some guys want
somebody there to cheer them up, to
keep them going, to tell them that the
swing looks good. I choose not to.”
What a bizarre start and finish for
Sergio Garcia last week.
