The Cadillac Championship returned to the PGA TOUR this week after a nine-year hiatus, with Trump National Doral's Blue Monster Course again hosting the event as the fifth Signature Event of the season. The 72-player field comes without a cut, giving every player four rounds to attack a course that has been lengthened and sharpened for its latest test.
Trump National Doral's Blue Monster now measures 7,739 yards and plays as a par 72, 141 yards longer than when it last hosted a robust field. The par-5 12th hole stretches to 667 yards this week, while the par-3 fourth remains 227 yards. The par-4 18th was the hardest hole on the course in the last two visits, a reminder that the finishing stretch can still turn a tournament late. Bermudagrass rough has been set to three inches, and the greens are expected to run 12 feet on the Stimpmeter.
The return brings the event back to the site where Adam Scott won the 2016 edition by one stroke with a 12-under 276. That field averaged 72.854, and this week only 10 players from that tournament are back in the 72-player lineup. The Blue Monster has since undergone a complete overhaul by architect Gil Hanse, and the course is expected to put a premium on precision off the tee and on approach.
That makes the opening days especially important even without a cut, because the players who handle the longest holes and the demanding finish best should separate themselves quickly. The one number that lingers from the last visit is the 0.402 strokes over par the course yielded, a hint that Doral can still punish anything less than disciplined golf.