CA Championship, Round 1 (PGATOUR.com)

March 11, 2010

STENSON OFF BABY DUTY, FOR NOW (12:25 p.m.): One of the enduring images of Henrik Stenson’s win last year at THE PLAYERS Championship was when his 2-year-old daughter, Lisa, ran out onto the 18th green that Sunday and wrapped his leg in a pint-sized bear hug.

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Well, Lisa now has a little brother, Karl, who was born on Friday in Orlando. The Stensons went with the Swedish spelling—with a K—for the new baby who weighed in at 7 ½ pounds and 21 inches.

“His grip is getting a little bit weak though so I had to tweak that on Saturday,” the proud papa said with a mischievous grin. “But he’s learning quickly.”

Stenson has taken a break from diaper duty to play in the World Golf Championships-CA Championship this week. The 2007 Accenture Match Play Championship winner just teed off and birdied his first hole, two-putting from 43 feet.—Helen Ross

KUCHAR OFF TO FAST START (12:10 p.m.): Matt Kuchar didn’t waste any time getting to the top of the leaderboard. He just eagled his first hole of the day—the 551-yard 10th—with a hole-out from the greenside bunker.

Expect to see a lot of low scores on No. 10, which ranked as the second-easiest hole on the golf course last year. Below is a look at how all the holes played here last year.—Brian Wacker

Hole-by-hole summary, TPC at Doral (2009) Rank Hole Par Yds Avg Scr Avg O/U Eagle Birdie Par Bogey Dbl Bogey Other 18 01 5 529 4.196 -.804 25 213 72 6 1 0 14 02 4 376 3.795 -.205 2 85 207 22 1 0 4 03 4 438 4.183 +.183 0 40 208 45 19 5 2 04* 3 236 3.356 +.356 0 22 190 79 23 3 13 05 4 394 3.817 -.183 0 83 210 23 1 0 5 06 4 442 4.136 +.136 0 31 217 64 5 0 11 07 4 428 3.890 -.110 0 62 228 27 0 0 12 08 5 560 4.833 -.167 3 69 225 18 2 0 7 09 3 169 3.047 +.047 0 45 219 49 2 2 Front 9 Totals — 36 3572 35.253 -0.747 30 650 1776 333 54 10 Front 9 Avg — — 396.89 3.92 -0.083 3.33 72.22 197.33 37.00 6.00 1.11 17 10 5 551 4.546 -.454 9 158 122 24 4 0 10 11 4 402 3.946 -.054 1 46 239 31 0 0 16 12 5 603 4.584 -.416 3 146 150 16 2 0 3 13 3 245 3.252 +.252 0 18 206 88 5 0 9 14 4 460 4.003 +.003 0 48 225 40 3 1 8 15 3 175 3.016 +.016 0 40 233 43 1 0 15 16 4 372 3.773 -.227 0 98 193 26 0 0 6 17 4 419 4.063 +.063 0 59 186 65 7 0 1 18* 4 467 4.479 +.479 0 11 181 91 30 4 Back 9 Totals — 36 3694 35.662 -0.338 13 624 1735 424 52 5 Back 9 Avg — — 410.44 3.96 -0.038 1.44 69.33 192.78 47.11 5.78 0.56 TOTAL — — 7266 70.915 -1.085 43 1274 3511 757 106 15 AVG — — 403.67 3.94 -0.060 2.39 70.78 195.06 42.06 5.89 0.83

WHAT WILL PHIL DO? (12 p.m.): Is this the week that Phil Mickelson wins? He’s the defending champion here at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship, but he hasn’t exactly had a stellar start to his season with just one top-20 in four events. Not that Mickelson is too worried about that.

“When we come to Doral, that is when kind of the heart of the season is starting to occur,” he said in his teleconference for this event a couple of weeks ago. “They react better for iron shots into the greens.”

Mickelson didn’t arrive in Doral until Wednesday night—not a huge surprise since he knows the course well enough not to worry about practicing there and there was no Wednesday pro-am.

Here’s another inside-golf type reason why Mickelson should fare well here: The MiniVerde-type grass on the greens. “For whatever reason, I’ve been able to putt these greens much more successfully,” Mickelson said.

Though Mickelson ranks 109th on the PGA TOUR in putting this season, his 1.79 average isn’t terrible. The real problem has been the driver. Mickelson is hitting just over 51 percent of his fairways. That said, he hit just 29 of 56 fairways in winning at TPC Blue Monster last year.—Brian Wacker

WEATHER OUTLOOK (11:45 a.m.): The weather for the first two rounds of the World Golf Championships-CA Championship doesn’t look too promising. The skies are gray right now, and the possibility of rain increases to 50 percent by 2 p.m.

Friday looks even worse with an 80 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms—with the rain heavy at times. The total accumulation over the next 48 hours is expected to be between 2-3 inches.

The weekend looks much better, though. The skies will begin clearing on Saturday and the sun will return. Temperatures will be in the upper 70s each day.—Helen Ross

Groups We’re Watching Tee time Players 11:46 a.m. ET,No. 1 Lucas Glover, Robert Allenby, Jim FurykAllenby and Furyk, two of the TOUR’s most consistent players, haven’t won in years. Is this their week? 11:56 a.m. ET,No. 10 Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen, Rory McIlroyLefty’s the defending champ, but can he win again? McIlroy is inspired after meeting with Nicklaus. 12:07 p.m. ET,No. 10 Lee Westwood, Camilo Villegas, Martin Kaymer Villegas is coming off a victory at The Honda Classic. Can he overcome fatigue to win in Doral? MORE ROUND 1: Tee times | Inside the field | Inside the coursesFANTASY GOLF: Power Rankings | Fantasy Insider | Play our game … free!