By Greg Robertson
ESPN Golf Online
Sunday, March 5

Details
When	Thursday-Sunday, March 2-5
Course	Doral Resort and Spa (Blue course)
Where	Miami
1999 champion	Steve Elkington
Purse	$3 million (Winner: $540,000)
Yardage/Par	7,125 yards, par 72
Tournament record	265, 23-under (Greg Norman, 1993)
Television	Thursday-Friday: 4-6 p.m. (USA) Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m. ET (NBC)

The tournament

	Hole by hole
	Hole	Par	Yards
	1	5	529
	2	4	376
	3	4	409
	4	3	236
	5	4	394
	6	4	442
	7	4	428
	8	5	528
	9	3	169
	Out	36	3511
	10	5	551
	11	4	363
	12	5	603
	13	3	245
	14	4	443
	15	3	175
	16	4	372
	17	4	419
	18	4	443
	In	36	3614
	Total	72	7125
	Key holes: The 18th is the showcase hole at Doral, a dogleg wrapping around the water. A new sand trap at the corner makes players think twice about cutting the corner too closely. A shaved bank near the green also will swallow up any shots missed to the left. Another difficult hole is the 13th, a mammoth par-3 where simply hitting the green with a fairway wood or 2-iron is an accomplishment.

The PGA Tour leaves the wet weather of the West Coast for Florida this week, starting on the Blue Monster at Doral.

The Doral-Ryder Open is the first of four consecutive events in Florida, culminating with The Players Championship at the end of the month. It also begins the march toward The Masters, the year's first major which arrives the second week of April.

Players will see a slightly different Doral this week. Considered too easy a few years back, Raymond Floyd engineered numerous changes on the course -- mostly the addition of sand traps -- to toughen it up.

But many felt Floyd went too far, and several players started to stay away from Doral. Many of the traps have been removed and the course looks more like its old self this week.

That should be good news to a pair of Australian stars -- Steve Elkington and Greg Norman -- who combined to win this event five times in the 1990s. Doral could be the necessary ingredient to getting their 2000 seasons jump-started.

Doral marks the first stroke-play event of the PGA Tour season for Norman. He struggled in a couple of events in Australia and was knocked out in the first round of the Match Play Championship last week by Mark O'Meara.

Elkington has finished in the middle of the pack in three stroke-play events this year and was also knocked out in the first round of the Match Play last week by Jeff Sluman.

Elkington came from six strokes back on Sunday last year to beat Greg Kraft by a stroke. Kraft had a chance to tie or win on the final hole, but a dumped his approach into the water on No. 18 and settled for second.

Although Tiger Woods, Fred Couples, Justin Leonard and Davis Love III are among the players skipping the event, there are plenty of stars. David Duval, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Jesper Parnevik and Norman are among the big names in the field.

Next week, the Tour heads up the coast to Coral Springs, Fla., for the Honda Classic, followed by Arnold Palmer's party at Bay Hill prior to The Players Championship.

A dozen players to watch
Jim Carter: It took him 13 years and 292 starts to get a PGA Tour win. Let's see how does the following week. He needs to finish first or second to have any chance of getting a Masters invitation.

David Duval: Duval played very well on the West Coast, particularly at the Match Play, and seems ready to get back to the winner's circle. He's back home in Florida which should improve his comfort level on the greens.

Steve Elkington: His season has been mediocre so far, but he's won this event two of the past three years. His final-round 64 was easily the best of the tournament last year.

Ernie Els: Els began the year with a second and a fifth in the Hawaii events before playing some European Tour golf. He hasn't looked particularly strong since his return, but Els likes Doral. He finished in a tie for third last year.

Jim Furyk: Accurate drives are important at Doral, and that's one of Furyk's strengths. He made it to the third round of the Match Play before losing to Davis Love III. Furyk needs to make some putts early in the week to give him a confidence boost.

Greg Kraft: Kraft let the Sunday pressure get to him last year, but he clearly was the best player over four rounds. He led after both the second and third rounds before Elkington caught him on Sunday. He contended a couple more times in 1999, and that should help if he gets there again.

Phil Mickelson: The last time Mickelson played a stroke-play event, he put an end to Tiger Woods' winning streak. With his victory at the Buick under his belt, Mickelson should be full of confidence, particularly with his putter.

Greg Norman: Nobody has played Doral better than Norman over the years. He won in 1990, 1993 and 1996, including a tournament-record 23-under 265 in 1993. Doral should be a true test of whether his heart is still in the game.

Jesper Parnevik: Parnevik joined Kirk Triplett as the only players with five top-10 finishes on the West Coast Swing. He won the Bob Hope Classic, came close on a couple of other occasions and is second on the money list.

Nick Price: Playing just his second stroke-play event of the season, Price has had some success at Doral in the past. He was runnerup to Elkington three years ago and had a top-10 finish last year.

Vijay Singh: Singh has to be disappointed with his West Coast effort, although he did finish second at Pebble Beach. His last victory came in Florida last year, and he was runnerup to Norman at this event in 1996.

David Toms: A 73 on Friday is the only thing that kept Toms from winning last year. He finished in a tie for third, two strokes behind Elkington, but is a much better player now. Two wins late last year have boosted his confidence.