Just about every preview for a golf event mentions Tiger Woods as the defending champion, and this one is no different.  In fact, Woods has won this event five times, including three times in a row from 1999 to 2001.  This World Golf Championship event is one of three World Golf Championships, along with the Accenture Match Play, and CA Championship.  The WGC-Bridgestone was formally known as WGC-NEC Invitational, and before that was known as the World Series of Golf.

What makes this event unlike any other golf event is that it is an invite only tournament, and features only 72 players, unlike the 150 or so that are usually signed up for an event.  According the events official website, there are five ways to get in to the event.  Among them are if you were a part of the last International or America President Cup or Ryder Cup Teams.  Other ways to be invited are if you are among the top 50 players in the world according to the Official World Golf Rankings or if you had one of a bunch of listed events prior to this tournament.

This means that this tournament has a nice combination of the best players in the world, and also players that might not be the best, but are on a hot streak.  As noted, it will take one heck of a hot streak to beat Woods.

Another interesting fact about this event is the actual course it’s played on.  The golf course in Akron, Ohio, called Firestone Country club was actually built for employers of the nearby Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in 1929.  The entire course is actually made up of 54 holes, enough for even the most avid golfers.  My namesake, Robert Jones, redesigned the course in the 1960’s and it remains largely the same now.  Tournaments were first held on this course in 1954, and it officially became the home of the WGC event 1962, two years after another golf championship event was held there. 

The action gets started nearly one week from today, when the best golfers in the world take aim at one of the most prized championships outside of the PGA tour at one of the most challenging and beautiful courses in the world. 

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