Once again, the very best players in the world will take to the legendary 'Blue Monster' course at Doral, for the 14th WGC-Cadillac Championship. A venue which has hosted the PGA Tour since 1962, Doral will be hosting the WGC for a seventh sucessive year. The strength of this field of 65, is best illustrated through the somewhat contrived pairings for Thursday and Friday. The top 24 ranked players in the field have been divided into groups of three, determined by their positioning in the Official World Golf Rankings.
However, amongst the most stellar of fields, eyes will, understandably, be fixated on the world number one, Rory McIlroy. Coming six days after the most contentious episode of his astonishing early career, at the Honda Classic; McIlroy will hope that Doral will signal the first stage of his progression from his unfortunate Friday experience at PGA National.
He has already successfully made the crucial first step. Speaking before the assembled media on Wednesday, Rory opened up about his decision to walk-off the course midway through his second round. He later blamed his inability to continue on troublesome wisdom tooth pain, which has affected him for over a year. But, at his pre-tournament press conference, he reflected that it simply wasn't a justifiable excuse for his action.
He said: "I realised pretty quickly it was not the right thing to do," he then reflected, "I regret what I did. It won't happen again. There is no excuse for quitting."
Having been seven over par through eight holes, Rory shook hands with his playing partners, Ernie Els and Mark Wilson, and departed off the property in minutes; having found the water on his ninth hole. During his Wednesday press conference, McIlroy, who is consistently noted, and respected for his openness and honesty when speaking publicly, then furthered on what his thoughts were at the time of the incident.
"At that moment in time I was all over the place and I just saw red," said the Northern Irishman. "I feel like I let a lot of people down with what I did last week, and for that I am sorry."
"No matter how bad I was playing, I should have stayed out there. I should have tried to shoot the best score possible even though it probably wasn't going to be good enough to make the cut."
Such candor is typical of McIlroy, a trait which has served him well and in the words of Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, has earned him a one-time pass for his withdrawal at the Honda.
He produced, without question, his finest performance of 2013 at his pre-tournament press conference, cashing in that pass, but he must now focus on using this week to make progress on the golf course.
Much attention has been focussed on McIlroy's equipment change at the start of the year from Titleist to Nike, in an astonishingly lucrative deal. His poor form with the new clubs thus far has naturally developed the suspicion that Rory chose the money over the benefit of his long-term future on the course. However, as respected coaches, Butch Harmon and Denis Pugh noted when watching Rory in Abu Dhabi in January, his swing was completely out of sync. This is an issue that McIlroy has admitted himself, and one that he is hoping to correct at Doral. But, as Rory is well aware, there are no quick fixes in Golf.
However, with no cut in this event, four competitive rounds are ensured and that should allow McIlroy to quietly progress through the week. It is not realistic to expect a victory this week given his recent form, but an improved performance throughout the tournament will provide much encouragement as the Masters Tournament looms near. Although, it won't be as a relaxed transition as he would have hoped. Playing alongside Tiger Woods and Luke Donald, McIlroy will have to go about this task on Thursday and Friday in the most watched pairing, but that is the nature of being at the top of your sport; a burden that few people have any real understanding of.
McIlroy is learning the hard way, but it was never going to be an easy passage to become the dominant figure in the game, especially with the shadow of Tiger nearby. Ultimately, he is learning through experience and now that he has made a comeback, from a PR perspective; it's time for McIlroy to get back to what he does best. And that is play competitive golf, which is something he pobably hasn't done enough of this year. Doral, and the WGC-Cadillac Championship, will represent the beginning of that resurgence.
And we will be watching.