DID YOU KNOW – WGC – BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL
• In 2007 Tiger Woods created a European Tour record by winning the tournament for a third consecutive season. He became the first player to win the same event for three consecutive years on two different occasions, having already won the event in 1999, 2000 and 2001, then in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
• Tiger Woods won the event for an eighth time in 2013; the first time a player has won an official European Tour event on eight occasions.
• Tiger Woods has a remarkable record in the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational. He has played in the tournament 14 times and won it on eight occasions. The American has competed in the event 13 times over Firestone’s South Course. Apart from his eight victories (all of which have come at the Akron venue), he was second in 2004, tied fourth in 2003 and tied eighth in 2012. (The only year the tournament was played away from Firestone, at Sahalee in 2002, he was fourth).
• Tiger Woods has a stroke average of 68.23 from his 52 rounds in the tournament at Firestone. Of those 52, 40 have been at par or better.
• A total of 33 European Tour Members have qualified to play in the 2014 tournament. Of the 33, three will be making their first appearance in any of the WGC events. They are: Estanislao Goya, Alexander Levy and Fabrizio Zanotti. Five European Tour Members, including the three already mentioned are making their debuts in the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational. The remaining two are Brendon de Jonge and Victor Dubuisson.
• The 2014 WGC - Bridgestone Invitational will be played for the 16th time, 15 of them at Firestone Country Club’s South Course. The only year it was not staged at the Ohio venue was in 2002 when Sahalee CC has that honour.
• Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood will be playing in their 16th WGC – Bridgestone Invitational. The trio have the honour of being the only players to have competed every year since the first one in 1999.
• Open Champion Rory McIlroy will be looking to win in consecutive European Tour appearances for the first time. The last player to win The Open Championship and win a tournament on The European Tour on their next outing was Tiger Woods. The 14-time Major Champion won The Open Championship in 2006 and followed that up by winning the US PGA Championship.
• At aged 45 years and 163 days, Vijay Singh is the oldest winner of a WGC event when he won here at Firestone in 2008.
