REWIND
Dustin Johnson registered his second win in as many weeks with a one-stroke victory at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational over World Number One Jason Day.
In tough conditions at Firestone CC, the U.S. Open champion posted a second successive round of 66 to claim a third WGC title ahead of nearest challenger Scott Piercy.
Beginning three strokes adrift of overnight pacesetters Day and Piercy, Johnson mixed six birdies with two bogeys to set the clubhouse target at six under.
Meanwhile, Day faltered on the back nine to finish tied third alongside Kevin Chappell, Matt Kuchar and Jordan Spieth.
THE FIELD
With the field set featuring 64 of the top players in the world, 35 European Tour members will venture to Akron with victory on their mind, including the recently crowed Open Champion Spieth.
The major players will all tee it up this week as World Number Four Rory McIlroy looks to continue the form he found during his rounds at Royal Birkdale almost two weeks ago that earned him a tied fourth finish.
The Spanish flag will be flying high with Masters Tournament Champion Sergio Garcia chasing his third victory of the season alongside recent Rolex Series winners Jon Rahm and Rafa Cabrera-Bello, who will be looking to capitalise on their winning form.
World Number One and defending champion Johnson will surely take confidence into this event having successfully tamed the South Course last year. Since that victory, he has gone on to take the number one ranking in the world and win two of the next three WGC titles. Meanwhile, Japanese superstar Hideki Matsuyama will also be looking to add a second WGC title to his name after his impressive victory at last year’s WGC-HSBC Champions.
THE COURSE
Harvey Firestone commissioned the club 88 years ago as a park for employees of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. The South Course at Firestone CC, designed by Bert Way and opened in 1929, with a redesign by Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1960, is best known for its history of tournament play.
Length will ultimately prove key this week, with the par-70,7,400 yard South Course, and most notably the famous 16thhole - dubbed ‘The Monster’ by Arnold Palmer in 1960 after he carded a triple bogey eight during the PGA Championship that year.
The 667-yard par five is the signature hole this week with water coming into play at the front of the small green and a creek to the right hand side, providing one of the more challenging tests for the players during their round.
DID YOU KNOW
* Shane Lowry became the 12th European Tour Member to have won the WGC event when the Irishman claimed a dramatic victory at the 2015 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, making it two in a row in the tournament for tour members following Rory McIlroy’s 2014 triumph. Russell Knox became the 13th to win a WGC event in 2015 at the WGC-HSBC Masters, meaning to date there have been 16 victories from European Tour Members in all WGC events.
* A total of 35 European Tour Members have qualified to play in the 2017 tournament. Of those, 12 will be playing in the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational for the first time: Sam Brazel, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Scott Hend, Renato Paratore, Thomas Pieters, Jon Rahm, Andy Sullivan, Hideto Tanihara, Harold Varner III and Jeung-hun Wang.
* This is the 19th edition of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, the 18th at Firestone Country Club’s South Course. The only year it was not staged at the Ohio venue was in 2002 when Sahalee CC had the honour.
* Phil Mickelson will be playing his 16th WGC – Bridgestone Invitational, holding the honour of being the only player to have competed every year since the first one in 1999.
* 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 eight 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, 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).
* 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.
