2014 WGC-Cadillac Championship Predictions and Picks; D Johnson to Win

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Last week’s showed yet again that anyone can win on any given weekend with the drama filled final round ending with Russell Henley winning in a four way playoff. This week it is time for another World Golf Championships event. On tap this week is the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Miami Florida. The Tournament Players Club at Trump Doral, dubbed the “Blue Monster,” will be the course the PGA Tour will call home this week. The newly redesigned course will play to 7,481 yards, par of 72 this year. The course boasts one of the toughest holes on tour, the 18th. There is water down the entire left side which is a factor on the monster par four finisher, one of the best the players will play all year. Doral has new teeth this year and expect them to jump and bite many of the best players in the world.

Since the Cadillac Championship came to Doral in 2007 some of golf’s biggest names have tasted victory in this event. The short list includes the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, and Justin Rose. When you think of Doral and a weekend of top tier golf it doesn’t get much better outside of Augusta. There is no cut this weekend which is a nice (or sad if you are playing horrible) change for the players with the winner taking home a cool $1.53 million out of the $9 million total purse. The entire top-50 in the World Golf Rankings is here and ready to play. Tiger Woods is the defending champ but comes off a final round WD from the Honda Classic. Let’s get to the predictions and picks for the 2014 Honda Classic.

Cadillac Championship Sleeper- Graham DeLaet

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Graham DeLaet is on pace to shatter the numbers he put up in a breakout 2013 campaign. Thanks to 2013, DeLaet gets to play in the Cadillac Championship instead of the Puerto Rico Open like last season. He has made the cut in six of seven official events in 2014. Of those six, he has four top-10s including runner-up finishes at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

DeLaet is fifth on tour in driving distance and Greens in Regulation coupled with an 11th place position in scoring average and 12th in the all-around. He is showing a level of consistency in 2014 that shows he is finally capitalizing on what he learned the previous year. The sky is the limit for the 32 year old and a win prediction at the WGC-Cadillac Championship is not a stretch of the imagination.

Cadillac Championship Pick – Dustin Johnson

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Dustin Johnson has played in five official tour events at this point in the 2014 season. He has finished in the top-10 four times including two runner-up finishes at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the Northern Trust Open as well as a victory in November at the WGC-HSBC Champions. His last start was a poor showing at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship but given the format I am willing to toss it out focusing on his back-to-back runner-up finishes prior to the match play start.

Statistically speaking, Johnson has been quite impressive during his run leading up to the WGC-Cadillac Championship. He is leading the tour in Greens in Regulation, adjusted scoring, all-around, par-4 scoring and par-5 scoring. Johnson is also third in ball striking and fifth on tour in putting from 20-25′. He is clearly a win candidate at the revamped Doral where he length will come into play. Johnson can be predicted as a logical win pick this week at the WGC-Cadillac Championship.

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