Shag Bag

DORAL, Fla. – Since 1962 it has been, simply, Doral. Or, if one wanted to be dramatic, The Blue Monster. But as players spent the last two days filtering into the south Florida enclave it seems the familiar is now new, at least on paper.

The course was renamed TPC Blue Monster at Doral this year, a business move more so than a strategic makeover, but the golf course has changed little since Jim McLean completed his nip/tuck of the layout in 2000.

The only architectural change of note this year is the par-4 second hole, which features a new tee box on the other side of a canal that has added more than 40 yards to a hole that used to be drivable for the Tour’s longest hitters.

“We were able to get it up there around the green before,” said Bobby Brown, long-hitting Dustin Johnson’s caddie. “Now we’re way back there.”

Other than that, however, the new TPC Blue Monster at Doral looks a lot like the old Doral, and that’s pretty good.

DORAL, Fla. – How do you celebrate a PGA Tour victory?

If you’re Hunter Mahan, you go out for a nice seafood dinner with friends, even if you’re in Scottsdale, Ariz., in the middle of the desert.

“Seafood capital of the West Coast,” Mahan said Tuesday at the WGC-CA Championship.

He celebrated his Waste Management Phoenix Open victory two Sundays ago ordering lobster, crab, shrimp and a steak.

But it wouldn’t have been a celebration without one of his favorite dishes.

“Mac and cheese,” Mahan said. “That’s a must, I think, after a win.”

Mahan said he prefers a red wine with his mac and cheese.

“I think the spiciness brings out some of the flavors in the cheese,” he said.

DORAL, Fla. – Rory McIlroy is among the past champions back at Doral this week.

Well, sort of.

McIlroy, 20, made the voyage from Northern Ireland as a child to play the Doral Publix International Junior Championship. He won the 9-year-old division the first time he stepped onto the property, though that competition was staged at what was then the Doral Green Course. Now, it’s the White Course. He said he played the event for four or so years.

“I know the resort pretty well and feel comfortable with the whole place,” McIlroy said. “I love the golf course.”

As a 13-year-old, McIlroy said he made birdie at the Blue Monster's famed 18th hole hitting driver and wedge.

McIlroy tied for 20th in his first appearance in the WGC-CA Championship at Doral last year.

DORAL, Fla. – Hunter Mahan managed his way around “Groovegate” without being engulfed in the controversy.

He won the Waste Management Phoenix Open two weeks ago after removing a controversial 20-year-old Ping Eye2 lob wedge from his bag and now doesn’t have to worry about whether he ought to put it back into play.

Mahan said Tuesday at the WGC-CA Championship that he’s pleased that Ping voluntarily waived rights that allowed its pre-1990 wedges to be played on the PGA Tour despite the fact that they featured deeper, wider grooves than new U.S. Golf Association rules allow. Beginning March 29, they will no longer be permitted for play. Mahan has an equipment deal with Ping.

When the furor over pre-1990 Ping Eye2 wedges erupted over Phil Mickelson’s use of one at the Farmers Insurance Open, Mahan also had the controversial wedge design in his bag. PGA Tour veteran Scott McCarron said using the wedges constituted “cheating.” Mahan was playing an old 58-degree Ping Eye2 lob wedge with the square grooves. He played with the controversial wedge again at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Mahan won at Phoenix with a newly designed Ping lob wedge that met new standards.

“What I was concerned about is if I won [with the pre-1990 Ping Eye2 wedge],” Mahan said. “Then you get a bunch of questions. `Well, did it play a big part in your win?’ I didn’t want to answer that. I didn’t want to be the only guy to use it [and win]."

With conditions growing firmer and faster through the Florida swing and the PGA Tour’s summer swing, there would be temptation to use the square grooves again.

“Now you don’t have to worry about it anymore,” Mahan said. “I think Ping did the right thing for the game. They are a classy organization.”

DORAL, Fla. – More than a week and half after the “incident,” Rickie Fowler’s layup on TPC Scottsdale’s 15th hole was still a topic of conversation at the WGC-CA Championship.

Whether Fowler should have been more aggressive with his first Tour title in the making depends on who you ask. What doesn’t seem up for debate is what Fowler’s caddie should have done given the circumstances.

“A caddie makes his money on the back nine on Sunday,” said one longtime looper who requested anonymity. “That’s when a player needs a clear head. You can’t convince your player to do anything they don’t want to do, but he should have tried.”

Add a new element to the caddie credo: show up, shut up, keep up and man up.

DORAL, Fla. – No Tiger Woods on property at Doral Resort but his manager, IMG’s Mark Steinberg, was spotted on the putting green talking with officials and looking relaxed.

Steinberg spent about 15 minutes talking with Quail Hollow Championship tournament director Kym Hougham adjacent Doral’s putting green before heading into the sprawling clubhouse.

No word, of course, when we’ll see Steinberg’s No. 1 client, but having TW’s No. 2 around is certainly a good sign.

A handful of play-for-pay types are enjoying one of the most quietly cool Mondays on the PGA Tour today.

Pro-ams are a way of life for Tour players, but the Seminole member-pro is something altogether different because of the venue and the company. The Donald Ross-designed Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla., is a rankings regular on every major index (No. 15 on Golfweek’s Top 100 classic courses and No. 10 on Golf Digest’s America’s 100 Greatest) and the membership is a who’s who of golf and industry.

Among the list of Monday’s participants are Davis Love III, Bubba Watson and rookie Rickie Fowler.

“I’m playing with (U.S. Walker Cup captain) Buddy Marucci and I can’t wait,” Fowler recently told “Shag Bag.”