2015 WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral: Tee times, pairings for Sunday’s round

Thanks in large part to a round that will definitely go down as the round of the year, J.B. Holmes will start Sunday at the WGC-Cadillac Championship with a five-shot cushion. Holmes has been at the top of the leaderboard ever since Thursday afternoon, when he posted that astonishing 62 in what were some of the more brutal scoring conditions you’ll get at Doral. It was a full 11.4 strokes better than the scoring average that day, when the wind was up and these Gil Hanse redesigned greens were holding absolutely nothing. NBC’s Johnny Miller called it one of the best rounds he’d seen in the last 20 years, and it’s been enough to keep Holmes in front by multiple shots over the first 54 holes.

It’s always nice to have a five-shot lead, but Doral is one of the best places to have such a margin. The water troubles and blow-up holes lurk everywhere and the leader and give it away in a matter of minutes. Holmes has, by and large, avoided that kind of implosion. He hasn’t broken 70 since that opening round stunner, but every time he posts a bogey, he manages to stop the bleeding with a birdie or two and not let things go off the rails. For instance, he posted a bad bogey 6 on the par-5 12th on Saturday, and seemed to open the door for Dustin Johnson and the closest chasers. Then he birdied four of the next five holes to slam that opening shut and get well in front again heading into the final 18 holes.

Holmes will play his final round with Johnson, the two bombers going off the 1st tee at Doral’s Blue Monster course at 2:35 p.m. ET. Both Johnson and Holmes are two of the longest hitters on the planet but the highlights of their third round came with the shorter sticks in hand. At the par-3 4th, which was playing around 207 yards, both hit almost identical shots for holes-in-one about 20 minutes apart from each other.

As Golf Channel’s Justin Ray noted, there had been no aces at the hole in the past 24 years of competition at Doral. Then two came in the final three groups of the day on Saturday.

You might think that having an ace on the scorecard is one of the better paths to victory, but it’s rare to get from the eventual winner. The last player to record a hole-in-one on his way to a win was Steve Stricker in 2011 and it’s only happened 24 times.

Now both players in the final group have a chance to add their names to that list. The advantage obviously lies with Holmes due to the five-shot lead, but DJ may be the most talented American golfer and he’s been rounding into form since his return from that six-month personal leave (or suspension depending on who you ask). He’ll need a clean scorecard and a few water balls from Holmes to put the pressure on as they hit the back nine on Sunday.

The WGC events are some of the most exclusive, biggest money tournaments of the season. Aside from The Players and the four majors, nothing is more lucrative. You’re also guaranteed a nice check of more than $40k just for showing up. That’s because there is no cut at these events. We start with a field around ~75 players and they all hang around for 72 holes (except the wise Thomas Bjorn, who withdrew with an injury on Thursday and still walked off with his check). It gives the Tour a ton of flexibility scheduling the tee sheet on Thursday and Friday, when they send them out in groups of three off split tees. That condenses the tee sheet into two hours and puts everyone on the course at the same time, a luxury for TV. For the final two rounds, however, a more traditional setup is put in place and they roll them out over the entire day at Doral.

There’s obviously a little more room on Sunday with the additional hour of daylight, so the final group won’t be out until 2:35 p.m., setting up a finish right around 7 p.m. on NBC. Golf Channel will have the early round coverage starting at 1 p.m., so you’ll be able to watch world No. 1 Rory McIlroy’s (1:25 p.m. tee time) entire round if you please. Here are all your streaming and media options and here’s the full tee sheet for Sunday’s final round: