It’s not because the course sports a big blue wall. That’s the Green Monster, and it’s in Boston.

Doral is called the Blue Monster because when it first was built back in 1960, people said that Alfred Kaskel was creating a “monster” in the middle of a swamp. When the course opened, it was known as the “Blue” course. With its swirling winds, water hazards and tough play, it soon became known as the “Blue Monster.”

The course originally was designed was Dick Wilson and later restored by Raymond Floyd.

A few weeks ago, I suggested Electronic Arts might back out of their deal with Tiger by moving to a general PGA Tour game, featuring the likenesses of several “young guns.”:

From February 27:

By my count (I’m probably forgetting something), that leaves Tiger with just two high profile deals: Nike and Electronic Arts, makers of the Tiger Woods video game. Nike is in too deep to get out. I predict that EA will drop him in the next year in favor of a general PGA Tour game, with several top young guns as the hook. Picture a box with Kim, Villegas, and several other under 30 “hip” players smiling out at you. They could sign the whole lot for less than they pay Woods.

My predictions, it seems, have come true. Golf Week is reporting that Rory McIlroy will join Tiger on the cover of Tiger Woods 2011. The reason is ostensibly that this is a Ryder Cup year, and Rory is a European.

Right.

I stand by my prediction. EA will move away from Tiger.

Ping and The Tour have come to an agreement to ban the use of the twenty year old square grooved Ping wedges starting March 29. The clubs previously had been exempted thanks to a 1990 settlement in 1990 from when Ping sued the PGA Tour and the US Golf Association.

No doubt neither side wanted to find out what would happen if the case actually went to court.

Phil Mickelson, Hunter Mahan and several others had used the clubs this year, in defiance of a new definition of permitted grooves.

The Phoenix Open is without a doubt the wildest tournament in golf, with more than 500,000 expected to attend this weekend. The eye of that storm is the 30,000 seat stadium that surrounds the par 3 sixteenth. It’s just 162 yards, and the only real trouble is the bunker left, but the atmosphere is intense. It’s likely one of two of the most famous holes on Tour (and both are par 3s).

I subscribe to the PGA Tour’s YouTube feed, and thought that the beginning of the above clip might be of interest.

The announcer, BTW, has one of my dream jobs. Just hang out and cover the Tour. He doesn’t even have to do any real reporting, which is hard work.

Finally a “regular tournament”—and one in which we don’t have to say “in the absence of Tiger Woods,” since this is one he typically didn’t play.

In spite of what I view as a lackluster performance in the early going, Phil Mickelson, has been set as the bettors favorite at 7/1.  Martin Kaymer and Geoff Ogilvy are in at 18/1, while Ian Poulter and JB Holmes are at 22/1.

Holmes is a two-time winner: 2006 and 2008. Mickelson won in 2005 and 1996. Given Holmes recent success, I wonder why he’s not higher on the oddsmakers lists.

For the complete odds, courtesy of Bodog, the world’s largest betting destination, read after the break: