There's a 'major' trend with Wachovia Championship winners

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Is it any wonder that so many major champions also have the Wachovia Championship on their resume? Or, is it the other way around?

Quail Hollow Club is nothing if not a major test with lush rough, quick greens and a variety of golf holes that test every shot in the bag. Only 10 courses -- four of them hosting one of the game's crown jewels -- were more difficult last year.

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Vijay Singh has been successful in major championships and the Wachovia Championship.

The five men who have won the Wachovia Championship have a combined total of 127 PGA TOUR victories and 18 major championships. The 2007 winner, Tiger Woods, obviously skews those numbers with 64 and 13, respectively, but the list is impressive nonetheless.

Woods is absent this year, at home nursing his bum knee, but the trend continued on the first-round leaderboard Thursday. The 2003 Wachovia Championship winner, David Toms, holds down the top spot after shooting a sterling 5-under 67.

"All the guys knew when we came here the first time, it was a special event," Toms, who won the 2001 PGA Championship, said. "And it's continued to be that way. They've only upgraded from there."

Among those one stroke off the pace is three-time major winner Phil Mickelson. Lefty seems to always contend at Quail Hollow with three top-seven finishes in four starts, including a tie for third last year.

"I like the golf course a lot," Mickelson said. "I think that's why so many players play here, because they love the tournament and the way the course plays, the challenge of it, as well as how fair it is."

Then there's 2007 Masters winner Zach Johnson and 2003 British Open champ Ben Curtis, both among the players tied at 69.

Vijay Singh, who won the Wachovia Championship in 2004 as well as a trio of majors, is three strokes off the pace along with 2006 U.S. Open champ Geoff Ogilvy. Singh has four top-10s at Quail Hollow, including second to Toms and a tie for seventh last year. Ogilvy has two top-10s of his own here and has never finished lower than 24th.

The reigning U.S. Open champion, Angel Cabrera flirted with the top spot for a while Thursday but had to settle for a 71. So did Jim Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open champ, and Jose Maria Olazabal, a two-time winner of the Masters.

Furyk won the Wachovia Championship in 2006 and shared second the previous year. The Spaniard had never played Quail Hollow before last year, but he finished tied for 16th, undoubtedly showing Olazabal that the course suits his game.