WGC-CA PGA Tour Event at Doral Boasts the World's Best

Featured Columnist Andy Reistetter is on site at the WGC-CA Championship at TPC Blue Monster at Doral.

The associated video is available on YouTube.com.

Who in the world is teeing it up at the TPC Blue Monster at Doral this week?

The BEST players in the world that's who!

After all this is a World Golf Championship.

There are only two ways to get into this field.

The first is to have played well last year.

The top 30 from the 2009 FedExCup standings and the top 20 from the European Tour’s Race to Dubai are here.

The top two players on the Asian, Japan, Australasian, and Sunshine Tours are here too.

That is a total of 58 golfers- right- 30+20+8?

No wrong!

That's only 54 golfers since Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvy, and Padraig Harrington double qualified both on the US, PGA, and the European Tours. Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee did the same thing on the European and Asian Tours.

The other way to get in is to play well this year.

The current top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking and the top 10 in the Race for Dubai and the FedExCup standings are here.

That's 16 more golfers!

Five: Dustin Johnson, Alvaro Quiros, Charl Schwartzel, Thongchai Jaidee, and Matt Kuchar have all moved into the top 50 since the end of last year.

Others from the Top 50 include Adam Scott, Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas, Matt Kuchar and Vijay Singh.

Four: Ben Crane, Bill Hass, J.B. Holmes and Ryan Palmer are in the top 10 of the current FedExCup Rankings.

That's a total of 70 eligible golfers.

But two golfers are not competing.

Everyone knows Tiger is not here, but who's the other guy?

How could someone pass up a chance to play in a lucrative $8.4 million tournament?

Passing up an average payday of $122,000 or a chance at $1.4 million first prize?

Ryo Ishikawa can.

Why?

It's his high school graduation back home in Japan!

Some guys in the field you might not be familiar with?

How about Wen-Chong Liang from China?

The No. 2 player on the Asian Tour last year he is No. 93 in the world.

Liang has made history in several ways as the first Chinese golfer to win the European Tour Order of Merit and play in the PGA Championship.

Most importantly, he is the first Chinese golfer to make the cut in a major when he did so at the Open at Royal Birkdale in 2008.

When Liang turned pro in 1999, China had about 10 golf courses. Today they have over 500.

Japan's Yuta Ikeda is only 24 years old and a pro golfer since only 2008. He burst onto the scene following in the footsteps of the great Jumbo Ozaki winning the 2009 Japanese PGA.

Yuta has won four times in Japan and is ranked No. 40 in the world.

Amazingly two Italian brothers, Edoardo and Francesco Molinari are in the field this week.

Two of the best 70 golfers in the world are brothers from Italy?

Ciao.

Yes!

They too have made history.

Last fall they became the first brothers to team up and win the Omega Mission Hills World Cup.

Last month they became the first brothers to qualify for a WGC event.

But "Oh Brother" they both got beat in the first round. 

Edoardo, age 29, won the U.S. Amateur in 2005.

He is the older brother by 21 months, though he turned pro two years after younger brother Francesco.

Edoardo is one-up on Francesco, ranked 47 versus 46, though the younger brother is the more accomplished player.

Francesco finished T10 in the 2009 PGA Championship and T10 in last year's WGC HSBC in Shanghai, China.

Defending champion Phil Mickelson is hot in WGCs winning two of his last three after starting 0-for-26.

Who will tame the TPC Blue Monster at Doral and become the new champion of World Golf?

That's all for now my golfing friends. This is Andy Reistetter live from the WGC-CA at TPC Blue Monster at Doral. Thanks for joining me and have a great week.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering and working part time for CBS Sports, NBC Sports, and The Golf Channel.

He resides in Jacksonville Beach, FL near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach.

He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]