After major renovation last year, will Blue Monster at Doral be as scary?

A newly renovated Blue Monster course at Trump National Doral made for a challenging World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship last year.

This week, most of the 74 players in the elite field, which includes all 50 of the world's top-ranked golfers, will have a better idea of what to expect when they tee off in Thursday's opening round.

"I guess you know the course a little bit better now, after the big renovation last year," said No. 7 Sergio Garcia, who tied for 16th behind winner Patrick Reed last year.

"We know what's going on. We know how much tougher this course is now than it used to be starting last year. We kind of know what to expect a little bit."

Reed was 4 under for the tournament, which featured one day of gale-like winds. That helped the Blue Monster rank as the third-hardest course on the PGA Tour last season behind Pinehurst No. 2, the site of the U.S. Open, and Augusta National.

Those windy conditions were worse than those faced by the players last Thursday in the Honda Classic, which concluded Monday on the Champion course at PGA National Resort & Spa.

"It was just brutal weather," said Dustin Johnson, who shot 77-75 to miss the cut. "It was blowing 30 mph. That golf course is not a fun golf course to play when it's blowing that hard. It's not a fun course to play when there's no wind. It's tough.

"I just wasn't mentally into it and in those conditions you've really got to be focused and you've really got to be paying attention on every single shot and I wasn't. I hit a lot of great shots. The first day I shot seven over and made five birdies. It's not like I wasn't hitting the ball well."

Johnson will be in a better frame of mind on the Blue Monster, where he tied for fourth last year at even par.

He said the course is "completely different" from the Champion course.

"This course is hard, but it's a lot different style of course," said the No. 16 Johnson, who leads the PGA Tour in driving distance at 313.7 yards, and plans to hit his driver often this week.

"You have to," said Johnson, who tied for fourth at Pebble Beach and lost a playoff at Riviera in his two tournaments before the Honda. "The course is long. You don't want to be hitting 3-woods off the tees because you'll have too long into the greens.

"The wind blows all the time, so downwind holes you've got to take advantage of. Into the wind holes you just try to get a look at birdie or get it in the best spot to make a 4. You know you don't have to shoot very much under, so pars are a good score on every hole. The par-5s are where you kind of want to try to take advantage of it because you're going to make some bogeys around here. It's too tough not to."

Bubba Watson, who is ranked No. 2 behind Rory McIlroy, finished second here last year and in 2012.

He played nine holes Monday and 18 Tuesday, after which he said the course is in the best shape he's ever seen.

"The greens are perfect. The fairways are unbelievable," Watson said. "The challenge around here is trying to hit your drive halfway decent. Miss the water, miss the bunkers and make putts."

Donald Trump, who bought the resort and renovated its golf courses, the clubhouse and 700 suites, said some changes were made to the Blue Monster.

Although most players raved about the course last year, a few had complaints.

"We softened up one or two greens, made a few changes," Trump said. "But basically there was one area that was a little bit too tough and we softened it up a little bit. A couple of areas were a little bit too dicey and we softened those areas up.

"I think the course is actually harder now because it's more mature and the greens are going to be a little bit faster. Don't forget, I only had it open for a month before they played the tournament last year, so we couldn't have the greens quite as fast as we can now."

This article was written by Steve Waters from The Sun Sentinel and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.