On the Tours

The top 5 control their own FedEx Cup destiny going into this weekend's PGA Tour finale at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. Win, and the $10 million bonus is yours. If someone outside of the top 5 should make the magic happen, they'll need some help to secure that considerable amount of cash.

Matt Kuchar heads to East Lake Golf Club with a chance to puncuate his best career season on the PGA Tour by bringing home the FedEx Cup. Kuchar will be paired with Ryder Cup teammate Dustin Johson during the first round of The Tour Championship. The other opening round pairings are listed below.

WAVERLY, Ga. - The Golf Club at Sanctuary Cove will be the site of the qualifier for the newest entry on the PGA Tour Fall Series, The McGladrey Classic.

On Monday, Oct. 4, 2010, at 7:30 a.m., approximately 150 professionals will begin challenging each other at this Love Golf Design/Fred Couples Signature Course, competing for spots in The McGladrey Classic.

Dublin, Ohio – The Memorial Tournament, Nationwide Insurance and the PGA Tour have announced that Nationwide will become the presenting sponsor of the Memorial Tournament, beginning with the 2011 event.

Nationwide and the Memorial have mutually committed to a six-year initial relationship through 2016.

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem has announced the suspension of the regulation that resulted in Jim Furyk’s disqualification last week from The Barclays for being late to his Pro-Am starting time. This part of the regulation will be suspended for the duration of the 2010
season.

Hereafter, should a player be late for his pro-am starting time, the situation will be handled as a matter of unbecoming conduct. Such player will be required to participate in the remainder of the Pro-Am round and may be required to perform additional sponsor activity.

Hilton Head's Heritage has yet to secure a title sponsor for 2011, but it has been guaranteed a spot on the PGA Tour's schedule for the 43rd consecutive year.

PGA Tour officials announced a "one time" change that will temporarily move the Heritage into the slot two weeks after The Masters, a departure from its customary position of a week after which the tournament has occupied since 1983.

Considering the crapshoot nature of this year on the PGA Tour, which unfortunately included the disclosure of its demigod's deepest and dirtiest sexual desires, predicting the outcome of the FedEx Cup Playoffs is a fool's errand.

One hundred and twenty-two golfers earned their way into The Barclays, the first leg of the PGA Tour's postseason, by virtue of regular season performance. Only 100 will survive and advance to the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston on Labor Day Weekend.

As the sand slowly sprinkles from one end of the hourglass to the other in advance of Thursday's opening round tee times in Wisconsin, you'll read plenty of stories characterizing the PGA Championship as the most unpredictable of the majors.

And while "Glory's Last Shot" has produced it's share of random champions (see Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel, Mark Brooks, John Daly and most recenlty Y.E. Yang) in the past 20 years, the others haven't exactly been a study in the stars aligning of late.

A spectacularly odd regular season culminates on the shores of Lake Michigan this week (sorry Greensboro), as the 92nd edition of the PGA Championship is played at Wiconsin's Whistling Straits. It's the second time the Pete Dye-designed links-style course will host golf's final major. Vijay Singh defeated Chris DiMarco and Justin Leonard in a playoff in 2004.

Ninety-seven of the world's top 100 players will be competing in the event. Notable absences include Lee Westwood, who is No. 3 in the Official World Golf Rankings, and Robert Allenby, who is out 3-4 weeks after a minor mishap on his boat.

Tiger Woods, winner of the 2007 Quail Hollow Championship and the No.1 ranked player on the Official World Golf Ranking, has committed to play in the Quail Hollow Championship, scheduled for April 26-May 2.

Woods will be making his fifth appearance in the Quail Hollow Championship. In 2009, he finished solo fourth. He had to miss the 2008 edition due to knee surgery. Besides his victory in 2007, Woods finished T3 in 2004 and T11 in 2005.