This Week in Golf -- August 18th through August 21st
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}PGA TOUR - WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP, The final event before the playoffs kicks off this week at Sedgefield Country Club.
The FedExCup Playoffs start next week and there are some big names fighting for their spot in the playoffs.
Among the top names playing this week will be former major champions Angel Cabrera, Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington. All three are outside the 125 on the FedExCup points list with Cabrera being the furthest away from qualifying at No. 150.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Camilo Villegas enters the week as bubble boy, as he is No. 125. He will be in the field as will Justin Leonard and Paul Casey, who are both in the 140s on the points list.
As we found out last week, Tiger Woods is skipping the event and therefore will miss the FedExCup Playoffs.
Last year, Arjun Atwal opened with a nine-under 61 and followed with three more rounds in the 60s to win by a single stroke over former PGA Champion David Toms.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Atwal, who matched the course record with his 61, won for the first time on the PGA Tour. He was the first Monday-qualifier to win a PGA Tour title since Fred Wadsworth won the 1986 Southern Open.
He will be joined in the field by former Wyndham winners Brandt Snedeker, Rocco Mediate, Carl Pettersson and Davis Love III. Including Love, there are 16 former major champions competing this week.
Sedgefield hosted this event 10 times from 1938-57, then every year from 1961-76. This is the fourth straight year the event is back at Sedgefield after Forest Oaks hosted the tournament from 1977-2007.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sam Snead won this title eight times between 1938 and 1965. That 27-year span is a record for the most time between the first and last victories for a player at the same tournament. When he won the title in 1965, Snead became the oldest winner in PGA Tour history at 52 years, 10 months and eight days.
Golf Channel and CBS will have coverage of all four rounds this week.
The FedExCup Playoffs start next week as Matt Kuchar will defend his title at The Barclays, which will be contested at Plainfield Country Club this year.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}EUROPEAN TOUR
CZECH OPEN, Prosper Golf Resort, Celadna, Czech Republic - Coming off playing at the PGA Championship, course designer Miguel Angel Jimenez will tee it up this week at the Czech Open.
The Spaniard, who designed the Prosper Golf Resort, has a pair of runner-up finishes this year, but is looking for his first win since last year's European Masters, which was his third title of 2010 on the European Tour.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jimenez, who tied for seventh at this event last year, is one of 10 former European Ryder Cuppers in the field this week. The other nine are David Howell, Ignacio Garrido, Oliver Wilson, Soren Hansen, Phillip Price, Paul McGinley, Joakim Haeggman, Jarmo Sandelin and Paul Broadhurst.
Peter Hanson birdied the second playoff hole last year to defeat Peter Lawrie and Gary Boyd. Hanson, who stumbled to a 74 in the final round, but still came away with the title. He will not be on hand to defend his title.
Lawrie and Boyd fired rounds of 66 and 68 respectively to gain their spot in the extra session. Both are playing this week
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Golf Channel has coverage of all four rounds this week.
The European Tour heads to Scotland next week for the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, where Edoardo Molinari beat Brett Rumford by a single stroke last year.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CONSTELLATION ENERGY SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP, Westchester Country Club (West Course), Harrison, New York - The Champions Tour heads to New York this week for its fifth and final major, the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship.
Mark O'Meara two-putted for par on the first playoff hole last year to defeat Michael Allen and win his first Champions Tour major championship.
O'Meara closed with a 68, while Allen carded a four-under 66 to force the extra session. The title was O'Meara's second on the Champions Tour, but first solo crown.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He teamed with Nick Price earlier in 2010 to win the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf.
The first four major champions of the season -- Tom Lehman (Regions Tradition), Tom Watson (Senior PGA Championship), Russ Cochran (Senior British Open) and Olin Browne (U.S. Senior Open Championship) -- are all in the field this week.
Golf Channel has coverage of all four rounds this week.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Champions Tour heads back to the west coast next week for the Boeing Classic, where Bernhard Langer beat Price by three shots last year.
SAFEWAY CLASSIC, Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club (Ghost Creek Golf Course), North Plains, Oregon - The LPGA Tour returns after a two-week break for the Safeway Classic.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ai Miyazato closed with an even-par 72 last year, but it was enough to give her a two-stroke win at the Safeway Classic.
The victory was her fifth of the season and vaulted her back into the top spot in the women's world rankings. She has since fallen to seventh in the rankings and will be part of a strong field this week.
The top-18 players in the world will all be at Pumpkin Ridge this week as the tour kicks off a run of nine tournaments in the next 10 weeks.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Including Miyazato, seven of the last 11 winners of this title are playing this week. That group also includes Cristie Kerr, Juli Inkster and Mi Hyun Kim.
The busy Golf Channel will cover all three rounds this week.
NATIONWIDE TOUR
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}MIDWEST CLASSIC, Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate, Overland Park, Kansas - The Midwest Classic returns after a one-year break. In 2009, Michael Sim closed with a 67 to win by two strokes over Josh Teater.
The victory was the third of the year for Sim, which meant he earned the automatic Battlefield promotion to the PGA Tour.
Sim is having a tough season on the PGA Tour as he has missed the cut 11 times, while earning just four paychecks. He also withdrew from his last start at the Greenbrier Classic.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}When Sim won the title in 2009, the event was in its first year and was known as the Christmas in October Classic.
Seven of the top-10 money leaders with tee it up this week at the Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate, including two-time winner J.J. Killeen. He will look to duplicate Sim's feat and move on to the PGA Tour for the Fall Series.
There is no television this week.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The tour heads to Tennessee next week for the News Sentinel Open, where Chris Kirk was a two-stroke winner last year.
CANADIAN TOUR
SEAFORTH COUNTRY CLASSIC, Seaforth Golf Club, Seaforth, Ontario - Kent Eger fired a final-round six-under 65 to come from behind and win the Seaforth Country Classic.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The victory for Eger was his second at this event, as he also claimed the title in 2008.
Last year, the tourney leader was booted from the tournament after 54 holes. Jose de Jesus Rodriguez walked off the course with the lead after three rounds, but signed an incorrect scorecard.
He was disqualified and Darren Griff was handed the 54-hole lead. Griff closed with a one-under 70 to share fifth.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The tour remains in Ontario next week, but shifts to Toronto for the Canadian Tour Championship, where Aaron Goldberg six-stroke win last year.