Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - PGA TOUR - TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP, East Lake
Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia - The final event of the 2012 FedExCup season
kicks off on Thursday at East Lake.
Rory McIlroy enters the event as the leader on the points list as he has won
three of the last four PGA Tour events he competed in. McIlroy started that
run with an 8-shot win at the PGA Championship.
He won the last two Playoff events and increased his points lead over Tiger
Woods to more than 3,000. However, all 30 players that made the Tour
Championship had their points reset so that all 30 have a mathematical chance
to win the FedExCup title with a win this week.
Last year, Bill Haas parred the third extra hole to defeat Hunter Mahan to win
both the Tour Championship and the FedExCup. The shot that everyone remembers
was on the second extra hole.
Haas pulled his second shot left of the green and his ball rolled down into
the edge of the water. He blasted his ball out of the water to two feet and
made par, while Mahan 2-putted for par.
Mahan failed to get up and down for par from a bunker on the third playoff
hole, and Haas won the title when his 4-foot par putt found the bottom of the
cup. Haas started the week 25th in the points list, but won the FedExCup title
as the top players on the points list didn't do enough to hold him off.
Haas struggled to a final-round 78 at the BMW Championship two weeks ago and
cost himself a spot in the field. Mahan did qualify, but is 23rd on the points
list and has just one top-10 finish since he won in Houston the week before
the Masters.
Of the previous five FedExCup winners, just two are in the field this week.
Woods, a two-time winner, and 2010 champ Jim Furyk are at East Lake.
Golf Channel has extensive coverage the first two days, then early coverage on
the weekend before handing off to NBC.
Next week is the Ryder Cup, where the European team will look to retain the
Cup at Medinah. The following week the Fall Series starts with the Justin
Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open, where Kevin Na won last year.
LPGA TOUR
NAVISTAR LPGA CLASSIC, RTJ Capitol Hill Golf Club (The Senator Course),
Prattville, Alabama - The LPGA Tour returns to the United States for one event
before heading to Asia for its next four tournaments. This is the final full-
field event in the U.S. this year for the tour.
Last year, Lexi Thompson became the youngest winner in LPGA Tour history as
she cruised to a 5-shot win. Thompson led Stacy Lewis and Becky Morgan by two
strokes after 36 holes.
The teenager then fired a 5-under 67 in the third round to grab a 5-shot lead
entering the final round. Her lead in the final round ballooned to seven, but
then shrunk to three.
Thompson birdied 16 and 17 to give herself a 5-shot cushion and that helped
let her enjoy the walk up the 18th fairway. She parred the last to become the
youngest winner in tour history.
Now 17, Thompson was also the youngest player to play in, and make the cut in
an LPGA Tour major.
After back-to-back top-5 finishes at Mobile and the ShopRite, Thompson has
finished no better than tied for 14th and missed three straight cuts at one
point.
Golf Channel has coverage of all four rounds.
After a 2-week break, the LPGA heads to Asia for four straight events. First
up will be the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, where Na Yeon Choi held off Yani
Tseng for the title last year.
WEB.COM TOUR
WNB GOLF CLASSIC, Midland Country Club, Midland, Texas - The Web.com Tour
heads to Texas for the WNB Golf Classic.
Danny Lee will be on hand to defend his title this week at Midland Country
Club. Lee parred the first playoff hole last year to beat Harris English.
Lee, a former U.S. Amateur champion, will look to become the first player to
successfully defend his title on the Web.com Tour.
English, who won last year's Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational as an
amateur, moved on to the PGA Tour this year, but is not playing this week as
he failed to qualify for the Tour Championship.
This is the final event of the year with no television coverage.
The tour will be in North Carolina next week for the Chiquita Classic, where
Russell Knox won last year.
The Sports Network