This week’s WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in Marana, Ariz., could be something really special.

Or it might not.

That’s the tricky thing about match play. When competition begins Wednesday with 64 of the top ranked players in the world, there will be all sorts of intriguing possibilities. A few times over the years, promise has even delivered. In 2000, Darren Clarke beat Tiger Woods in the final. Woods won in 2003 by taking down David Toms in the final and won again in 2004 over Davis Love III. Woods defeated Stewart Cink in 2008. Even last year, although an all-England final, Ian Poulter‘s victory over Paul Casey had its viewing strengths.

But then there was 2001 when Steve Stricker beat Pierre Fulke in the Sunday final. Or 2007 when Henrik Stenson beat Geoff Ogilvy. And who doesn’t remember Kevin Sutherland’s 1-up decision over Scott McCarron in 2002?

Because players are eliminated as the week wears on, it is always possible that by the time Sunday’s final match arrives, there is the possibility of a “Who’s He?” taking on “Who Cares?”

That makes match play events fascinating in that much of the intrigue often occurs early in the week, and the final days can drag.

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It’s easy for golf to feel a little romantic about this week’s Northern Trust Open. By any name, it’s the old Los Angeles Open at Riviera Country Club.
This is the course that Ben Hogan all but made his own, turning it into “Hogan’s Alley.” In the 1940s, Hogan won the Los Angeles Open three times and finished second once.

Other winner’s over the years include Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Hale Irwin, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Ben Crenshaw, Fred Couples, Nick Faldo, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson.

Not bad.

And then there’s the real history.

Riviera is the club that was so Hollywood.

Famous members over the years include Humphrey Bogart, Glen Campbell, Peter Falk, Dean Martin, Gregory Peck, Walt Disney and Douglas Fairbanks.

Oh, yeah, O.J. Simpson once had a locker there, too.

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Yep, the PGA Tour is playing again this week. It’s the Pebble Beach AT&T National Pro-Am.

That means Pebble Beach. Cool. Great tournament. There is the celebrity/amateur thingy that was once very, very hip when Bing Crosby was the host, but now too many people wonder “who the hell is Bing Crosby?” and Bill Murray, George Lopez and Andy Garcia are the celebrity headliners.

Play will be slow and the weather most-likely lousy, but there may be no greater piece of real estate in golf than Pebble Beach.

Remember, they did play the U.S. Open there last year.

Graeme McDowell won it, but Dustin Johnson came close. That’s significant because Johnson did win the two Pebble Beach Pro-Am stops before that. So, despite the fact Johnson in June shot a final-round 82 to fall out of the hunt, he led after three rounds and also has been the winner at the previous two PGA Tour events at Pebble Beach by one shot over David Duval and J.B. Holmes last year and four in front of Mike Weir in 2009.

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Let’s hear it for the power of cheese.

One day after his beloved Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl, Wisconsin native Mark Wilson, who briefly wore a plastic Cheesehead as he played Sunday, returned to TPC Scottsdale Monday and won the frost-delayed Waste Management Phoenix Open, beating Jason Dufner in a playoff. Wilson, who in January won the Sony Open, became a four-time career winner by making a nine-foot birdie putt on the second hole of sudden-death.

Wilson has now won two of his last three starts and becomes this season’s first multiple winner.

“I think I’ve been a little bit better practicer,” Wilson said. “I’ve got a new green-reading technique that I learned from Dr. Greg Rose there at (the) Titleist Performance Institute, and then Ping has been really good with me working with my wedges trying to dial in the grooves just right. I spin the ball more than most guys, so the whole groove thing last year was supposed to be good for me, but I still was spinning it back too much from the fairway. So Ping has been working with me good. I’ve got some good equipment now, and just — but the putting really has been the big thing.

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The PGA Tour is enjoying a nice little run right now.

This week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open could very well keep it going.

Two weeks ago the Bob Hope Classic produced a feel-good story: Venezuela native Jhonattan Vegas, who first learned the game hitting rocks, brought a big smile and excitement. It was followed by last week’s popular win by Bubba Watson, in an exciting dual with Phil Mickelson.

Now, it’s time to party.

The Waste Management Phoenix Open is loud, wacky and usually pretty interesting. The tournament traditionally draws the largest galleries in golf with a week-long attendance of some 500,000 attending what is called “a golf tournament wrapped in a social event.”

Mickelson, No. 4, is the only player among the world’s top 10 in the field, but other headliners will include Dustin Johnson, defending champ Hunter Mahan (pictured) and last week’s Farmers Open winner Watson.

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FanHouse Golf Writer Mick Elliott runs through a point/counterpoint on the last week of happenings in golf:

Fact: A man who allegedly took a woman hostage during a Friday bank robbery in suburban Washington, D.C., was shot and killed by authorities.

Observation: Good.

Fact: Playing in the opening round of last week’s European Tour event in Bahrain, Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez angrily broke his putter in two, picked up his wedge to use on the greens and made three straight birdies.

Observation: Would you expect anything less from the Most Interesting Man In The World?

Fact: Flying enthusiast Arnold Palmer (right) piloted his first aircraft in 1956. On Sunday, now 81, the golf legend made what he proclaimed his final flight as a pilot. With his license now expired, he will not seek to have it renewed.

Observation: Wait a minute. Arnold Palmer needs an airplane to fly?

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SAN DIEGO — With a 5-under final-round 67 Sunday at Torrey Pines, Bubba Watson won the Farmers Insurance Open — his second PGA Tour title — by one shot over Phil Mickelson and put the PGA Tour on notice.

He’s serious.

“It just shows that I can do it,” Watson said. “I did it twice now. I’m only like 50 behind Phil and 80 behind Tiger, so they better watch out.”

Watson, no malice intended, is seen by many as something of a golf goof ball. The 32-year-old self-taught player from the little Florida Panhandle town of Bagdad, likes to post Internet videos featuring trick shots and comedy. One of his favorites is a wedge shot from out of a tiny loving cup, over a swimming pool and into a sand pail.

He also has posted a “Happy Birthday” tribute to Ellen DeGeneres, and, last December at the Shark Shootout, dressed as Santa Claus to sign autographs after finishing play.

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SAN DIEGO — Phil Mickelson and Bill Haas are 12 under par and share the lead going into Sunday’s final round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. Hunter Mahan, Bubba Watson, Anthony Kim and rookie Jhonattan Vegas are within three strokes as the sun-splashed week heads to the finish line.

What could possibly be wrong with a tournament like that?

Funny you should ask.

Sitting adjacent to Torrey Pines golf complex is the Scripps Clinic. When a visitor to the medical center arrived this week for a scheduled doctor’s appointment, she was confounded by signage in the parking lot that announced “NO ACCESS FOR FARMERS.”

Clinic officials are now aware of a coming petition demanding that in the future they accept the area’s farm workers for treatment.

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SAN DIEGO — After 19 PGA Tour seasons, 46 professional victories, four major championships, more than $60 million in career earnings and a public image that can pull more heart stings than Hallmark, Phil Mickelson should be a whole lot easier to figure.

But then he wouldn’t be Phil.

Few — in any — people in golf have ever done unpredictability bigger and better than Mickelson. Start with the fact that he’s a natural right-hander who plays golf lefty.

Over the years, Mickelson has lost events he should have won, and won others in which he probably should not have even been in contention. He has been heroic, steady and good. He has been his own worst enemy. He has been lampooned for talking too much about things he should not and applauded for insight and opinions on important issues inside the game. He has gambled and won, gambled and lost.

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SAN DIEGO — A year ago in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, John Daly retired from golf.

He shot 79-71 in the opening two rounds and said enough was enough.

“I’m done,” a forlorn Daly announced as he loaded up his tournament courtesy car to exit stage right. “Just can’t play like I used to. … I’m tired of embarrassing myself.”

Anytime John Daly worries about embarrassing himself, you know things have gone really bad.

Daly, however, has proven to be many things, one of the best being resilient. If he hasn’t killed himself over years of reckless, wild-child behavior, then he’s not going to pull the plug on golf.

And now look. Thursday at Torrey Pines, Daly shot a 5-under par 67 and is three shots back of first-round leader Sung-hoon Kang’s 64. Rickie Fowler and Alex Prugh shot 65 and rookie Chris Kirk 66.

“I mean, you get frustrated,” Daly said after being reminded of last year’s knee-jerk announcement. “You know, this place means a lot to me. You think about winning here and stuff like I did in ’04, and you see Tiger plays here every year. The top golfers play here every year, that says something. It’s a special place.”

The fact Daly did win this event in 2004 is a reminder of how good his golf could be.

Besides the “grip it and rip it” length that became Daly’s signature, he has hands soft as clouds and the short-game ability that comes with it.

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SAN DIEGO — Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the 2011 Tiger Woods Show. Kick back. Settle in. For one reason or another, this should be interesting.

Just more than a year after the most damaging and costly car-hits-fire-hydrant collision in motor vehicle history, Woods arrived Wednesday at Torrey Pines, site of this week’s PGA stop — the Farmers Insurance Open — ready to begin the task of distancing himself from a lost season.

Not only did the game’s most famous player go winless in 2010, the first shutout in his 15-season career, he also lost a carefully crafted image, a marriage, and, according to many, the aura of invincibility that he wore like armor.

After a record 281 consecutive weeks as the world’s No. 1 ranked player, he now trails England’s Lee Westwood and Germany’s Martin Kaymer. In an effort to revive his sagging game, Woods undertook the fourth retooling of his swing, teaming with teaching pro Sean Foley in August and working feverishly during the off-season.

Now, it’s time to start competing all over again. But will it all come back, or has the magic been lost?

“Well, I think in order to play this game at a high level, it helps to have a clear mind,” Woods said Wednesday. “I’ve played at the high levels before in the past without a clear mind, but it helps to be consistent. It helps having your life in balance.

“Certainly my life is much more balanced than it was in the past. That is exciting for me. I think it’s exciting for my kids, and we’re really looking forward to it.”

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SAN DIEGO — Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the 2011 Tiger Woods Show. Kick back. Settle in. For one reason or another, this should be interesting.

Just more than a year after the most damaging and costly car-hits-fire-hydrant collision in motor vehicle history, Woods arrived Wednesday at Torrey Pines, site of this week’s PGA stop — the Farmers Insurance Open — ready to begin the task of distancing himself from a lost season.

Not only did the game’s most famous player go winless in 2010, the first shutout in his 15-season career, he also lost a carefully crafted image, a marriage, and, according to many, the aura of invincibility that he wore like armor.

After a record 281 consecutive weeks as the world’s No. 1 ranked player, he now trails England’s Lee Westwood and Germany’s Martin Kaymer. In an effort to revive his sagging game, Woods undertook the fourth retooling of his swing, teaming with teaching pro Sean Foley in August and working feverishly during the off-season.

Now, it’s time to start competing all over again. But will it all come back, or has the magic been lost?

“Well, I think in order to play this game at a high level, it helps to have a clear mind,” Woods said Wednesday. “I’ve played at the high levels before in the past without a clear mind, but it helps to be consistent. It helps having your life in balance.

“Certainly my life is much more balanced than it was in the past. That is exciting for me. I think it’s exciting for my kids, and we’re really looking forward to it.”

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SAN DIEGO — OK, now we’re talking.

The PGA Tour has come to beautiful and challenging Torrey Pines this week for the Farmers Insurance Open and was considerate enough to bring a nice bottle of pay-attention.

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Hunter Mahan, Anthony Kim, Rickie Fowler and Justin Rose are all entered — and with no NFL to block the sun.

Just like golf’s good ol’ days, Woods will be the attention getter — at least starting out.

Woods has owned Torrey Pines in the past. He has six victories in 11 starts here in PGA Tour play, in addition to the 2008 U.S. Open. But Woods hasn’t played at Torrey Pines since that major championship, missing the Farmers in 2009 because of knee surgery and skipping it last year while taking a break from personal issues that led to divorce.

The personal turmoil left the former world No. 1 player without a victory in 2010, the first winless season of his career.

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FanHouse Golf Writer Mick Elliott runs through a point/counterpoint on the last week of happenings in golf:

Fact: Tiger Woods begins 2011 play this week in San Diego, hoping to bounce back from the first winless season of his career. “I’ve been working hard on my game, it’s game time, hooah!!” Woods posted on Twitter.

Observation: And Tiger knows “hooah.”

Fact: Woods will arrive at Torrey Pines No. 3 in the world rankings, now trailing No. 1 Lee Westwood and No. 2 Martin Kaymer.

Observation: Woods should be thrilled. Finally, he has something to look forward to.

Fact: Phil Mickelson made it as a vegetarian for five months, but recently returned to his old diet. “I was a strict vegetarian for five months, but ultimately, it was doomed to fail,” he said.

Observation: That explains Callaway’s new product line: The Rescue Club Sandwich.

Fact: Westwood, the Englishman and recent new No. 1, says he will not enter this year’s Players Championship, golf’s “fifth major,” because of scheduling conflicts involving his status as a non-member of the PGA Tour.

Observation: Meanwhile, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem continues to work on ways to attract foreign stars to the U.S. So far, the best idea is Marriott Rewards Points.

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Nowhere among the world’s top two ranked golfers will you find Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk or any other American.

U.S. golf supremacy, once as dependable as the American dollar, well, still is. While the PGA Tour’s Bob Hope Classic was playing out Sunday as a final-round battle between everybody’s favorites, Jhonattan Vegas and Gary Woodland, far across the world Germany’s Martin Kaymer was winning the Abu Dhabi Championship and vaulting into the world No. 2 spot behind England’s Lee Westwood ahead of Woods.

Kaymer, the 26-year-old who made last year’s PGA Championship his first major title, shot a 6-under-par 66 to finish 24 under and eight shots clean of Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy. Retief Goosen and Graeme McDowell were another two shots back in third.

Kaymer’s winning score and victory margin were the best in tournament history.

Making those facts particularly impressive is the Abu Dhabi field featured all four reigning major champions in addition to
Westwood, Mickelson and a total of seven of the world’s top 12.

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FanHouse Golf Writer Mick Elliott runs through a point/counterpoint on the early weeks of the 2011 PGA season:

Fact: World No. 1 Lee Westwood (pictured) heads the field this week at Abu Dhabi, joined by Graeme McDowell, Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington, Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy.

Observation: Not to be outdone, the PGA Tour’s Bob Hope Classic, with its pro-am format, has Alice Cooper, Craig T. Nelson, Sterling Sharpe and a Rush Limbaugh listener.

Fact: Of the 26 rookies who made their season debut last week at Sony, only five survived the cut with the best finish belonging to Chris Kirk, a former Ben Hogan Award winner at Georgia (T30).

Observation: Do you wonder if the Bulldogs elected Kirk team captain?

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It just doesn’t seem fair, but that’s where the once-proud event finds itself: in only slightly better health than its namesake. When the five-round, 90-hole pro-am event begins Wednesday, it will be playing second fiddle to the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship, the week’s big-boy gathering that will draw six of the world’s top 10 players, and 12 of the top 25, including world No. 1 Lee Westwood and American favorite Phil Mickelson.

The Hope, meanwhile, has six of the top 50 (Matt Kuchar, Tim Clark, Bubba Watson, Bo Van Pelt, Ryan Moore and Stewart Cink). Kuchar, at 13th, is the highest-ranked player and the only player from the top 25. There was a time that the Hope was a must-play during the West Coast Swing. But players simply do not like five rounds that (because of amateur partners) last six hours in historically foul weather.

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There are 26 rookies, 11 of them playing in their career first PGA Tour event, teeing off Thursday the Sony Open in Hawaii, the year’s first full-field event.

In a related story, drug stores in the Honolulu area reported a recent spike in antacid sales.

Anybody’s first step is usually the toughest. In addition to playing the Waialae CC for the first time, the season’s newcomers arrive at their new work place carrying a live well of human emotions that certainly include doubt, raw nerves and a degree of insecurity.

That’s OK. Eighteen years ago, Jim Furyk made his rookie debut on the very same course and now has 16 career PGA Tour wins, a U.S. Open title and is the reigning Player of the Year.

That does not mean he hit the ground running. Actually, far from it.

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Now, everybody gets to play.

The Sony Open in Hawaii, the PGA Tour’s first full-field event, tees off Thursday at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. After last week’s winners-only Tournament of Champions got the season started, now everybody gets to play — well, at least a field of 144.

The field has attracted only Steve Stricker (No. 6) and Jim Furyk (No. 7) from the World Golf Ranking’s top 10, but has 22 of the 34 players who competed last week in Kapalua, including winner Jonathan Byrd and defending tournament champ Ryan Palmer.

There’s also Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Davis Love and Zach Johnson, giving the field more than a fair share of glamor names.

The week is also the annual coming-out party for the season’s rookie class. Twenty-six of this year’s 35 rookies will make their debut , 15 of them age 25 or younger.

Jamie Lovemark, 22, will get much of the fresh-face attention. Lovemark, out of the University of Southern Cal, was the youngest-ever winner of the Nationwide Tour Player of the Year last season. He won once and finished runner-up three times to surpass Stewart Cink (1996) and Nick Flanagan (1997), who both turned 23 the year they won the award.

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Some times it’s as simple as keeping on.

That’s really the only explanation Jonathan Byrd offered after Sunday’s season-opening victory in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Coming down the home stretch of last year’s season, Byrd was on the verge of losing his PGA Tour card for this year. Then he won a playoff in Las Vegas during the Fall Finish — the walk-off hole-in-one as darkness fell.

Now, after dispatching Robert Garrigus on the second-playoff hole Sunday in Kapalua, Hawaii, Byrd, 32, has won the last two events he played, has five career wins and suddenly is being mentioned as a quiet, talented performer whose talents are under appreciated.

“It’s strange what can happen if you don’t change anything, keep it simple and keep playing and waiting for your stretches,” he said. “It’s amazing how things start to go your way and you get a few breaks and you find yourself in contention. That’s kind of just how it happened. It’s not real complicated.”

Byrd’s week-long results proved the balance and promise of this over-all game. He averaged 271.4 yards driving distance, 21st in the field. He hit 48 of 60 fairways, an 80 percent accuracy that tied for 11th. He was 10t in greens hit in regulation (62 of 72) and ranked third in putting, averaging 29 per round.

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Jonathan Byrd will not get the credit he deserves for Sunday’s PGA Tour season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions victory in Kapalua, Hawaii.

Lost in a distant time zone on an NFL playoff weekend, Byrd’s sudden-death victory over Robert Garrigus on the second playoff hole will be very much like a tree that falls in the forest when no one is around to hear.

All the same, a final-round 67 and 24-under-par goes into the record book as Byrd’s fifth career win (second in four months) and sets a high standard for the next 11 months to chase.

“I can’t sit here and not think about where I was toward the end of the season last year, fighting for my (PGA Tour) card,” he said. “I’m just thankful. I’m overwhelmed. I’m grateful, all of the above.”

Obviously, Byrd does some of his finest work in overtime. He earned his invitation to the previous year’s winners-only field by becoming the first player in PGA Tour history to win a playoff with a hole-in-one in Las Vegas back in October. Sunday’s win on the Plantation Course was nowhere near as dramatic — Garrigus missed a 3-foot putt for par on the second playoff hole that would have extended the playoff — but it was every bit as satisfying.

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It’s time to play “Call It Brilliant, Or Call It Bull,” the new game show that looks at golf’s hot-button issues the way a politician eyes a photo op.

Today’s special guest is NBC golf analyst Gary Koch, a former PGA Tour player with six career wins and a whole bunch of knowledge and insight.

For those wanting to play along at home, the rules are simple. Contestants are read a statement relating to a PGA Tour subject of debate, then they make the call — “Brilliant,” or “Bull.”

And Koch, a veteran player and course designer preparing for his 14th year of service to NBC, knows Brilliant when he sees it, and Bull when it is being shoveled his way.

So, Gary Koch, are you ready to play?

Wait a minute. You’re not Bob Barker. … and we’re not even in a studio.

OK, let’s get started.

I’m calling my agent.

We’re playing now. First statement.

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Take a guess as to who is not at this week’s PGA Tour 2011 season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.

That’s right. As anybody who knows the difference between a short iron and an ironing board can tell you, Tiger Woods, despite being many things in 2010, was not a tournament winner.

So, Woods, a two-time winner of the event (1997 and 2000) will be missing at Kapalua’s Plantation Course Thursday when play gets under way. But at least he has an excuse.

More than a few of 2010 winners also are nowhere to be found: Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy, all currently ranked among the world’s top 10 golfers.

That’s really not that big a surprise. Even in Hawaii, early January rarely seems to be a favorite time for many of the PGA Tour’s biggest names.

Woods and Mickelson are among the big names who make a habit of starting their PGA Tour play later in the season and routinely skip Hawaii. Also, Europeans players who are not PGA Tour members don’t even bother to considered the event because they would rather use their limited visits to the U.S. for other events.

The result is that while Tournament of Champions sure has a spiffy ring to it, this week’s event is pretty much just like next week’s Sony Open in Honolulu — only without all the guys anyone knows anything about.

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It may not be one of life’s great debates, but on the PGA Tour it’s a dilemma to ponder with every bit the seriousness of “tastes great or less filling?”

As the 2011 PGA Tour season prepares to begin this week in Hawaii at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, the big for-dimpleheads-only news is that Graeme McDowell (pictured), Jim Furyk and Camilo Villegas — all three coming off huge seasons — changed equipment companies.

McDowell, the Northern Irishman who came from almost nowhere to become one of the world’s top players by winning the U.S. Open and staring in Europe’s Ryder Cup victory, signed a multi-year deal to represent Srixon after playing so well last year with Callaway. Furyk, PGA Tour Player of the Year on the strength of three victories and the FedEx Cup, has joined TaylorMade after representing Srixon. And Villegas, who picked up his third career victory last year, also will represent TaylorMade after leaving Cobra.

The moves obviously are about business. McDowell’s multi-year deal is reportedly worth about $3 million per season. Furyk and Villegas were also rewarded handsomely.

For equipment companies the endorsement money is the cost of doing business. Marketing research shows a direct correlation between clubs on tour and retail sales.

So equipment companies offer big money and players are inclined to accept.

And everybody is happy — most of the time.

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Back from a short winter nap, the PGA Tour returns to Hawaii this week to start another season, bringing with it an assorted shopping list of questions, needs and challenges.

After play begins Thursday at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, the new season will drag out for more than 11 full months. If history tells us anything, the long grind will produce new chapters to old stories, fresh faces, surprise winners, disappointing losers, great shots, miserable meltdowns and a fair share of ambivalence.

And when it is finally over, there will be a handful of stories, players and issues that shape the year and impact 2011′s place in golf’s history book.

Here’s 11 for ’11.

1. Tiger Woods — Old news or a new start?

Woods went winless in 2010, the first shutout of his professional career, because of a number of reasons — including bad golf.

The swing can be rebuilt. He’s done it before. The work with new coach Sean Foley, which began in August, should be ready to pay dividends by the time Woods makes his season debut (probably late this month in San Diego).

But can Woods, who turned 35 last week (Dec. 30), again show the mental toughness and confidence that distinguished him on the way to 14 major championships and almost six consecutive years as the world’s No. 1 player?

Woods remains four behind Jack Nicklaus’ all-time record of 18 major championships and the march that once seemed destined now makes for a good debate.

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If golf 2010 reminded us of anything it was that seasons are often remembered not as much by what was accomplished as they are by the moments that made people pay attention.

There are news stories and then there are newsmakers. Although easily confused, the two are as different as a hook and a slice. News is the result of proficiency and production. Something happens. It is created by events, challenge and adversity.

Making people look is always interesting, but not always an accomplishment.

Because no season in memory so blurred the lines as 2010, somebody has to sort the laundry.

NEWSMAKER — Tiger Woods

Never has so many words been written and said about a golfer who did not win a single event.

Everybody knows why. Woods’ tumble from his lofty perch became news, but the reasons that caused it were all self-inflicted wounds.

The rest of the story: There’s a little National Inquirer in everybody.

NEWS STORY — Lee Westwood

The 38-year-old Englishman replaced Woods as the world’s No. 1 ranked golfer. Considering almost six years had passed since anyone could make a similar claim, that’s news.

Westwood won only once on the PGA Tour in 2010, but finished second in both the Masters and British Open. And after coming back from being sidelined for almost two months, he immediately starred in Europe’s Ryder Cup victory and added a victory in South Africa.

The rest of the story: Now, let’s talk about a major championship.

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The Europeans’ recent domination of men’s professional golf in 2010 is going be an ongoing topic heading into next season.

You know the reasons. England’s Lee Westwood is the world’s new No. 1. The Europeans have seven of the world’s top 11 players compared to four Americans. Europe won the Ryder Cup. Young stars Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Martin Kaymer of Germany are declining to play full time in the U.S. next year, committing to the European Tour.

More and more Americans are making appearances overseas — at the expense of PGA Tour events.

“The golf courses and the tournaments and the players on the European Tour are definitely catching up to us,” admitted PGA Tour veteran Billy Mayfair.

In golf’s big picture, could that be a good thing?

Hall of Famer Greg Norman, who has proven to know a lot about business success, believes it.

“I think it’s great for golf, to tell you the truth,” Norman said. “When I was overseas and all this was taking place with the change in the No. 1 player in the world and the Europeans winning the Ryder Cup, I thought, you know, this is just the shot in the arm that the game of golf needs.”

Golf has seen similar shifts before. The Americans owned the world game with Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Lee Trevino. Europe followed with Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and Ian Woosnam, to hold an upper hand in the 1980s and early ’90s. Then the American regained control.

“Now it’s swinging back again,” Norman said.

What’s interesting, however, is how many of the young Americans see the power shift.

Or, actually, how they do not see it.

“I can’t speak for anybody else, but for me personally, I see them as people,” Bubba Watson said. “I don’t see them as Europeans or from other countries. I just see them as golfers.

“Some guys beat me, who cares where they’re from. I’m from Baghad, Fla,. Nobody is around going, ‘You’re from a weird place,’ you know. So I just see it as some great golfers beat me no matter where they come from.”

If Norman’s predictions are true, Watson might be wise to pay just a bit more attention.

While visiting China recently, Norman was asked to address the Tourism and Golf Forum.

“They want 30 million golfers in China in the next years, and there’s three million now,” Norman said. “When you think there’s 24, 25 million golfers in the United States and it’s been that number for decades and decades, imagine when China comes online in 20 years down the line.

“And then when China comes online, you’ve already got the Koreans doing extremely well. The development of the game of golf in Malaysia and Indonesia and Vietnam and Cambodia, to a degree, is just starting to skyrocket. And then you bring in India.

“So you got pretty much 50 percent of the world’s population just starting to get into the game of golf. So when you start looking out into the future, it’s extremely healthy. “

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Rickie Fowler did not win on the PGA Tour this year. He did have seven top 10 finishes.

Rory McIlroy had one victory, and five top 10s — two of them, however, runner-up finishes in majors.

Fowler finished 32nd on the PGA Tour money list. McIlroy 36th. Both played in the Ryder Cup — Fowler for the U.S. and Northern Ireland’s McIlroy for Europe.

And on Saturday Fowler was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

You have a problem with that?

A number of people do. Among them world No. 1 Lee Westwood who went off on Twitter. We cleaned up the abbreviations to make it more readable, but even if not, Westwood’s message was clear.

“Sorry 140 letters is not going to be enough for this rant!” he ranted. “Just seen Rickie Fowler has been given rookie of the year! Yes he’s had a good year but Rory McIlroy third in two majors and an absolute demolition of the field at Quail Hollow! Oh yes and on the winning Ryder cup team! Please! Is this yet another case of protectionism by the PGA Tour or are they so desperate to win something! Wouldn’t have something to do with Rory not joining the tour next year?”

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WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — Veteran Billy Mayfair won the PGA Tour’s Qualifying Tournament Monday. That’s good. Joseph Bramlett finished seven shots back and tied for 16th. Maybe, even better.

That’s how Q School, golf’s six-day, 108-hole coming-of-age event, works. Nobody really wins qualifying. Success is achieved by surviving — that means finishing among the top 25 and ties — to play in next season’s PGA Tour.

“Yeah, this is about as good as it can get right now,” Bramlett said. “You always play to win, but just getting that tour card is winning.”

For more reasons than the obvious.

Bramlett, 22 and fresh out of Stanford, will bring more than a promising game and high hopes to the 2011 PGA Tour season. He’ll bring a little more color.

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Horschel, just like Fowler, brought game and gaudy amateur credentials to their first qualifying tournament and breezed through, earning projections for future success.

Now, a year later, Fowler, after collecting seven top 10s and playing on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, was just named 2010 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. Horschel, meanwhile, is back at qualifying, trying to do it all over again.

By all indications, he will. Heading into Monday’s final day at Orange Country National, where the top 25 finishes (and ties) earn exempt status for next season, Horschel is 11 under and tied for ninth place. After Sunday’s round of 70 he is five shots back of co-leaders Billy Mayfair and Ben Martin.

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WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — Now, on to the bonus rounds.

As if the rigors of competing for a job next year isn’t sufficiently stressful, the PGA Tour’s final stage of qualifying adds another two miles to a marathon, an extra month to the final semester and more potholes on an already bumpy road.

After four days and 72 holes of play of Qualifying School at Orange Country National — a full tournament week by anybody’s measuring stick — the finish line remains two rounds and 36 holes into the distance.

“Your brain is definitely fried,” Jeff Quinney said. “We’ve got two rounds to go. It’s amazing we’ve still got that much golf to play.”

Yes it is.

Pretty much anywhere else in golf, Ben Martin would be in full celebration right now. The 2009 U.S. Amateur runner-up from Clemson University shot a fourth-round 69 Saturday to finish 72 holes 16-under and one shot clear of the field. Except this week isn’t normal golf. It’s the process that qualifies only the top 25 players (and ties) from an original field of 166.

So the beat goes on.

“Playing the fourth round today felt like it should be the last day,” Martin said. “All day I was trying to think of it as the second round because there’s two more to go. There’s not many tournaments like this.

“So I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing — hitting it solid, rolling it good. It’s just another golf tournament. At least that’s got to be my mindset.”

Martin, of course, knows that’s not really true because after 72 holes, 36 more still remain.

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WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — PGA Tour Qualifying School cares little about history.

Last year does not exist. At Q School it’s here and now — or not at all.

Otherwise, there’s no way to explain 22-year veteran Billy Mayfair — five career wins and more than $18 million in earnings — showing up this week at Orange Country National for the final stage of the annual qualifying process.

Again.

Yeah, Mayfair has gone through the six-round marathon before. Once — 22 years ago immediately after coming out of Arizona State.

Since then the 1988 U.S. Amateur winner has been one of the PGA Tour’s Steady Eddies. After advancing in his only previous trip through qualifying, Mayfair has played 673 PGA Tour events, been in the money 423 times and recorded 69 top 10s.

Mayfair won his first professional tournament in 1993 by beating Mark Calcavecchia and Ted Schulz in a playoff in Milwaukee. He became the only tour player to beat Tiger Woods in a playoff when he took him down in extra holes at the 1998 Nissan Open in Valencia, Calif. He won the 1995 Tour Championship.

And in 2006 he beat testicular cancer.

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WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — The unwritten caddie code — show up, keep up and shut up — exists for a reason. In golf those who can, do. Those who can’t, carry the clubs and rake the bunkers.

PGA Tour bagmen are a lot like stage props in that they are important and necessary but viewed mostly as background decoration.

Then there is Brett Waldman, pictured (left) with Camilo Villegas.

Waldman caddied this year for Villegas. He has also looped for cousin Tom Pernice Jr., and Ben Crane. That’s almost like having your own trust fund.

Villegas won over $3 million last year, including the Honda Classic. Pernice and Crane are winners.

Waldman’s percentage of those earnings would be more than enough money to provide Ian Poulter hair product for a lifetime — which is a way to say he is in no danger of going hungry.

So what is Waldman, 38, doing at this week’s PGA Tour Qualifying School’s final stage trying so hard to mess up a good gig?

Well, he’s playing his caddie bib off.

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WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — Billy Hurley III, a golfer with exceptional skill and significant credentials, is 28 years old and playing this week for the very first time in the final stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School.

So what took him so long?

The call of duty.

Just 16 months ago, Lt. Hurley was aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Persian Gulf, entrusted to help defend Iraqi oil platforms. Wednesday he was 1-over-par at Orange County National, where he is attempting to prove golf can be a lot like riding a bicycle.

“Except I had to get back on the tricycle first,” he said. “I wasn’t ready for the two wheeler.”

Maybe he still isn’t. After one round of the six-day, 108-hole competition that sends only the top 25 finishers from a field of 166 to next year’s PGA Tour, Hurley already is eight shots back of leader Kyle Stanley and in a tie for 65th.

Or maybe he’s just getting started.

“2010 is my first full year of just golf,” Hurley said. “There’s not a whole lot of people here who have played five competitive days from June 2007 to June 2009.”

That would be true — and the reason Hurley deserves a robust “Go Navy!”

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WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — Although the final stage of PGA Tour qualifying returns with a familiar storyline this time every year, it never seems to get old.

Maybe that’s because the fascinatingly brutal golf event was a television reality show before there were television reality shows. The process, affectionately known as “Q School,” is where golf goes to watch dreams realized and wrecked, to see careers launched and extinguished. It’s where youth is served and veterans can live to play another season. Or not.

“Q-School is no place for women and children,” offered veteran Jason Gore (right).

It is, however, the home of long odds, frazzled nerves and aching muscles.

Wednesday morning at Orange Country National Golf Club, located in a small central Florida town just outside Orlando, a field of 166 players will begin six rounds — that’s 108 holes — of competition. From that sizable field, only the top 25 finishers and ties are rewarded with exempt status for next year’s PGA Tour schedule.

“I know what I need to do to get my job back,” said James Driscoll, who lost his PGA Tour card this year after four of five seasons in the big leagues.

Qualifying comes along only once a year. And while the eventual winner collects $50,000, no one is here to play for the money. They are playing for a chance to compete next year on the big stage — for the money.

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One year later, it is not an anniversary to celebrate. Nevertheless, the date’s significance is indisputable. At some point in the distant future, depending on how things eventually play out, it might even be considered right there beside the day the music died.

Last year, in the early morning hours of Nov. 27, Tiger Woods, the world’s most famous golfer, crashed his car into a fire hydrant outside his gated-community home in Orlando, Fla., and all sorts of dirty laundry came spilling out.

Initially there was alarm. Television news crawls announced Woods had been involved in a traffic accident and was being treated in an Orlando-area hospital in serious condition.

As it turned out, Woods’ health was never an issue, but his condition was serious. Tales of bimbos, porn actresses and party girls were soon flowing like cheap beer at a frat house.

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Both doors into the two-car garage at the lakefront townhouse located only a few hundred yards from the Bay Hill Club and Lodge clubhouse are open. The man inside, tinkering at a work bench, waves you in.

“I’m Arnold Palmer,” he says. “Welcome to my garage.”

This is the most famous garage in golf. To know Arnold Palmer — and who in golf doesn’t want to? — you acknowledge he is the game’s all-time leader in DIY (do-it-yourself) club repair. The game’s icon turned 80 earlier this year, but he has always been old school. Palmer never just swung a golf club, he became one with it.

By Palmer’s thinking, before you hit a golf club you should know how it was put together.

“It’s very important,” he says. “It’s almost like playing the game. Of course, today most of the players take a set of clubs and dump them off at the company they play for and say, ‘Here, fix these.’ I don’t think players, with very few exceptions, work on their clubs very much any more.”

Palmer, of course, has always been golf’s exception to the rule. That’s why the game may never again see a personality quite like the King. It’s also why Golf Channel asked Palmer to open his garage door to tape a segment for an upcoming series called “12 Nights at the Academy.”

So here is the tinker master in his element, doors open and a club locked in a vice.

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In a PGA Tour season full of surprises — Tiger went winless, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen and Martin Kaymer won majors, Phil Mickelson went vegetarian — the biggest may have been Matt Kuchar.

Thirteen years after winning the U.S. Amateur and being spotlighted as a future big deal, he finally may have arrived.

Until this year, Kuchar had only two career PGA Tour wins. Only twice in nine years had he finished better than 70th on the money list.

Now? Let’s just say it’s never a bad thing to end a season by accepting a couple of awards named after Harry Vardon and Arnold Palmer.

The Vardon Trophy, presented annually by the PGA of America, is given for the season’s lowest stroke average. Kuchar completed 97 rounds, posting a 69.61 adjusted scoring average, .05 lower than Steve Stricker (69.66). Paul Casey and Retief Goosen shared third at 69.72.

The Arnold Palmer Trophy, meanwhile, goes to the PGA Tour’s leading money winner, which Kuchar took with earnings of $4,910,477 — just over $100,000 better than runner-up and three-time winner Jim Furyk.

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The PGA Tour season ended Sunday — 45 weeks and 46 tournaments after it began the first week of January.

There were 39 different winners. Ninety players earned more than $1 million each. Jim Furyk topped the tour in wins — three — including the Tour Championship. Matt Kuchar, with only one victory but 11 top 10s, claimed the money title with $4,910,477.

Europe beat the U.S. to win the Ryder Cup. Tiger Woods went oh-for-2010, the first winless season of his pro career. Vijay Singh, ranked among the world’s top 20 players since 1997, finished this year 86th.

England’s Lee Westwood, despite only one 2010 win worldwide and still without a major championship, took over the world No. 1 ranking, bumping Tiger from top the spot after 281 consecutive weeks.

Matt Every was suspended for three months of the season after a marijuana possession arrest in his hotel room in Silvis, Ill., while at the John Deere.

John Daly wasn’t arrested.

Dustin Johnson missed a chance to win the PGA Championship because of a two-stroke penalty incurred on the 72nd hole for grounding his club in a bunker that he didn’t know was a bunker — because he didn’t bother to read the local rules sheet.

Fred Couples turned 50 and went to the Champions Tour.

Paul Goydos (first round of the John Deere) and Stuart Appleby (final round, Greenbrier) shot 59s.

John Daly didn’t get divorced.

Phil Mickelson won the Masters for his fourth career major, but other than announcing he was going vegetarian, didn’t do anything interesting the rest of the year.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy became the season’s youngest winner — 20 year, 11 months, 28 days — at Quail Hollow.

Rocco Mediate was the oldest — 37 years, 10 months — winning the Frys.com.

John Daly didn’t trash a hotel room.

And you thought the year was boring.

Actually, there were more memorable moments than the statistics might suggest:

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — After Robert Garrigus thrashed the field with a closing-round 8-under 64 Sunday to win the
Children’s Miracle Network Classic, one last question lingered: just how many winners can one tournament provide?

If you plan on counting, be sure to bring fingers and toes. Being at Disney World for the final event on the PGA Tour’s incredibly long schedule means you do not need a tournament title to leave feeling like a champ.

Garrigus won the tournament. Troy Merritt won a $1 million bonus in the Kodak Challenge. Roland Thatcher finished solo second and won the right to return to full-time employment next year. Heath Slocum finished T-45 and won an invitation to next year’s Masters.

If there had been any more trophies, it would have been Little League.

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Winning isn’t everything. If you happen to be Brett Wetterich, a solo third will work nicely.

At least it would Sunday after the final round of the PGA Tour’s Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Disney World.

Because of shoulder and wrist injuries suffered in mid-2008, Wetterich, a former U.S. Ryder Cup team member, did not play a single event in 2009.

He returned to competition this year thanks to a Major Medical Extension that provided 17 events to qualify for the remainder of the season by way of the 2008 money list.

Now, with one round of play remaining in the season, Wetterich is $293,255 short of regaining full exempt status for next year by way of a top 125 money-list finish.

A solo third-place finish this weekend pays $319,600.

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — When a guy named Roland Churchill Thatcher IV is counting every penny and worrying about his rank on a money list, you know things have gotten tough.

Golf, however, audits with a different numbers system.

Besides, Thatcher has a confession to make.

“We come from a long line of auto workers and Navy families,” he said. “There’s no family business. My father was a retired airline pilot. I might have an in as a baggage handler at Southwest if I had to.

“But no, the name, as pretentious as it is … my wife and I decided to stop it. We didn’t pass it on to my son.”

Instead, Thatcher is in this week’s PGA Tour Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Disney World hoping to create another identity.

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — A day before Rickie Fowler‘s opening round 6-under par 66 Thursday in the Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Disney World, kids lined up, waiting for the PGA Tour rookie to walk past on his way to the driving range, ready to thrust assorted items — golf balls, programs, caps — in his direction, hoping for an autograph. Some, a bit more bold, voiced requests for him to stop for pictures.

Fowler was accommodating. The 21-year-old stopped, signed, posed and even chatted. The youngsters all but swooned, many of the boys sporting the Fowler look: shaggy hair and over-sized, bucket-like cap turned backward.

Then Fowler did the darnedest thing: He thanked each of the young followers for their interest and support.

The former junior motocross racer with a home-grown golf swing, wacky wardrobe and bad need of a haircut may be a square peg in the round hole that is the PGA Tour, but whatever “it” is, Fowler has it by the truckload.

“It’s pretty cool,” Fowler said Thursday, recalling previous day’s practice range scene. “I definitely like to have fans. I like to have an influence on other people, and definitely like to draw new fans in.

“I guess I have more of a draw to the younger crowd. And it’s always cool to see more and more kids showing up and getting their interest in golf up.”

His impact has been sudden. A year ago Fowler wasn’t even a member of the PGA Tour. Now he has earned more than $2.6 million on the strength of two runner-up finishes and six top-10s. He became the first rookie to ever play on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, and responded with stellar play.

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — First, the bad news.

PGA Tour rookie Troy Merritt recently returned to his new home in Phoenix after time on the road and received a less than warming welcome.

“A first as a new home owner,” he said. “We got back and found that our water heater had leaked and broke and got the dry wall all wet and we had mold everywhere.”

Now the good news.

Last year’s PGA Tour qualifying school winner from Boise State arrives for this week’s Children’s Miracle Network Classic in position to handle all necessary repair bills without sweat.

“I’m well aware of what’s going on,” he said.

That would be Merritt sitting on the edge of a $1 million windfall.

Heading into the 2010 PGA Tour season’s final event played at Disney World, the 25-year-old Merritt leads fellow rookie Rickie Fowler and veteran Aaron Baddeley by one stroke in the $1 million Kodak Challenge bonus race.

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Stewart Cink, playing in this week’s Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Disney World — the former British Open champ’s first competitive appearance since last month’s Ryder Cup — wanted to set the record straight.

He is not nearly as crafty and everybody thinks.

“I have no tricks in my toolbox,” Cink said.

All the same, on the way to compiling a 1-0-3 record he provided one of the Ryder Cup’s most replayed moments that suggested otherwise.

It was Saturday’s second round of play at Celtic Manor. Cink and teammate Matt Kuchar were playing Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

The Europeans had just rallied from a two-hole deficit to tie the alternate-shot match going into the 17th hole. The gallery at Celtic Manor was crazed all week, but suddenly it sounded like a jumbo jet preparing for take off.

McDowell hit a tee shot that ended about five feet from the pin, setting McIlroy up for a very makeable birdie putt for the lead. Kuchar’s tee shot left Cink with a 25-footer.

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Once more with feeling.

Forty-four weeks and 47 tournaments since the year’s first competitive shot was hit the first week of January in Hawaii, the PGA Tour season is heading to the finish line.

Although golf has a tendency to just keep on playing, this week’s Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Walt Disney World Resort officially closes out the season.

That means the storyline of the week is the last-minute scramble to secure/save/salvage playing privileges for 2011.

The top 125 on the final money list earn full exempt status. Anyone in the top 150 manages partial status. The rest are cast off to the minor leagues or even worse — writing letters to tournament officials asking for sponsor exemptions.

So, while the field has drawn a respectable list of recognizable names like Vijay Singh, Rickie Fowler, Jeff Overton and Davis Love III, much of the focus goes to “bubble boys” playing for job security.

Veteran Joe Durant stands at 120 on the money list with $777,425. Nine spots down at 130, and four short of the magic cut line, is Michael Connell. About $100,000 separates the two. A top-10 finish this week would pay more than that amount.

Or consider the plight of Briny Baird (pictured). He’s 126 on the money list, $13,001 behind 125 Troy Matteson.

“I’m approaching it like a 3-foot putt,” Baird said of his situation. “There are only two things that can happen — either it goes in or it misses. Either I play well enough to keep my card or I don’t, and then I have to go to Q-school in two weeks. Those are the only two options, so it’s not like I’m dreading this week.”

“If you want to be one of the top players in golf, you have to perform,” Baird said. “That’s the beauty of the game. There are no five-year, guaranteed contracts in golf. You can’t sign a big deal and then just take it easy for a while.”

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To the very end, golf’s 2010 season keeps throwing curve balls.

The four top ranked players in the world — England’s newly anointed No. 1 Lee Westwood and closest challengers Tiger Woods, Martin Kaymer and Phil Mickelson — all came to the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, China, only to see Italy’s Francesco Molinari steal the show.

Leading wire-to- wire, Molinari finished with a 5-under 67 at Sheshan International for his first win this season, and only the second of his career. He became the first Italian to claim a World Golf Championships title, posting 19 under and one shot in front of Westwood.

“It wasn’t easy,” Molinari, who turns 28 on Monday, said. “I’m just really proud of the way I played and the way I handled myself. Lee is No. 1 in the world, and he was playing some fantastic golf. It was a great finish at the end.”

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Tiger Woods‘ golf game continues moving along much like an expensive five-speed sports car (red, of course) being driven by somebody still learning to use the clutch.

He. Just. Can’t. Keep. It. Accelerating.

After a promising opening-round 68, Woods on Friday followed with 72 in the World Golf Championship-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, China. That means the former world No. 1 failed to open a tournament this entire season with back-to-back rounds in the 60s — a first in his 15-year professional career.

“Well, today struggled a little bit,” Woods said. “Didn’t hit it very good and had a couple three putts there, and had five lip-outs. So score could have been worse, but also it could have been a lot better.”

Now, he’s five shots back of tournament leader Francesco Molinari‘s (65-70 — 135) 9-under two-round total. Among others who Woods also trails are new world No. 1 Lee Westwood at 8 under, and Ernie Els, 7 under after Friday’s 65 — the day’s low round.

Woods struggled through the round with his swing and on the greens, so frustrated at the end of his round that he kicked his driver after a poor shot on the 18th.

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The world’s No. 1 ranked golfer doesn’t think he has anything to prove. At least that’s what Lee Westwood has been saying.

Of course, he could be wrong. Rarely is there a downside to living up to expectations.

After 281 consecutive weeks of Tiger Woods atop the World Golf Rankings, the newly anointed Westwood on Thursday played his first round as the game’s new big cheese. He was sharp.

Westwood may be correct when insisting one round as world No. 1 means little. It’ll take at least four before the Englishman can move within 279 weeks of Woods’ record streak — or have the top spot quickly taken away.

One of the two options will happen Sunday. This week’s World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions being played in Shanghai, China, has drawn the world’s top four ranked players.

Joining Westwood in the field are No. 2 Woods, No. 3 Martin Kaymer, the PGA Champion from Germany, and No. 4 Phil Mickelson. A win by any of the four can earn next week’s No. 1 ranking.

So, whether Westwood has something to prove or not, he does have something to defend.

“Well, I don’t think I need to reinforce why I’m world No. 1,” he said. “I think you get there as a result of having good performances. But it’s nice to go out there and show everybody that there is a particular reason why I got to that stage. I think I did that today.

“But it’s only the first round of tournament and my main focus is on trying to win. So I didn’t really go out there with any particular thought to performing like the world No. 1 really.”

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Golf‘s major championships are long gone, the Ryder Cup is over, Tiger Woods is no longer the world’s No. 1 player and the offseason (all six weeks of it) is just around the corner.

What an odd time for the season to never be more interesting. Funny how this is working. (Almost as funny as the above photo of Tiger, Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer getting a recent Tai Chi lesson with swords in China.) The PGA Tour could hardly be farther out of sight or out of mind, but one of the year’s most interesting tournament weeks is playing out at the World Golf Championship-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, China.

A little drama for the road.

Although Woods, winless in 2010, losing his No. 1 spot to Westwood after 281 consecutive weeks was a forgone conclusion, this week’s unseating, nevertheless, drew a lot of mainstream attention. Now, coming immediately on the heels of the big shakeup, Westwood, Woods, No. 3 Kaymer and No. 4 and defending champ Mickelson are all in Shanghai with a chance to be No. 1 with a victory.

It marks the first time since 1997 that four golfers have entered an event with a chance to claim the No. 1 ranking.

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You know all about Fred Couples.

You recall that he’s a former No. 1 ranked player in the world, winner of 15 PGA Tour events, including a Masters. He’s a two-time Player of the Year, five-time Ryder Cup player and recent Presidents Cup captain.

But this is going to shock you: this year as a Champions Tour rookie Couples has won $2,271,894, the most he’s ever earned in any season as a professional. And you still want to make jokes about “geezer golf?”

Sunday afternoon at The Woodlands outside Houston, Couples won his fourth senior title of the year.

In the Administaff Small Business Classic, he shot a tournament-record, final-round 63 that included a double bogey to finish seven shots in front of runner-up Mark Wiebe. After beginning the day two shots out of the lead, Couples finished with a back-nine 29. Along the way he used only 24 putts.

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“I couldn’t see it” said Jonathan Byrd.

On this occasion, Byrd had good reason for the temporary blackout.

The script wasn’t looking promising Sunday night at TPC Summerlin. After a 72-hole regulation play ended in a three-way tie, Byrd, Martin Laird and Cameron Percy were heading to the fourth playoff hole as daylight was fading fast.

Before stepping to the 204-yard par 3 17th hole (for the third time of the day) the three players were given the option by PGA Tour officials to continue play or return Monday morning to decide a winner.

If any of the three had declined to go forward, play would have been halted until Monday. When Byrd was asked, he offered to go with the flow.

“Whatever you guys want to do,” he said.

The agreement was to press on.

They didn’t have to go far.

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The Chevron World Challenge, played in early December at Sherwood CC in Southern California, is Tiger Woods‘ event, held annually to benefit his youth foundation.

Everybody knows why he was a no-show for last year’s competition. Only a few days before tournament week, Woods wrecked his SUV in Florida, taking out a fire hydrant — and a lot of dirty laundry spilled out.

The father of two young children now is divorced and hasn’t won a golf tournament since. That made Woods’ media day appearance via satellite this week particularly interesting.

“Certainly, I’m a lot more at peace now,” Woods said. “Everyone’s getting used to the new living conditions. The kids are adjusting. I think everyone’s certainly more at peace, and so am I, too.

“I learned a lot about myself, and I learned how things went wrong, why they went wrong and had to take a pretty deep and introspective look at myself. And there weren’t a lot of things I liked about it. But I had to do it, and I did it and (am) grateful that I did. I think that I come from a much better place, much more grounded place now than I ever have before.”

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If Rocco Mediate‘s victory in the Frys.com Open Sunday doesn’t make your windmill spin, then you really, really don’t appreciate golf. Mediate, a 47-year-old good guy with a chronically bad back and a permanent smile, didn’t just win the PGA Tour’s event at CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin, Calif., he made it compelling.

On the way to a 15-under finish and one-stroke margin over Bo Van Pelt and Alex Prugh, Mediate holed out for eagle for the fourth straight day, on Sunday hitting a pitching wedge from 116 yards that spun back into the cup on the par-4 17th.

Mediate had no explanation. Actually, his initial response was a question: “What’s going on?”

The answer: something special.

Mediate got started on Thursday with a hole-in-one on the 191-yard par-3 third hole. On Friday he holed a 160-yard second shot, and on Saturday made 3 on the par-5 15th by holding a 111-yard wedge. It helped him build a 3-shot lead to take into Sunday’s final round, and for a player ranked 182nd on the money list and looking at no exempt status promised for next year, it was an opportunity not to be wasted.

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How perfect is this?

After what will be 282 consecutive weeks ranked as the world’s No. 1 golfer, beleaguered Tiger Woods will finally lose the top ranking at the end of this month, in part because he is not competing again until November. Woods will be replaced by England’s Lee Westwood (right), who has played only one tournament since early August because of injury and is again taking a break.

So the biggest shift in Golf’s World Rankings in almost six years comes while neither of the featured participants are playing golf — and when Westwood arguably isn’t even golf’s best European.

Germany’s Martin Kaymer just won his third straight tournament, dating back to the PGA Championship.

“We have always bowed to America’s dominance of the world rankings, with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson one and two respectively,” said winning European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie. “But now we don’t just have Lee Westwood but also Martin Kaymer coming up as well.

“There is a changing of the guard towards Europe and also the European Tour.”

A lot of things about the PGA Tour changed this year.

Consider Matt Kuchar. Sunday’s 7-under back-in-the-pack finish in the McGladrey Classic is his last planned PGA Tour appearance of the year. Even so, Kuchar, with just over $4.9 million, is likely to win the PGA Tour money title. If he does, it will be the lowest amount to claim the title since David Duval ($2.5 million) in 1998, the year before the tour’s series of big TV contracts began.

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The PGA Tour, amid much fanfare and self promotion, ended its season two weeks ago. You think Heath Slocum cares?

The Fall Finish means golf, much like telemarketing, never shuts down. So while Slocum’s final-round 68 and 14-under finish Sunday in the McGladrey Classic at St. Simons, Ga., may not have earned center stage, it needs no apologies.

“I mean, I think that’s why we play golf is to win,” Slocum said. “I mean there’s just no other feeling like it. “

The last time Slocum won was the 2009 Barclays, when a birdie on the final hole gave him a one-shot victory over Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington and Steve Stricker. It came in the FedEx Cup playoffs and vaulted Slocum into the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup hoopla. In contrast, Sunday’s victory came against a field that featured only four players ranked among the world’s top 50.

Guess what?

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NEWPORT, Wales — Next to the Europeans, who may still be swigging champagne from golf shoes following their 14 ½-13 ½ victory over the United States on Monday at Celtic Manor, the week’s biggest winner was American youngster Rickie Fowler.

The 21-year-old PGA Tour rookie, still without his first pro victory, was under a lot of scrutiny after being added to the U.S. team as a captain’s pick by Corey Pavin. Now he’s all but a given for future stardom.

The first PGA Tour rookie to ever play Ryder Cup competed in three matches, losing one and halving two to score a modest single point for the U.S. But his homestretch performance Monday in singles play was stuff that launches careers.

Down four to Italy’s Edoardo Molinari early in the back nine, Fowler birdied the final four holes to tie the match and keep America’s hopes alive in the next-to-last group to finish.

“Rickie turning that match around, birdieing the last four, was awfully incredible and very impressive,” Tiger Woods praised.

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NEWPORT, Wales — Twenty-eight-year-old PGA Tour player Hunter Mahan won twice this season, bringing his career victory to three.

Nothing along the way, however, prepared him for Monday afternoon in the Ryder Cup.

When pairings for the tournament-ending 12 singles matches were announced, Mahan’s role as closer hardly seemed to be of major importance.

With Europe leading by three, conventional wisdom suggested the result would be long-ago settled before the day’s final match was even close to being complete.

That wasn’t the case. As things turned out, with the U.S. and Europe tied 13 ½-13 ½, Mahan and Europe’s Graeme McDowell were the only two golfers left on the course.

“Yeah, it could be a match nobody knows about or the biggest match of your life,” Mahan said. “I think about 10, we started to think that it would come down to us.”

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NEWPORT, Wales — It was easy to suggest the concession, even if in a metaphoric sense, was being made when the United States arrived for the Ryder Cup’s first Monday finish in history wearing all black.

After a week at Celtic Manor fashioning color schemes that included shades of lavender and cornflower, the Americas suddenly showed up for the rain-delayed final day dressed for a funeral.

The surprise, however, was America had plenty of life left. Unfortunately, the Yanks already had dug themselves a grave too deep from which to escape.

What a waste of some amazingly good golf.

“Even heading into today when we were down, we just knew we were going to win, and we didn’t,” Phil Mickelson said. “And that’s what’s hard because we were so close. And every one of us can look back on a match and say that this could have been the deciding factor.”

Europe won the Ryder Cup for the sixth time in eight years and it could hardly have been more exciting — or, for the Americans, disappointing.

Beginning the day with a three-point advantage and on the verge of a run-away victory, the Europeans chewed their fingernails down to the second knuckle before escaping with a 14 1/2-13 1/2 win.

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NEWPORT, Wales — After almost being shut out during the Ryder Cup’s third-session play, the United States will go into Monday’s rain-delayed singles matches trailing Europe by a lopsided 9 1/2-6 1/2, but fueled by one prevailing fact.

Bigger comebacks have been made before.

Well, at least once.

After taking a 5 1/2-1/2 beating Sunday on the way to having a two-point advantage turned into a three-point deficit, the Americans looked to history for motivation.

In 1999 at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., the U.S. mounted a final-round rally to rebound from a 10-6 deficit, the largest comeback in Ryder Cup history, by winning 8 1/2 of the day’s possible 12 points.

U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw went into the final day that year insisting, “I just have a feeling.”

He was right. At Brookline, remembered for Justin Leonard‘s 45-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole and the celebration it ignited, the Americans won the day’s opening six matches, stunning Europe with a 14 1/2-13 1/2 victory.

“You know, Ben’s Ben and I’m me,” U.S. captain Corey Pavin said Sunday. “I’m going to put the guys out in the order that I think gives us best chance to win. They have to go out and perform and play, and if they do, I think we have a chance.”

Much of a chance?

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NEWPORT, Wales — Welcome into a very bad dream. You know it as the 2010 Ryder Cup, but the biannual golf showdown between Europe and the United States on Sunday may already have been lost — the causality being American interest not to mention the team’s wet socks appeal.

With each and every raindrop that fell all night and into the early morning, and then sporadically during the afternoon, competition at Celtic Manor became less significant and more an obligation — at least for the U.S.

No longer championship-level golf, it was slash and splash for the U.S., after the already rain-delayed third session was postponed from morning to the afternoon, and singles matches pushed into a Monday finish. And if that wasn’t enough to make the soggy Americans appear to be having anything but a good time, adding to their unhappiness was the third-session butt-kicking also being absorbed.

“You know, they dominated us today,” American Bubba Watson said.

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NEWPORT, Wales — Advantage, United States.

As the rain-challenged Ryder Cup worked overtime Saturday in an effort to deliver a scheduled Sunday evening finish, the underdog American’s dumped some gloom of their own on the host Europeans.

With two of the now-scheduled four sessions finally complete, the United States holds a shaky but significant 6-4 lead.

It marks the first time the Americans have led on European soil after two sessions since 1985.

The Americans, however, are a long way from feeling good about their position at muddy, marsh-like Celtic Manor. In the third session that began late Saturday afternoon and will be completed Sunday before the start of grand-finale singles play, Europe leads in all six matches. None of the matches, however, have progressed beyond nine holes.

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NEWPORT, Wales — The combined Ryder Cup experience of Americans Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton added up to zero matches played. If that weren’t enough to make them pucker upon arriving at Celtic Manor, American captain Corey Pavin turned to the first-timers to anchor his team’s opening session, slotting them for the fourth and final group.

And, finally, they drew Europe’s Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington, among the most decorated players on the home team.

Surprise.

On the United States’ way to grabbing an early 2 1/2-1 1/2, the Americans’ most lopsided victory of the opening session was produced by the Watson-Overton pairing.

Donald is ranked No. 8 in the world and came into the match with a 5-1-1 record in two previous Ryder Cup appearances. Harrington is a three-time major champion making his sixth Ryder Cup appearance.

Watson-Overton dusted the Euro pair 3 & 2.

Then they enjoyed a good laugh.

Did they express to Pavin a desire to be paired together?

“No,” Watson said. “I don’t even like him. Look at him, he’s ugly.

“You know, all of us guys are good. We have got 12 guys on the team, 11 other ones besides me, so I would play with anybody. And his putter was hot this morning, and I love him as a partner.”

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NEWPORT, Wales — Strategies changed Friday at the Ryder Cup after a seven-plus hour rain delay scrambled the three-day schedule, leaving the opening best-ball incomplete and pushing the afternoon alternate-shot format into Saturday. And beyond?

In an attempt to at least hope to crown a winner on Sunday, U.S. captain Corey Pavin and European boss Colin Montgomerie agreed to alter the playing schedule.

Instead of a total of five session played over three days, there will be four. But to retain the total of 28 available points, the two remaining two-man team matches remaining before the singles competition, will be enlarged from four groups to six.

The second session — Saturday morning — will consist of six foursome matches while the third session — Saturday afternoon — will consist of two foursome and four four-ball matches.

The 12 singles matches will still take place as originally planned Sunday afternoon — weather permitting.

The result is that every member of each 12-man team will see duty, forcing captains to depend on performances from four players in each group that he would have sat out.

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NEWPORT, Wales — The path to the 2010 Ryder Cup title will wind through puddles, mud and a drenching. At 9:45 Friday morning on the weather-tormented countryside of South Wales, only two hours after best-ball play got the 38th biannual competition under way, a morning-long rain reached the saturation point.

So did the U.S. team.

As the United States celebrated 2008 Ryder Cup success at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., losing European captain Nick Faldo words were, “See you at Celtic Manor in two years, and remember to bring your waterproofs.”

If only the Americans had listened, there is no telling how much more they might have squeezed out of Friday’s weather-shortened first day. But, after trailing early before first-session matches were rain delayed for about seven hours and 15 minutes, the U.S. will gladly enjoy holding the lead in two matches, being all-square in another and trailing in only one when darkness ended the day with no official results decided.

It’s easy to figure out why.

The Americans looked all but ready to be washed away.

“It was a tough day, a tough start with the weather,” U.S. captain Corey Pavin said. “Obviously, I’m very pleased with how the U.S. team came back. I’m very proud of the guys.”

You bet he is.

Pavin and his wife, Lisa, unveiled the team wardrobe last month to much fanfare. They proudly spoke of taking on the Ryder Cup captaincy as a team. Lisa Pavin handled the wardrobe responsibilities, so her husband was able to focus on the other captain-related tasks.

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NEWPORT, Wales — Five Ryder Cup rookies help make up the United States squad that begins play Friday against Europe when the 38th renewal of the biannual competition begins at Celtic Manor.

In a bold move, American captain Corey Pavin is playing four of the first-time members in the morning’s open session of four-ball play — two paired together in the fourth and final match of the best-ball competition. Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton will go against the Euro glamour-name pairing of Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington to close the morning session.

It’s a decision that opens Pavin to a wave of second guessing.

Every captain speaks of a desire to grab control of the momentum early, so the American captain anchoring the opening session with a pair of rookies in front of a pro-European crowd attracted immediate debate.

“Well, he said he was tired,” Pavin joked of Furyk. “He was counting the money and he’s been very tired.”

As for the Watson-Overton pairing, Pavin said he has a good feeling.

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NEWPORT, Wales — Enough with the wall-to-wall banquets. No more making polite and politically correct conversation. Finally, it’s time to suit up in the work clothes — even if that includes rain gear.

The Ryder Cup’s opening pairings were announced on Thursday. Here’s how the action will get started in the best-ball format:

Americans Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson will begin against Europeans Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer. Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar will follow against the Northern Ireland duo of Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell. Next off will be Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker opposed by Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher. Finally, Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton take on Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington.

When asked why he chose Mickelson-Johnson to begin the day, Pavin responded with, “Well, because I think they are pretty good players.”

Questioned as to why the Woods-Stricker combo, which teamed to go 4-0 in last year’s Presidents Cup, was held to the third match. Pavin was quick with a quip.

“Because the first two spots were already taken.”

As the first ones out for the Americans, Mickelson and Johnson will be looking to transition from this week’s team bonding period into the down and dirty battle on the course.

Now it’s time to sweat. After a full week of meet-and-greets and social pleasantries — including a Super Bowl halftime-like show that featured attendance by Prince Charles — the 38th playing of the Ryder Cup matches begins Friday morning at Celtic Manor, turning golf into a contact sport.

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NEWPORT, Wales — The doors are closed to only the inner circle of Team USA — players, their wives/significant others, caddies and officials. Twitter messages have been muted. A vow of secrecy taken.

What happens in the team room stays in the team room.

But if you listen closely from outside you might recognize the sounds of “Kumbaya.”

“It’s a good team so far,” Ryder Cup rookie Dustin Johnson said. “Everybody’s in good spirits. Everybody is hanging out. So we got a lot of energy in the room. It’s coming from everybody.”

For this week, the every-man-for-himself PGA Tour mantra has been replaced with a foxhole mentality. The Ryder Cup tees off Friday morning and united everyone must stand.

Bonding 101 begins in private.

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NEWPORT, Wales — Welcome to Ryder Cup week, golf’s answer to the Rubik’s Cube. Lots of moving parts. So many possible twists and turns, none of them providing an indication of success or failure until the result is imminent.

When play begins Friday at Celtic Manor, the United States will be defending champs but significant underdogs. Despite an American victory two years ago at Valhalla GC in Louisville, Ky., the Europeans have won five of the past seven matches and the U.S. has not been victorious on foreign soil since 1993.

Now, the 38th renewal of the biannual competition is nearing and it’s raining and cold.

In Wales?

Imagine that.

Nevertheless, the eventual answer to success should come from 10 pressing questions.

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NEWPORT, Wales — The world’s most famous golfer looks alone. Tiger Woods may have been surrounded by Ryder Cup teammates when the U.S. charter flight arrived for this week’s competition against Europe, but they were accompanied by wives or girlfriends.

Tiger stood behind only his dark sunglasses.

Nothing in golf rivals the Ryder Cup as a social affair. Competition often seems to be scheduled around a week of banquets and public appearances, all attended by lovely couples in their fashion best.

Even on the golf course, the Ryder Cup is a chance to stand by your man. The event is the only tournament in golf where wives or girlfriends (but never both) are allowed inside the ropes. And the American women make a habit of drawing attention of their own by turning out in matching outfits — conduct that earns snickers from their European counterparts who would never do uniforms.

It only serves to make Woods appear more of a single figure.

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NEWPORT, Wales — U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin (pictured, left) is taking the traditional (paranoid) route and treating his pairings for Friday’s opening day of competition like a state secret.

In contrast, European captain Colin Montgomerie‘s approach is far less conventional (Monty being Monty); he’s already informed his team of his opening-round plans.

Montgomerie (pictured, right) has promised all 12 of his players will see action on the first day, and was even willing to go ahead and confirm two of his teams: Italy’s brother combo of Edoardo and Francesco Molinari will partner, as will the Northern Ireland duo of Graeme McDowell and Rory McDowell.

“I can tell you all the pairings,” Monty said. “Doesn’t matter who pairs with who — I can tell you the whole pairings. I won’t, but I could. It’s the order that counts, who plays where.

“They know who they are playing with, when they are playing, and I think they can prepare onwards for that start.”

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NEWPORT, Wales — Playing in the Ryder Cup is a pain.

But in an interesting way.

“You have 11 teammates that you don’t want to let down,” American captain Corey Pavin says. “You’re representing all your peers on Tour and of course you are representing the United States of America. You’re playing in front of a lot of people that are emotionally charged.”

To put it another way: the Ryder Cup is everything golf takes great pride in never being.

The competition between the U.S. and Europe that begins Friday at Celtic Manor is team play, a drastic shift from the every-man-for-himself mentality that rules professional golf. It’s us vs. them, an over-excessive exhibition of nationalism by a game that boasts of being boundary-less. There is gamesmanship; there are mind games. Whether the sport’s keepers like to admit it or not, opponent’s mistakes are often cheered as loudly as the home team’s successes.

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ATLANTA — Jim Furyk‘s 2 1/2-foot putt for par and $11.35 million rolled straight and true into the cup on the 72nd hole of the Tour Championship Sunday afternoon.

With his cap turned backward to combat the annoying drip of a steady afternoon rain — a look that was anything but hip — Furyk calmly reached into the cup to retrieve his golf ball before popping upright to fire it with Brett Favre velocity into the stands. He raised both arms into the air and marched off the green like a conquering hero.

“I remember knocking the putt in and picking it out of the hole, and I was thinking, ‘What am I doing?’ I hit it, and I knew it was in the middle, and I’m taking a step to pick it up as it’s going in, and it just hit me. I was excited and dropped the putter and you know, I don’t know. I guess at that moment you’re not really responsible for what happens next, you just go with whatever happens.”

Considering the significance of the moment — monetarily if not historically — the reaction might be considered somewhat muted.

Furyk came to the FedEx Cup and, well, delivered.

And while it may not have been overnight, it did arrive with great style.

On the strength of a final-round, even-par 70 Furyk finished 8 under to not only claim the Tour Championship by one stroke over Luke Donald but also commandeer the $10 million playoff bonus.

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ATLANTA — Here at East Lake Golf Club, the course Bobby Jones once called home, Sunday’s final round of the Tour Championship offers a chance for someone to make significant history of their own.

So who’s up to the task?

Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen, Luke Donald come on down. And, just to keep it interesting, you too, Paul Casey.

Actually, it’s a lot like Little League — there’s plenty of trophies to go around. Or some player could be selfishly greedy and leave with everything.

With so many stories within the story, it’s hard to keep track of what exactly what is a likely result.

“A lot can happen,” Goosen said, following Saturday’s 66. “Nobody really knows who’s going to win it yet.”

There is brilliance in the simplicity of Goosen’s insight.

First, but not necessarily foremost, is the tournament title that most likely will be worth far more than the already sizable $1.35 million first prize. That’s because also to be decided is the FedEx Cup playoff bonus of $10 million. In addition, Sunday’s finish will greatly influence PGA Tour’s Player of the Year balloting — a result of no one so far having done much of anything to truly distinguish themselves.

Gentlemen, start your lob wedges. It’s time to earn those millions.

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ATLANTA — On Overstock.com the Dakota Red Leather Travel Clock earns a five-star rating from satisfied customers and is marked down to a bargain $19.99. Unless, of course, you happen to be Jim Furyk. Then its value could be somewhere around $10 million.

Furyk, as golf recalls, made unwanted news a few weeks ago thanks to a malfunctioning cell phone alarm that resulted in a missed early morning pro-am tee time and disqualification at the Barclays.

After an uproar of protest by many fellow players, the PGA Tour rule was soon modified, but for Furyk the damage was done. No. 3 on the FedEx Cup points list going into the opening event of the four-tournament playoff series, the lost week — one quarter of the post-season — helped send him into this week’s grand finale Tour Championship as the 11th seed.

That is significant because, after Friday’s second-round 65 at East Lake Golf Club, Furyk is 8 under and tied for first place with England’s Luke Donald — tantalizingly close to still being in the chase for the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus.

But, imagine just how much better his position could have been. Furyk prefers not to.

“I’ve always been able to kind of laugh at myself,” he said. “I mean, it was my fault. If I whined or complained or anything about the rule, it’s just going to make me look worse.

“My peers actually did plenty of that for me, so I think it was probably somewhat sympathetic. And then, they gave me my due crap, as well, which I deserved.”

Now, to cash in on the FedEx big bonus, Furyk not only must win Sunday but also needs Matt Kuchar to finish seventh or worse (Possible, 2 over and T15). He needs Dustin Johnson to finish fifth or worse (Likely, plus-4 and T23). He needs Charley Hoffman to do no better than fourth (Might, 2 under and T8). He needs Steve Stricker to be third or worse (Probable, 2 over and T15). And he needs Paul Casey to finish third or worse (Maybe, 3 under, T5).

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ATLANTA — The unwitting poster boy for everything, depending on who you ask, good or bad about the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoff system, is a 31-year-old, third-year player named Kevin Streelman.

When golf’s four-tournament post-season began last month, Streelman, without a career victory, was 112th on the points list that qualified 125 players. From there the Duke grad with a sociology degree inched up the standing each tournament, surviving the whittling-down process to play another day.

Now, all of a sudden, he’s part of this week’s 30-player Tour Championship field, while Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Stewart Cink and three of the season’s four major championship winners are not.

That accomplishment alone earns Streelman the unexpected reward of invitations into next year’s Masters, U.S. Open and British Open. And after Thursday’s even-par 70 at East Lake Golf Club, he’s on the leaderboard four shots behind first-round leaders Paul Casey, Luke Donald and Geoff Ogilvy.

“I’m playing well and I’m putting well,” he said. “I want to compete and win this golf tournament.”

Do you believe the nerve of this guy?

By one line of thinking, Streelman’s climb is like underdog Butler bounding through the NCAA basketball tournament. Another opinion is it cheapens the previous nine months of play like foreclosures destroy a neighborhood.

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ATLANTA — It’s safe to say Phil Mickelson has not gotten nearly as much out of the 2010 PGA Tour season as he would have liked.

Big hopes soared when everybody’s favorite Tiger foil won the Masters in April — Phil’s fourth career major — to position himself for ownership of golf’s world No. 1 ranking for the surprising first time in a wickedly good but not-totally fulfilled career. Except, Lefty hasn’t won since and Woods, despite a season to which only a Democratic incumbent could relate, remains top ranked.

“The Masters kind of made the year for me,” Mickelson said. “It meant a lot to us emotionally; it meant a lot to me personally. I look back at the year and it really comes down to that one event.

“There were other events I played OK in, but I haven’t won any events (since). For me the year was kind of salvaged by that Masters win.”

Along the way, Mickelson continued to deal with wife Amy’s fight with breast cancer, while also revealing health issues of his own — psoriatic arthritis.

If that doesn’t cut Mickelson some significant slack, what would? Nevertheless, a golden opportunity may have slipped away for the 40-year-old star. Woods’ game isn’t going to be mentally incapacitated forever. Also, a rich stock of young talent like Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler seems determined to alter golf’s immediate landscape.

It just might mean Mickelson’s shot at No. 1 is now or never.

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ATLANTA — Over a 30-year professional career, Tom Lehman won a British Open. He played on three Ryder Cup teams and captained another. He was the 1996 PGA Tour Player of the Year. He won this year’s Senior PGA Championship.

Those accomplishments, however, did not prepare him for Thursday’s victory.

Lehman, known for his benevolence and honor, was presented with the Payne Stewart award, presented annually to a player sharing the late golfer’s respect for the traditions of the game, his commitment to upholding the sport’s heritage of charitable support and his professional and meticulous presentation of himself and the sport through his dress and conduct.

“You know, winning a golf tournament is one thing,” Lehman said. “You work and practice and you prepare and you go out and you give your very best, and hopefully, you’re the best this week and you get the trophy.

“An award like this, I’m not really sure how to take quite frankly, just because there’s so many conflicting emotions.

“When I was told I was going to receive this award, I started thinking about my years knowing Payne Stewart. I think the overriding feeling is I really wish that this award wasn’t being given out for another 30 years.”

Stewart, the flashy dresser with a classic swing and three major championships, died in a 1999 private plane crash three days before he was to compete in the Tour Championship.

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ATLANTA — By design the Tour Championship closes the PGA Tour season with a big bang — at least in theory.

Forget that five more golf tournaments remain to be played as part of the Fall Finish (all official money), the Tour’s big finale is this week’s visit to East Lake Golf Club. Along with paying Sunday’s winner a hefty $1.35 million, the tournament, one way or another, will determine who collects the FedEx Cup playoff bonus ($10 million) and Player of the Year honors (priceless).

That much is certain.

Now, can the week also make anyone beyond golf’s most loyal dimple heads care?

It’s football season — college and NFL.

Baseball has pennant races.

The Ryder Cup is next week in Wales.

Tiger Woods, the tail that wags the dog, did not qualify and will not be around to boost television ratings.

“We like the fact that the competition can’t be over before we get here,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, pictured above, said. “We like the fact that there is volatility, that players can make a significant move late in the season.”

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Can we please take a deep breath and count slowly to 10?

Yes, Dustin Johnson‘s victory Sunday in Chicago at the BMW Championship makes a very nice story. After his hard-luck finishes at the U.S. Open, where he took a three-shot lead into the final round at Pebble Beach only to shoot 82 and tie for eighth, and the PGA Championship, where a two-shot penalty on the finishing hole cost him a berth in a playoff, it would have been easy — even understandable — for Johnson to still be licking his wounds.

So, posting a final-round 69 and one-shot victory at Cog Hill, earned with a birdie on the 17th hole and well-played par at 18, is more than a significant accomplishment.

But as all too often is the case, golf’s reaction has been overreaction.

Johnson now is the leading candidate for player of the year honors, although the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup remains to be decided. He has been forecast as the future of golf, reading and waiting for Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson fade. He’s the favorite next year at Augusta in the Masters.

This news just in: Johnson still trails Jack Nicklaus‘ record 18 majors by 18.

Johnson is young (26) and obviously talented. He’s got distance and shot-making skill. He also has four career wins — two this year. Eleven other players in their 20s also won this year — including Hunter Mahan and Justin Rose, who, like Johnson, claimed two titles.

“I mean, I think there’s a lot of good players of all ages, but the young guys definitely have stepped up and played really well this year and we’ve got a lot of victories,” Johnson said. “I think we’re just getting a little better.”

Give Johnson his props, but do it with a little reserve.

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So what do you think of the FedEx Cup now? After hard-luck Dustin Johnson shot a final-round 69 Sunday to win the BMW Championship is the PGA Tour’s post-season inspiring or a snoozer?

Johnson melted down in the final round of the U.S. Open and he brain-cramped on the finishing hole of the PGA Championship. But Sunday at Chicago’s Cog Hill he didn’t let anything get away, producing two birdies and one bogey to finish 9 under and one shot in front of runner-up Paul Casey.

“You know, to finally get it done, especially after all the things I’ve gone through this summer, to finally get it done on Sunday, it can’t feel any better, especially because I played really good golf today,” Johnson said. “I didn’t make as many birdies as I would have liked to, but I made just enough.”

It was the 26-year-old Johnson’s fourth career victory and second of the season. He breezes into the post-season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, where the FedEx Cup winner scoops up a cool $10 million bonus.

Along with top-seeded Matt Kuchar, Johnson will join Charley Hoffman, Steve Stricker and Casey as players, by way of their top-five finish on the points list, who will control their own playoff destiny: a victory at East Lake guarantees the FedEx crown.

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U.S. Ryder Cup team captain Corey Pavin (pictured) on Tuesday explained the logic behind his four wild-card picks with disarming simplicity.

“What was important to me is who I thought could play well in that environment over in Wales on European soil,” Pavin said. “I wanted to find guys that round off the team and make it a team of 12, not 12 individuals that are great players. I wanted 12 players that made up a great team.”

While Pavin will have to wait until the matches against Europe are played in South Wales on Oct. 1-3 to find out if he succeeded, at least, on paper, the captain’s four picks appear difficult to question.

Pavin had just given the roll call, announcing (in order) Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson, Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler as hand-picked additions to a squad of eight points-system qualifiers.

“The important thing was to match up these four with the eight that are already on the team,” said Pavin.

Pavin’s investment capital comes in the form of his eight automatic points-system qualifiers: Phil Mickelson, Hunter Mahan, Bubba Watson, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Jeff Overton and Matt Kuchar. But from that group, only Mickelson (seven), Mahan (one), Furyk (six) and Stricker (one) have past Ryder Cup experience.

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Inch by inch, Tiger Woods appears to be in the process of climbing back into form. But there remains considerable distance to cover.

Despite putting together three consecutive rounds in the 60s for the first time this season to finish T11 Monday in the Deutsche Bank Championship, Woods has played six straight tournaments on the PGA Tour without finishing in the top 10 — a first in his career.

He recorded five straight finishes outside the top 10 in 2001, then won the WGC-NEC Invitational. Woods’ last top 10 was at this year’s U.S. Open, where he tied for fourth.

The recent work with swing coach Sean Foley appears to be showing results. It’s amazing Woods is willing to attempt to rebuild his swing in midseason, but the results have been noticeable improvement in accuracy and distance.

Twice before in his professional career, Woods has gone through swing changes. The first was in 1997-98 under the tutelage of Butch Harmon. The second came in 2003-04 with Hank Haney. Interestingly, both times Woods undertook the task after coming off solid seasons.

This time the work almost seemed to be made in desperation.

Woods, who on Tuesday was added to the U.S. Ryder Cup team by Corey Pavin as a captain’s pick, says an indication that things are starting to work is that he now feel capable of making adjustments on the course and during a round.

“That’s the biggest thing is I wasn’t able to do that at the PGA because I was still learning the new technique basically,” he said. “This week was a good week. I was able to rectify it during the round, a couple loose shots here and there but was able to fix it right away and hit some good ones.”

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Say this for the PGA Tour’s FedExCup: it’s very interesting, even if the reasons are all unexpected.

Although only two tournaments now remain in the postseason playoff series after Charley Hoffman’s butt-kicking victory Monday evening in the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston, the storylines keep coming like campaign promises.

Wow! Hoffman, 33-year-old journeyman with one previous career victory, a player who once missed 16 consecutive cuts on the developmental Nationwide Tour, blew away the field with a final-round 9-under 62. He finished 22 shots on the happy side of par, five strokes in front of runners-up Geoff Ogilvy (66), Luke Donald (69) Jason Day (71). He zoomed from 59th to second on the FedEx points list, positioning himself nicely for a run at the $10 million bonus that goes to the winner.

This week’s BMW Championship in Chicago, with the field cut to 70 players, will begin with Matt Kuchar on top of the FedEx points list, followed by Hoffman, Steve Stricker, Day and Donald.

Never had Hoffman finished in the top 10 of a major championship, a World Golf Championship or a FedExCup event. But on Monday he ran off four straight birdies early to erase a four-shot deficit, took command by holing a bunker shot on the 13th and cruised to an easy win.

“I mean, the playoffs that’s what you try to do,” Hoffman said. ” I wasn’t even close to anything for the most part starting the week or starting the playoffs — mid 70s and just trying to advance into next week. Last week, if I missed the cut last week who knows if I’m even here. Played decent last week and just got it going this week.”

And then there’s Tiger. And Phil. And all sorts of other interesting angles.

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Flick the lights. It’s last call.

Tuesday in New York, one day after this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship is scheduled to be completed, U.S. Ryder Cup team captain Corey Pavin announces his four at-large picks for the October matches in Wales.

Eight players — Phil Mickelson, Hunter Mahan, Bubba Watson, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Jeff Overton, Dustin Johnson, and Matt Kuchar — already have secured spots on the team off a two-year points system.

Now Pavin gets the chance to put his lasting fingerprints on the team that will be a heavy underdog at Celtic Manor.

Only Mickelson (seven), Mahan (one), Stricker (one) and Furyk (six) have Ryder Cup experience.

“I am excited at the mix of youth, experience, aggressiveness and consistency of these players,” Pavin has said.

But the team’s success will inevitably be determined by Pavin’s four captain’s picks.

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PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has suspended the regulation that resulted in Jim Furyk’s disqualification last week from the Barclays after he was late to his pro-am starting time.

For the remainder of the year, a similar situation will be handled as a matter of unbecoming conduct. A player guilty of a similar offense will be required to participate in the remainder of the pro-am round and may be required to perform additional sponsor activity. A player who misses his pro-am obligation in its entirety will still be ruled ineligible for the tournament unless he has been excused in accordance with the provisions of the regulations.

The matter will receive further discussion at the Policy Board meeting in November.

Phil Mickelson made a solid argument why the old rule was a bad one: not all players are required to participate in pro-am competitions.

“The rule itself applies to only half the field,” Mickelson says. “So if you’re going to have a rule that does not apply to everybody, because not everybody played the pro-am, you cannot have it affect the competition.

“It’s got to be a different penalty. It can’t be disqualification if it only applies to half the field. So this rule — it’s not protecting the players. It’s not protecting the sponsors. It applies to only half the field and yet it affects the integrity of the competition.

“I have no idea how the commissioner let this rule go through.”

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The only way the PGA Tour 2010 season could get much stranger is if right in the middle of this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston — the second in the four-event FedEx Cup playoff series — a hurricane hits the New England coastline and …

Uh, oh.

So far this year Tiger went tabloids and Phil went to an arthritis specialist, meaning the top two players in the world ranking have a combined one victory. Three guys who couldn’t get through the clubhouse buffet line without photo ID when the year began have won the last three majors. Dustin Johnson learned that a bunker does not always look like a bunker. Jim Furyk, not exactly a night stalker, overslept and was disqualified from last week’s FedEx opener. And Matt Kuchar suddenly is the leading candidate for player of the year.

Unless he gets blown away this weekend.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center is projecting a strong possibility of Hurricane Earl swiping New England, warning coastal residents from North Carolina to Maine to watch the storm closely. Early predictions suggest a weekend arrival.

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Dustin Johnson’s introduction to the frequent unfairness of golf came quickly, back when he was an early teen growing up in South Carolina and playing in a junior tournament.

Johnson remembers owning a two-shot lead going to the final hole. He was in the middle of the fairway. His opponent was not.

“He had blown it right up underneath a tree and I remember he skulled it,” Johnson said. “And there’s a big mound in front. It went over the mound. You could hear it hit the flag and went in the hole. Probably never happen again in a million years.”

Johnson missed the green, chipped up and failed to save par.

“He beat me by one,” he recalled.

Johnson told the story this week at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J.. before Thursday’s opening round of the Barclays, the first event in the PGA Tour’s FedExCup playoff series. The walk down memory lane came as the result of a more recent surprise flogging the game inflicted on Johnson.

Less that two weeks ago on the final hole of regulation play at the PGA Championship, Johnson received a two-shot penalty for grounding his club in a bunker that he didn’t know was a bunker. It was his fault. Whistling Straits has some wacky local rules and Johnson didn’t read the pre-tournament announcement.

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Dustin Johnson’s introduction to the frequent unfairness of golf came quickly, back when he was an early teen growing up in South Carolina and playing in a junior tournament.

Johnson remembers owning a two-shot lead going to the final hole. He was in the middle of the fairway. His opponent was not.

“He had blown it right up underneath a tree and I remember he skulled it,” Johnson said. “And there’s a big mound in front. It went over the mound. You could hear it hit the flag and went in the hole. Probably never happen again in a million years.”

Johnson missed the green, chipped up and failed to save par.

“He beat me by one,” he recalled.

Johnson told the story this week at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J.. before Thursday’s opening round of the Barclays, the first event in the PGA Tour’s FedExCup playoff series. The walk down memory lane came as the result of a more recent surprise flogging the game inflicted on Johnson.

Less that two weeks ago on the final hole of regulation play at the PGA Championship, Johnson received a two-shot penalty for grounding his club in a bunker that he didn’t know was a bunker. It was his fault. Whistling Straits has some wacky local rules and Johnson didn’t read the pre-tournament announcement.

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The PGA Tour’s FedExCup, a four-tournament playoff series that culminates with the Tour Championship and a boat-load of bonus money for the ultimate winner, gets under way this week with The Barclays. And the more things change the more they have remained the same.

As has been the case since the postseason competition was introduced in 2007, Tiger Woods will draw much of the focus. He has won two of the three years, giving way to Vijay Singh in 2009 only when he was missing because of knee surgery.

This year, however, the attention is being created by the very-real possibility that the playoffs will advance without the world’s No. 1 ranked (at least for now) player.

The top 125 players off the current points list earned invitations this week to Ridgewood CC in Paramus, N.J. After play is completed Sunday, the top 100 advance to the second round.

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The six-foot putt for par that Arjun Atwal jarred on the 72nd hole Sunday to win the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., was more than the deciding stoke in a one-shot victory. It was just crazy significant.

Count the ways.

The 37-year-old from Asansol, India became his country’s first PGA Tour winner.

Without PGA Tour status after losing his card when a minor medical exemption ran out, he earned a spot in the tournament field through Monday qualifying — and a Monday qualifier had not won on the PGA Tour in 24 years.

Also, not only was Atwal previously winless on the PGA Tour, just three times in seven seasons had he held a tournament lead and never after 54 holes. But he set the pace at Sedgefield Country Club from an opening round 61 and headed into Sunday with a three-shot advantage.

If you need a reminder of the difficulty that accompanies a final-round lead, consider last week’s PGA Championship: Nick Watney held a 3-stroke lead three days before a final-round 81 resulted in a T18 finish.

So give it up for Atwal.

“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet, you know, seriously,” he said. “Obviously, (it) was a long time dream of mine to win out here but, you know, until it happens, you know, you just keep doubting yourself. And believe me, I had my doubts teeing it up today even with the lead, with a three-shot lead or whatever it was.

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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin now has eight of the 12 players who will go Wales to compete against the Europeans in early October.

There are four Ryder Cup veterans: Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker and Hunter Mahan. There are four who will be making their first appearance in the team competition: Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Jeff Overton and Matt Kuchar.

In three weeks Pavin will make his four captain’s picks that complete the squad. So how does the current roster impact the captain’s selections?

In Watson and Johnson, the team will have two of the longest hitters in golf. Does Pavin attempt to build around that?

“I believe the eight players that have qualified are really going to allow a lot of flexibility for the four picks,” Pavin said. “I couldn’t have drawn it up any better for the eight players that are on the team and the types of players that are there.

“So I believe that there’s going to be many choices to be made there. I think it’s not just going to be about a type of player. I think there’s going to be a lot of room for maneuvering, which I’m very pleased with.”

The first question, of course, is whether Pavin will use one of his picks to invite Tiger Woods?

Most likely, he will.

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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Martin Kaymer defeated Bubba Watson in a three-hole aggregate playoff Sunday to win the PGA Championship, golf’s final major of the year.

Now, on to the day’s big story.

Dustin Johnson, after making bogey on the 18th hole to join Kaymer and Watson at 11-under for the tournament, assumed he would be part of the overtime play. Instead, after walking off the green he was blindsided by a two-shot penalty, courtesy of the strangeness that is Whistling Straits and its 1,000-plus bunkers.

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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Wake up, laddies, and pay attention. We’ve got a major championship to watch. Saturday afternoon at Whistling Straits, when it was least expected, something interesting started to take place.

The PGA Championship got its groove back.

No fog. No rain — despite a forecast that included heavy rain and hail. Only a good day of good golf.

When it ended and third-round play was complete, Sunday’s final 18 holes had been set up as a viewing of the game’s coming attraction.

Going into the last lap of golf’s final major championship of the year, the top three players are 20-something up-and-comers, poised to make a charge toward membership in golf’s most exclusive men’s club.

American Nick Watney, the elder of the group at 29, will go into final-round play 13 under and three shots in front of 26-year-old countryman Dustin Johnson and Northern Ireland’s 21-year-old Rory McIlroy.

“I think it’s pretty simple because A, this is a tough golf course, and B, (these are) the best players in the world,” Watney said of his final-day challenge. “So they’re going to be coming, and it’s going to be a long day. There’s a lot of mistakes out there, so I just have to trust my game and give it my best.”

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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Tiger Woods will have no trouble identifying his shortcoming at the PGA Championship.

After a third-round even-par 72 Saturday at Whistling Straits sabotaged his efforts to go into Sunday’s final round as a contender, it wasn’t hard to track what went wrong.

It is the same problem that has haunted him throughout this winless season. The golfer who once owned par 5s has not been able to answer the challenge.

Woods began Thursday’s first round with a birdie on the first par 5. Since then he has been birdie-less and 2-over on the long holes.

The result is that after rounds of 71-70-72 he is 3 under and well out of contention going into Sunday’s final round.

“I haven’t played them well all week,” Woods said. “It is what it is, and unfortunately you’ve got to make this, you’ve got to make birdies on the par 5s and I haven’t done that. “

All season.

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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — PGA Championship week began with such promise. Whistling Straits buzzed with interest, intrigue and more than a little bit of controversy.

Then the golf started.

And stopped.

And started.

And stopped.

Even under the best of circumstances it was doubtful the PGA could hold its early pace. After sex, lies and veggie-gate dominated pre-tournament interest, the actual golf had a lot to live up to. So far it hasn’t. Of course, there really hasn’t been that much golf.

After two days of play in the rural heather lands of Wisconsin, where the people are friendly and the mosquitoes are large and plentiful, there remains a long way to go just to reach the halfway point of the year’s final major.

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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — One good shot followed another. Matt Kuchar played 22 holes of golf Friday at Whistling Straits, completing his suspended-by-darkness first round and then his second round of the PGA Championship.

He was 4 under for the effort, making five birdies and only one bogey on the extra-long day, to string together rounds of 67 and 69 to go 8 under and take the early 36-hole lead.

It was enough to make Kuchar smile.

Of course, Kuchar would smile through an upper GI cleansing.

The 32-year-old Kuchar won the 1997 U.S. Amateur and has added two PGA Tour titles since. But the snapshot that identifies him to most golf fans is a toothy grin first made famous in 1998 when he was low amateur in both the Masters and U.S. Open.

“The one thing you can control is your attitude,” he says. “You can’t let the course beat you up out there. If you’re dragging your head and you’re sulking about the kind of bad bounce and bad break and bad shot you just hit, you’re probably not going to hit the next shot very good, either.

“So I think I’ve done pretty well with having a good attitude and knowing that, hey, you keep working hard, you keep doing the right things and have a good attitude, hopefully things will turn around. And they have for me.”

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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Free-swinging, unassuming and country as sweet tea, Bubba Watson blew into Whistling Straits Thursday like a blast of fresh air, the perfect diversion to a fog-delayed, incomplete opening round of the PGA Championship.

The lefthander from the tiny Florida Panhandle town of Bagdad shot a 4-under 68 to share the opening-day lead with Francesco Molinari, and then wasn’t sure if he should laugh or cry. So, depending on the subject, he did a little of both.

Watson, who earned his first PGA Tour victory in June at the Travelers Championship, will turn 32 in November, but remains one of golf’s biggest kids. That fact can be proven by Watson’s first order of business upon arriving at the home he is renting this week: Call Ricky Fowler, the 21-year-old rookie who has become a new best buddy.

That’s what made Watson laugh.

“We got here Sunday night, flew in, called Rickie at the house that I rented and I said there’s three kids that live here,” Watson said. “There’s Razors, there’s the push Razors, there’s scooters, there’s skate boards, there’s basketball, there’s football, there’s disk golf in the back, there’s bicycles.

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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — As it turns out, maybe Tiger Woods isn’t finished, defeated, washed up and forgotten after all.

One week after the worst performance of his professional career led doubters and critics to tag him as yesterday’s news, Woods came back in Thursday’s opening round of the PGA Championship to suggest he’s not done yet.

With a seven-foot birdie putt on his final hole, golf’s beleaguered world No. 1-ranked player shot a 1-under 70 and is three shots back of early leaders Bubba Watson and Francesco Molinari.

“I played too good not to shoot under par, and it would have been very disappointing and frustrating to end up at even par as well as I played today,” Woods said.

Woods arrived at Whistling Straits with a career-worst string of seven consecutive rounds without breaking par, but quickly suggested he still has game.

Beginning play off the 10th tee, Woods birdied three of his first four holes, before suffering his first bogey at the 15th. He saved par on the par-5 16th after a wayward drive, but fell back to even-par with bogeys at No. 2 and No. 7.

The finishing-hole birdie made the day a success.

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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — The PGA Championship that tees off Thursday at Whistling Straits brings with it a catchy slogan. Playing on its role as golf’s final major of the season, the week is proclaimed, “Glory’s Last Shot.”

It’s a clever catchphrase but, considering the head-scratching fog that so far blankets the 2010 season, it significantly under clubs. Might we suggest, “Sanity’s Final Stand.”

Please, will somebody make sense of a golf season that so far has none?

This is the year Tiger Woods lost his game and Phil Mickelson went vegan. Graeme McDowell, a heretofore unknown from Northern Ireland, won the U.S. Open, a surprise only exceeded by South African Louis Oosthuizen running away with the British Open.

Up is down and down is up. Cars are chasing dogs. What’s next, Colin Montgomerie in fishnets and bondage gear?

After Mickelson won The Masters in April, 14 of the last 21 major championships belonged to four players. Since 2005 Woods has won six, Mickelson three, Padraig Harrington three and Angel Cabrera two.

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