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This Week in Golf - September 20th through September 23rd
September 17th, 2007

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - PGA TOUR - TURNING STONE RESORT CHAMPIONSHIP, Atunyote Golf Club, Verona, New York - With year one of the FedEx Cup in the rearview mirror, the focus for the PGA Tour turns to the fall finish.

There are seven events in the fall finish. Players will compete in those seven events for various reasons.

You'll see players like 2005 Rookie of the Year Sean O'Hair trying to improve upon his world ranking status (currently 71st) and his rank on the money list (now 54th) with the hopes of gaining eligibility towards next year's majors.

The Masters takes the top 30 from the final 2007 money list and the top 50 from the final Official World Golf Ranking for 2007. Players can get into the U.S. Open by finishing in the top 30 on the final 2007 money list.

The British Open takes the top 20 of the previous year's PGA Tour money list and the PGA Championship takes winners of tournaments co-sponsored or approved by the PGA Tour.

Or you will see guys like Steve Allan, No. 125 on the money list, or Bill Haas, 126th on the money list, trying to get into the top-125 to secure their tour card for next season.

The field at the Turning Stone Resort Championship is not completely devoid of big-name talent either. Three players -- Robert Allenby, John Rollins and Brandt Snedeker -- played last weekend at the Tour Championship.

You will also see Nick Flanagan, who will make his debut as a tour member this week. Flanagan won three times this year on the Nationwide Tour to gain an automatic promotion to the PGA Tour.

Atunyote hosted the B.C. Open last year, when Rollins won, but this is considered a new event so Rollins is not considered the defending champion.

Now that we are into the fall finish, the Golf Channel will have three hours of coverage all four days of the championship.

Next week, 12 of the best from the PGA Tour take on 12 top international players in the Presidents Cup. The event will be played at Royal Montreal, marking the first time it will be played in Canada.

The remainder of the PGA Tour moves to Mississippi for the Viking Classic, which was the Southern Farm Bureau Classic last year. D.J. Trahan took down Joe Durant in a playoff to win that title in 2006.

EUROPEAN TOUR

QUINN DIRECT BRITISH MASTERS, The Belfry, Wishaw, England - Johan Edfors returns to The Belfry to defend his title this week and he will have some stout competition.

Edfors, the first Swede to win the British Masters, will have to deal with the likes of former Ryder Cuppers Darren Clarke, David Howell, Paul McGinley and Lee Westwood, as well as Anton Haig and Richard Sterne, who both won earlier this year.

The Belfry, a four-time Ryder Cup venue, is hosting for the second straight year.

There are other important components to this event as well. The large prize fund will help those trying to get into the top 117 on the Order of Merit and could go a long way in determining who finishes atop the Order of Merit too.

This is also the third event in which players can collect points towards the 2008 Ryder Cup.

The Golf Channel will cover all four rounds this weekend.

There is no full field event next week for the European Tour as some of the tour players will be competing in the Presidents Cup, while others will be competing in the Seve Trophy. The Seve Trophy is a Ryder Cup style event with players from Great Britain & Ireland battling a team from Continental Europe.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

SAS CHAMPIONSHIP, Prestonwood Country Club, Cary, North Carolina - Players will be hoping for better conditions this week at the SAS Championship than they had last year.

The final round was washed out due to rain and Tom Jenkins was declared the winner. He posted rounds of 68-66 to win by one over Chip Beck and Loren Roberts.

The event will be contested at Prestonwood Country Club for the seventh straight year. Vance Heafner, a part-time Champions Tour player, is the Director of Golf at Prestonwood. He is slated to play this week.

The Golf Channel will have coverage from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. (et) all three days.

After a one-week break, the Champions Tour will return to action in Maryland with the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, where Bobby Wadkins in the defending champion. The Senior Players Championship is the last of the tour's five majors.

NATIONWIDE TOUR

ALBERTSONS BOISE OPEN, Hillcrest Country Club, Boise, Idaho - Kevin Stadler, last year's champion, was in Boise on Monday for the $1 million Kraft Shoot Out, but has moved to New York for the Turning Stone Championship.

So without its defending champion, the Boise Open will look for a new winner.

Maybe that will be Tadd Fujikawa, who turned pro earlier this year after making the cut as an amateur at the Sony Open on the PGA Tour. This will mark the 16 year old's first start on the Nationwide Tour.

The Golf Channel will broadcast the action from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. each night. Next week, the tour is off before moving to California the following week for the Mark Christopher Charity Classic, where Kevin Na won in 2006.