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This Week In Golf - October 16th Through October 19th

Monday, October 13, 2008

(Sports Network) - PGA TOUR - JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPEN, TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas, Nevada - Justin Timberlake became the 14th celebrity with his own PGA Tour event when it was announced last year that this Las Vegas stop would be renamed after him.

With the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter joins a list of PGA Tour hosts that includes Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Timberlake, who has appeared in commercials for the event, is set to participate in the Pro-Am to be held on Wednesday at the TPC Summerlin.

Called the Frys.com Open last year -- that moniker has transferred to a tournament in Arizona -- this is the fourth of seven events in the PGA Tour's so-called Fall Series.

The tournament field is a mix of well-known players -- Woody Austin, Chad Campbell, John Daly, Chris DiMarco, Rory Sabbatini and Mike Weir will be on hand -- as well as those who are trying to make enough money at the end of the season to keep their tour cards for next year.

Most -- if not all -- of the top stars have shut it down for the season already.

Last year, former Q-school winner George McNeill picked up his first career victory with four sub-68 rounds to win this tournament. He finished at 23- under-par 264, four shots ahead of D.J. Trahan.

The Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds this week. Next week is the new Frys.com Open, which was called the Fry's Electronics Open when Mike Weir won it last year.

EUROPEAN TOUR

PORTUGAL MASTERS, Oceanico Victoria Golf Course, Vilamoura, Portugal - At last year's Portugal Masters, Steve Webster carded a final-round 64 to edge Robert Karlsson for his second European Tour win and first in two years.

Webster will be back in the field to defend his title. Among the other top players joining is Karlsson, who is looking to do something only Tiger Woods has ever done.

Karlsson has won his last two starts -- the Mercedes-Benz Championship and Alfred Dunhill Links Championship -- to close in on Woods' record of three consecutive victories on the European Tour's international schedule.

Woods won the British Open, PGA Championship and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in 2006.

Karlsson, looking to become the first Swede to ever win the Order of Merit as the European Tour's leading money winner, will be joined in the field by five of his Ryder Cup teammates: Soren Hansen, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Graeme McDowell, Lee Westwood and Oliver Wilson.

The Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds this week. Next week is the Comunitat Valenciana Masters, where Gregory Bourdy won last year.

LPGA TOUR

KAPALUA LPGA CLASSIC, The Bay Course at Kapalua Resort, Maui, Hawaii - Eight of the top 10 players in the women's world rankings will be on hand this week for the inaugural Kapalua LPGA Classic.

The third and final LPGA Tour event to be held in Hawaii this season, the tournament will get a first-year boost from the biggest stars in the game: world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa and No. 2 Annika Sorenstam.

Sorenstam, nearing her scheduled retirement, will be looking to win for the third time in her last four starts in Hawaii. She won this year's SBS Open at Turtle Bay in February -- her first start in the Aloha State since winning the 2002 LPGA Takefuji Classic, a tournament Ochoa has also won.

Yani Tseng, Suzann Pettersen, Cristie Kerr, Helen Alfredsson, Karrie Webb and Seon-Hwa Lee are the other top-10 players in the field this week. No. 3 Paula Creamer and No. 7 Ji-Yai Shin are not scheduled to be on hand.

The Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds this week. Next week is another new event on the schedule, the Grand China Air LPGA.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

ADMINISTAFF SMALL BUSINESS CLASSIC, The Woodlands Country Club Tournament Course, The Woodlands, Texas - Bernhard Langer rolled to his first Champions Tour win at this event last season.

The two-time Masters champion from Germany carded rounds of 62, 65 and 64 to cruise to an eight-shot victory over Mark O'Meara -- his first title at a PGA Tour-sanctioned event since his 1993 win at Augusta.

Langer has gone on to win twice this season, at the Toshiba Classic and Ginn Championship, to help him climb to second place on the money list.

As the season winds down (there is only one more event before the Charles Schwab Cup Championship) Langer trails Jay Haas by about $44,000 for the top spot on the money list. Both players trail Fred Funk in the Charles Schwab Cup Standings.

The Golf Channel will have coverage of all three rounds this weekend. Next week is the AT&T Championship, where John Cook won last year.

NATIONWIDE TOUR

CHATTANOOGA CLASSIC, Black Creek Club, Chattanooga, Tennessee - Last year, Ron Whittaker held off David McKenzie for a one-shot win, his first on the Nationwide Tour.

The victory helped Whittaker avoid a 13th trip to Q-school, earning him enough money to comfortably move inside the top 25 on the money list for a 2008 PGA Tour card.

He has struggled this season, however, missing the cut in most of his starts on the PGA Tour as well as in all four starts on the Nationwide Tour. He is not playing either circuit this week.

Next week is the Miccosukee Championship, where Marc Turnesa won last year. It's the final tournament before the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship.

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