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Published November 20, 2014
PGA TOUR - FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSIC, TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee - The PGA Tour heads to Memphis this week for the final tune up for the season's second major.
And there will be some tired players in the field this week. There are a bunch of players who played in 36-hole U.S. Open qualifiers on Monday.
One player who won't be as tired as some is world No. 2 Rory McIlroy. The reigning U.S. Open champ missed the cut last week at the Memorial and got in a weekend of practice with his coaches and will play in Memphis for the second time.
McIlroy hasn't broken par in his last three starts, two on the PGA Tour and one on the European Tour. He missed the cut in all three starts.
"I just feel like I've lacked competitive rounds a little bit," McIlroy said about why he is playing this week. "I'm still confident in my abilities. It's just a matter of working hard and trying to bring it up a level from where it has been the last couple of weeks."
Among those McIlroy will be facing in the field this week is defending champion Harrison Frazar.
Frazar needed three playoff holes to defeat Robert Karlsson and earn his first PGA Tour title. It marked the second straight year Karlsson was a playoff loser at the St. Jude Classic.
The 40-year-old Frazar is also struggling having missed the cut in six of his last 11 starts. He started the season with a pair of top-five finishes in Hawaii, but hasn't had a top-25 since.
Joining Frazar and McIlroy in the field will be former major champions Padraig Harrington, Zach Johnson. Davis Love III and Graeme McDowell as well as Dustin Johnson, Brandt Snedeker and Kyle Stanley.
Golf Channel will broadcast Thursday and Friday with CBS taking over on the weekend.
The tour heads to California next week for the U.S. Open, where McIlroy was a runaway winner at Congressional last year. The last time The Olympic Club hosted the U.S. Open, Lee Janzen rallied from seven strokes back in the final round to beat Payne Stewart for his second U.S. Open crown.
EUROPEAN TOUR
NORDEA MASTERS, Bro Hof Slott Golf Club, Stockholm, Sweden - The European Tour heads to Sweden this week, and the host country is looking to make it three in a row.
Richard S. Johnson won the title in 2010, while fellow Swede Alexander Noren claimed the title last year.
Despite a final-round 77, Noren cruised to a seven-stroke victory over Richard Finch. The win was Noren's second of the season and third of his career.
Noren is still in the field despite withdrawing from his title defense at the Wales Open last week with a back injury.
The event was played in late July last year and was moved up a month. The tourney will also be played from Wednesday to Saturday in order to give players an extra day to travel to the U.S. Open in San Francisco.
The field is headlined by world No. 3 Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Ross Fisher and Edoardo Molinari. Fisher is coming off a tough week in which he shared seventh place after a final-round 73.
He was one stroke off the lead in the final round before being handed a one- stroke penalty for slow play. His group had been warned several holes prior and he was given a bad time on the 10th hole. Another bad time on the 14th caused the penalty.
Golf Channel will show all four rounds.
While the top players in the world will be at the U.S. Open, the remainder of the European Tour will be in France for the Saint Omer Open, where Matthew Zions cruised to a seven-stroke win last year.
LPGA TOUR
WEGMANS LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP, Locust Hill Country Club, Pittsford, New York - The LPGA is in New York this week for the second major of the season, the LPGA Championship.
Women's world No. 1 Yani Tseng carded three rounds in the 60s en route to a 10-stroke win last year. The victory was her fourth major championship, making her the youngest golfer - male or female - to have won four majors.
Then 22, Tseng picked up her third win of the 2011 season. She went on to win four more times, including her fifth major championship at the Women's British Open.
Tseng is struggling of late, if you can call it that. In her last three starts, she has finished tied for 10th, tied for ninth and tied for 12th.
For Tseng, that is a slump. Prior to that stretch, she hadn't finished outside the top eight in her previous six starts. Tseng won three times earlier this year, to raise her career win total to 15.
She did finish in third at the season's first major after closing with a 73 to miss a playoff by one stroke.
Sun Young Yoo birdied the first extra hole at the Kraft Nabisco to beat I.K. Kim, who missed a one-foot putt on the final hole of regulation that would have given her the title.
Along with many of the top female pros, Tiger Woods' niece, Cheyenne Woods, will make her professional debut this week. She had a four-year career at Wake Forest that included a win at the 2011 ACC Championship.
Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds.
Following a week off, the LPGA Tour will head to Canada for a new event, the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
REGIONS TRADITION, Shoal Creek, Shoal Creek, Alabama - The Champions Tour also tees it up at its second major this week as Tom Lehman defends his title at the Regions Tradition.
Lehman and Peter Senior finished at 13-under par last year to head to an extra session. After they both parred the first playoff hole, Lehman made another par on the second extra hole and the title was his when Senior missed a seven- foot par putt.
That win was Lehman's fifth on the Champions Tour, but also his last. He has posted three top-four finishes this year, but finished tied for 29th at the Senior PGA Championship.
England's Roger Chapman won the Senior PGA by two strokes. The win was Chapman's first on the Champions Tour and came in his 17th career tour start. He was the first European to win the Senior PGA since Scotland's Jock Hutchison in 1947.
Golf Channel will carry tape-delayed coverage of all four rounds.
Like the LPGA, the Champions Tour will take a week off, then return to action in Canada. John Cook is expected to defend his title at the Montreal Championship.
NATIONWIDE TOUR
MEXICO OPEN, El Bosque Golf Club, Leon, Mexico - The Nationwide Tour heads to Mexico this week for the Mexico Open. Last year, Erik Compton broke through for his first tour title.
Compton, a two-time heart transplant recipient, broke par in all four rounds, including a seven-under 65 in the final round to win by two strokes over Richard H. Lee.
Compton is in the PGA Tour field this week so he will not be on hand to defend his title.
Dating back to 2003, the only previous winner in the field is 2009 champ Troy Merritt.
Eight of the top 10 players on the money list are in the field at El Bosque Golf Club.
There is no television coverage this week.
After a week off, the Nationwide Tour returns to action with the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open, where Mathew Goggin won last year.
CANADIAN TOUR
TIMES COLONIST ISLANDS SAVINGS OPEN, Uplands Golf Club, Victoria, British Columbia - The Canadian Tour kicks off its brief schedule this week with the Times Colonist Islands Savings Open.
Jose de Jesus Rodriguez went 10-under par on the weekend en route to a two- stroke win over Wes Homan last year. Rodriguez had also won the previous tour event, the Mexican PGA Championship.
Rodriguez is in the Nationwide Tour field this week and will not be on hand to defend his title.
The Canadian Tour is also off next week, but returns the following week with the ATB Financial Classic, where Hugo Leon won in 2011.
USGA
CURTIS CUP, The Nairn Golf Club, Nairn, Scotland - The amateur version of the Solheim Cup is this weekend as the United States squad travels to Scotland to defend its title at the Curtis Cup.
The U.S. has won this event seven straight times and holds a commanding 27-6-3 lead in the series.
Tiffany Lua will compete in her second Curtis Cup for the U.S., while Brooke Pancake is coming off helping her school, the University of Alabama, win the national title. Pancake finished as the runner-up.
Stephanie Meadow, Pancake's Alabama teammate, will headline the Great Britain & Ireland team.
There are three foursomes and three four-ball matches on Friday and Saturday before all eight players for both teams get together for singles matches on Sunday.
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