Philadelphia, PA – PGA TOUR - AT&T NATIONAL, Congressional Country Club, Bethesda, Maryland - After two years at Aronimink Golf Club, the AT&T National returns to Congressional Country Club this week.
Congressional hosted the U.S. Open last year and was closed the year before for renovations for the Open. Rory McIlroy set all sorts of records at the U.S. Open last year.
Only three of the previous five AT&T National champions will be in the field this week. Last year's winner Nick Watney, 2009 champ Tiger Woods and 2007 victor K.J. Choi are competing at Congressional.
Watney went 12-under par over the final two rounds at Aronimink to win by two strokes over Choi. The victory was his second win of 2011 and fourth of his career on the PGA Tour.
Woods is the tournament host and the event benefits his foundation. Woods is one of nine winners from this season competing this week, however neither of the major champions are playing.
In fact, the most recent major winner playing is 2009 PGA Champion Y.E. Yang, who snapped Woods' streak of winning 14 straight majors when entering the final round with a lead in a major.
Woods and Mahan are the only two players in the top 10 in the FedExCup standings, money list and World Rankings that will be at Congressional.
Golf Channel has the first two rounds, then CBS takes over on the weekend.
Next week, the tour will be in West Virginia for The Greenbrier Classic. Last year, Scott Stallings beat Bob Estes and Bill Haas in a playoff. Stallings birdied the 72nd hole to get into the playoff, then birdied the first extra hole to earn his first tour victory.
EUROPEAN TOUR
THE IRISH OPEN, Royal Portrush Golf Club, Portrush, Northern Ireland - The Irish Open moved up a couple weeks on the calendar and has a stellar field on hand.
Northern Ireland's major champions Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell are among at least seven former major winners that will be at Portrush this week.
Simon Dyson was 1-under after the opening round last year at Killarney Golf & Fishing Club, but went minus-14 the rest of the way to earn his fifth tour title.
It wasn't that easy though. Dyson birdied two of the last three holes to join Richard Green at 15-under. Green found the putting surface with his approach at the last and just needed to two putt for the win.
Green ran his birdie effort 12 feet by the hole and missed that putt to hand the title to Dyson.
The event returns to Northern Ireland for the first time since 1953 and heads to Portrush for the first time since 1947. Among those competing this week is newly minted British Am champion Alan Dunbar, who is a Portrush native.
Golf Channel will broadcast all four rounds.
Thomas Levet hung on for a 1-stroke win last year and the Frenchman will be on hand to defend his title next week at the Open de France.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
CONSTELLATION SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP, Fox Chapel Golf Club, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Last year at Westchester Country Club, Fred Couples birdied the third playoff hole to beat John Cook and earn his first major championship title on the Champions Tour.
The victory didn't come easy for Couples. After a back procedure in Germany, Couples also had to sit through a 2-hour weather delay that included a tornado warning in the final round.
Couples closed with a 71, while Cook posted a 70 to end at 11-under par.
After the duo parred the first two extra holes, they headed to the 17th. Couples' approach stopped 3 feet from the hole and after Cook missed his 20- footer, Couples tapped in for birdie and the win.
The field gets a boost this week from Greg Norman, who is playing this tournament for the first time. The Australian competed in two PGA Tour events earlier this year. He withdrew from one and missed the cut in the other. Those were his only PGA Tour-sanctioned events since 2009.
Fox Chapel is hosting the championship for the first time.
Golf Channel has coverage of all four rounds.
The tour heads to California next week for the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, where Jeff Sluman won by two strokes last year. It was Sluman's third win in the last four years at that tournament.
LPGA TOUR
WALMART NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP, Pinnacle Country Club, Rogers, Arkansas - Women's world No. 1 Yani Tseng blew a chance to repeat as champion in regulation, but she birdied the first playoff hole to win this tournament for the second straight year.
Tseng, who beat Michelle Wie by a single stroke in 2010, fended off Amy Yang in the playoff last year.
Yang and Tseng had equal length birdie putts on the first extra hole, but Yang missed her's and opened the door for Tseng, who drained her putt to win for the fifth time in 2011 and for the 10th time on the LPGA Tour.
Tseng has raised that total to 15 thanks to three victories this year. However, she has struggled somewhat of late. Tseng tied for 59th at the LPGA Championship. In her three events prior to that, she shared 10th, ninth and 12th.
Making her return this week will be Juli Inkster, who has been out all year after offseason elbow surgery.
This will be the sixth year of the tournament and the only American to win the title was Stacy Lewis, but that was an unofficial victory since the 2007 event was shortened to 18 holes by bad weather.
Golf Channel will have tape-delayed action of all three rounds this week.
The tour heads to Wisconsin next week for the U.S. Women's Open, which will be contested at Blackwolf Run Golf Club. Last year at The Broadmoor, So Yeon Ryu beat Hee Kyung Seo by three strokes in a 3-hole aggregate playoff. Ryu closed with a 69, while Seo had a 68 to end at 3-under par.
NATIONWIDE TOUR
UNITED LEASING CHAMPIONSHIP, Victoria National Golf Club, Newburgh, Indiana - The Nationwide Tour is in Indiana this week for the United Leasing Championship, which is a new event on the schedule.
Nine of the top-10 players on the money list are in the field this week. The only one not playing is Paul Haley II, who tops the money list by a little over $4,000.
Haley is one of two winners not playing this week as well. The other nine will all be at Victoria National Golf Club.
There is no television coverage this week.
The tour heads west next week for the Utah Championship. J.J. Killeen carded a 6-under 65 in the final round last year to win by four strokes. It was his first tour title and he matched the tournament scoring record.
CANADIAN TOUR
SYNCRUDE BOREAL OPEN, Fort McMurray Golf Club, Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada - Danny Sahl cruised to a 5-stroke win last year to earn his first Canadian Tour title.
Sahl has struggled in the first two events this year, missing the cut in Victoria and sharing 71st last week in Edmonton.
The top-10 players on the money list are all in the field this week.
The tour shifts to Saskatoon next week for the Dakota Dunes Casino Open, where Joe Panzeri was 1-stroke winner last year.
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