Philadelphia, PA – PGA TOUR - CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK HOSPITALS CLASSIC, Walt Disney World Resort (Magnolia and Palm Courses), Lake Buena Vista, Florida - The final official event of the 2012 season is upon us for the PGA Tour, and unfortunately the defending champ will not be on hand.
World No. 2 Luke Donald rallied to win this title last year. The victory gave him the PGA Tour money crown and he went on to the European Tour Order of Merit.
Donald was the first player to win both money titles in the same season. However, he is skipping the event since his daughter is having a medical procedure this week.
Since he is missing the tournament, Donald will make a significant donation to a hospital in Chicago. That hospital is part of the Children's Miracle network.
Minus Donald, the Transitions Championship winner, there will still be six winners from this season in the field as well as six former champions of this event and six major champions as well.
Jonas Blixt and Tommy Gainey, two of the Fall Series winners, are hoping to ride the momentum to another title at Disney World this week.
This is the final event of the year, and the big battle this week will be to see who finishes in the top 125 on the money list. Of the 31 players ranked from No. 120 to No. 150 on the money list, only No. 133 Retief Goosen and No. 143 John Daly are missing the tournament.
The first two rounds are spread over two courses as the professionals will be paired with amateur partners for those two rounds.
Golf Channel has extensive coverage of all four rounds.
The PGA Tour has several offseason events, including the Wendy's Three-Tour Challenge, which is next Tuesday. At the end of November, PGA Tour Q-School and Tiger Woods' World Challenge start on November 28 and 29 respectively.
EUROPEAN TOUR
BARCLAYS SINGAPORE OPEN, Sentosa Golf Club, Singapore - The European Tour heads down the home stretch with just four events left, starting with this week's Barclays Singapore Open.
Last year's winner Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano is skipping the event this week. He birdied the second playoff hole last year to beat Juvic Pagunsan.
The event was cut to 54 holes due to weather problems on Friday and Saturday, and the playoff didn't end until Monday due to more weather issues.
Pagunsan is in the field this week, and he'll have some big names to fight to repeat his performance from last year.
World No. 1 Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen and Padraig Harrington will be among those at Sentosa Golf Club this week.
Golf Channel will have late night, early morning coverage of all four rounds.
The European Tour heads to Hong Kong next week for the Hong Kong Open, where McIlroy beat Gregory Havret by two strokes last year.
LPGA TOUR
LORENA OCHOA INVITATIONAL, Guadalajara Country Club, Guadalajara, Mexico - The penultimate event of the 2012 season kicks off this week in Mexico and a former world No. 1 is competing.
Tournament host Lorena Ochoa will make her first LPGA Tour start since 2010. Ochoa has been focusing on raising a family and other interests since her retirement.
She won 27 times in her LPGA Tour career, including six times in 2008, when she won her final major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Catriona Matthew opened with three straight rounds in the 60s last year en route to a 4-stroke win. Among those she held off in the final round was 2010 winner I.K. Kim.
For Matthew, it was her fourth LPGA Tour victory. Through August, Matthew had just two top-10 finishes all season. She has run off five straight top-10s since sharing fifth at the Kingsmill Championship.
Matthew has posted 10 consecutive under-par rounds, and 17 of her last 21 overall have been under par as well.
There is no television this week.
The LPGA Tour returns to the United States next week for the final event of the season, the CME Titleholders, where Hee Young Park won the inaugural title last year.
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