- A Rich Man’s Game:  Such is golf’s rap, but in some ways perhaps we are lucky it is so.  To wit: Setting up the aerial photo links to this website’s Week Ahead segment occasionally takes some doing, particularly when events are played in geographically remote locations whose golf courses I am less familiar with.  Last week I had to hunt around a bit to locate Singapore’s Tanah Merah Country Club, the primary challenge being that the layout in question sits amidst 97 holes (!) clustered together near the island’s eastern tip.  What’s amazing about this is that the whole of Singapore amounts to only 270 square miles – or, rough speaking, 1/40th the landmass of, for example, Lebanon, a country generally thought of as tiny.   So the obvious question: How can so small a place utilize so much precious acreage on a game played by so few people?  The answer, of course, is that the golfers had the resources to control the real estate necessary to make it happen, perhaps not an ideal circumstance from a socio-economic perspective but one which makes possible the existence of so land-hungry a game in many locales otherwise ill-suited to it.  By the way, more than 20 courses dot the island of Singapore which, by any measure, is impressive.
 
- The Trials And Tribulations of Ernie:  I hate to be paying undue attention to the ups and downs of Ernie Els, but lets be realistic; as the rare man who possesses the physical skills to seriously battle Tiger, his attempts at re-establishing his winning ways are far more newsworthy than those of the average bear.  Anyway, standing five back of leader Brian Davis after 36 holes, Els seemed poised to launch himself into the fray on Saturday, particularly after holing short birdie putts on three of his first four holes.  Unfortunately, bogeys followed at the 6th and 9th, and an eventual double bogey at the 15th nearly ran him entirely off the track.  A nice birdie t the watery 17th righted the ship, however, and in the end the third-round 70 left him Big Ernie only three behind leaders Luke Donald, Mark Calcavecchia and Matt Jones.  So there’s still hope.
 
- Who’s Matt Jones?:  Yet another of the new generation of Australian players making waves in America would be the short answer.  A more detailed response will note that the 27-year-old from New South Wales is a former Arizona State All-American, as well as a four-year Nationwide Tour veteran (2003-07) who made it to the big tour on the strength of a 7th-place finish on the ’07 Nationwide money list.  Notably, he has never won a professional tournament, not in America, nor back home in Australia.  He has, however, played some very consistent golf during his maiden PGA Tour journey, making cuts in all five ’08 events entered, finishing four times among the top 30, and ranking an impressive 17th in Scoring Average.  Can he hold up on Sunday against some battle-hardened veterans?  History says that’s less than likely…but anyone whose ever won on the PGA Tour had to get that first win somewhere.

Saturday’s Round of the Day
 
Last week, New Zealand’s Mark Brown played consistent golf (69-69-67-69) to pull away for victory at the SAIL Open.  This week at the Johnnie Walker he’s taken a different tack, starting relatively slowly (71-68, tied for 36th) before blitzing the DLF Golf & Country Club layout with a third-round 64 that included seven birdies and eagles on both the568-yard 9th and the 537-yard 18th.  Not a lot of post-victory letdown here…

- Overnight UPDATE:  Yes, the rout is in full swing...but we may have to wait a bit for a final outcome.  Play has been suspended by torrential rains at the final round of the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore with Lorena Ochoa leading Paula Creamer by an imposing 11 shots through 10 holes.  The rules clearly require that they continue playing, but at this point can anyone doubt the final outcome?

- Overnight UPDATE #2: Certainly not.  Play eventually was resumed and Lorena Ochoa came home in 68 for a 20-under-par 268 total, good enough for a resounding 11-shot victory over Annika Sorenstam and a 13 stroke margin over 3rd place finisher Paula Creamer.  How great was Ochoa's domination?  She was the only player in the Champions field to break 70 more than once - and she did it all four days!