The PGA Tour and LPGA Tour are in action this week, but most discerning eyes will instead turn to Europe (for the BMW PGA Championship) and Rochester, New York (for the Senior PGA Championship.  Nothing wrong with a little change of pace, particularly since Lorena (and Annika) is taking the week off...

PGA Tour:  Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

Site: Colonial Country Club  -  Ft. Worth, TX
Yards: 7,054     Par: 70
Defending: Rory Sabbatini 266  (beat J. Furyk & B. Langer in a playoff)
Field:   World Top 25: Phil Mickelson (2), Jim Furuk (5), Steve Stricker (6), Geoff Ogilvy (7), K.J. Choi (8), Rory Sabbatini (14), Anthony Kim (17) & Stephen Ames (24)   Other Notables: Mark Brooks, Steve Elkington, David Frost, Lee Janzen, Tom Lehman & Corey Pavin.

Notes: The Colonial Country Club’s borrowing of the nickname “Hogan’s Alley” (which began at Riviera) is slightly dubious, but the great Ben Hogan did win the first two Colonial National Invitation tournaments (1946 & ’47), four of the first seven (through 1953) as well as a fifth title in 1959………He was also close friends with club founder Marvin Leonard and, of course, resided in Ft. Worth, so his connections with the club were extensive………Given the international face of modern professional golf, the Colonial has not benefited from being scheduled directly opposite one of the European Tour’s marquee events, the BMW PGA Championship………This year’s field matches the E Tour with eight world top 25s present – a somewhat lesser haul than has been typical for the vast majority of the event’s history………Not overly long and requiring a fair amount of tee-to-green thought, Colonial does tend to offer shorter, craftier hitters one of their better opportunities for victory on the modern circuit.

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL
 
 
European PGA Tour:  BMW PGA Championship

Site: Wentworth Golf Club (West course)  -  Virginia Water, England
Yards: 7,308     Par: 72
Defending: Anders Hansen 280  (defeated J. Rose in a playoff)
Field:   World Top 25: Ernie Els (3), Vijay Singh (9), Justin Rose (11), Henrik Stenson (13), Luke Donald (19), Lee Westwood (20), Angel Cabrera (21) & Andres Romero (22)   Other Notables: Retief Goosen, Paul Casey, Miguel-Angel Jimenez, Colin Montgomerie & Jose Maria Olazabal.

Notes: This venerable event dates to 1955 but was contested only by British professions (the “British Closed PGA”) until 1967………It is also one of a handful of pre-1970 events (save for the Open Championship) which remins a major stop on the modern-day European our………The BMW will be one of a growing number of Euro events which, based on strength of field, figures to match its opposite PGA Tour stop (in this case Colonial) for World Ranking points………Nick Faldo has won the title more than anyone else, with four triumphs between 1978-89………Both Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie have won it thrice, with Monty’s coming in succession from 1998-2000………The great Peter Alliss also hoisted the trophy on three occasions, but those were all during the closed era.

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL
 
 
Japan Tour:  Munsingwear Open KSB Cup

Site: Tojigaoka Marine Hills Golf Club  -  Okayama, Japan
Yards: 7,072     Par: 72
Defending: Ryo Ishikawa (a) 276  (defeated K. Miyamoto by 1)
Field:   World Top 25: None    Other Notables: S.K. Ho, Ryo Ishikawa, Toshi Izawa, Wen-Chong Liang, Frankie Minoza, Jumbo Ozaki & Craig Parry.

Notes: Though not necessarily one of the glamour stops on the J Tour, the Munsingwear has claimed a potentially large spot in history as the site of last year’s victory by Ryo Ishikawa, the a 16-yea-old amateur………Ishikawa returns to defend his title against a mid-strength field, headed by Korea’s S.K. Ho and Toshi Izawa.

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL
 
 
LPGA Tour:  LPGA Corning Classic

Site: Corning Country Club  -  Corning, NY
Yards: 6,223     Par: 72
Defending: Young Kim 268  (defeated P. Creamer & M.H. Kim by 3)
Field:   Rolex Top 20: Paula Creamer (4), Jeong Jang (8), Mi Hyun Kim (13), Angela Stanford (18) & Seon-Hwa Lee (19)    Other Notables: Danielle Ammaccapane, Rosie Jones & Meg Mallon.

Notes:This is the 30th playing of the Corning, with the inaugural (1979) championship won by Australian Penny Pulz, who shot 284 to beat Judy Rankin by two.........The Corning ranks among the LPGA's longest-running single-site events, having been contested solely at the Corning Country Club.........The last three editions have witnessed Korean winners: Jimin Kang in 2005, Hee-Won Han in 2006 and Young Kim in 2007.........Only two of the world's top 10 players are scheduled to compete this week (#4 Paula Creamer and #8 Jimin Kang) and, truth be told, the event does inevitably lose a bit of luster in the absence of Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam (among others).

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL
 
 
Champions Tour:  Senior PGA Championship

Site: Oak Hill Country Club (East course)  -  Rochester, NY
Yards: 7,001     Par: 70
Defending: Denis Watson 279  (defeated E. Romero by 2)
Field:   Ranked: The entire Charles Schwab Cup to 20 except Fred Funk (11), Brad Bryant (13) & Andy North (19)   Other Notables: Isao Aoki, Bruce Fleisher, Raymond Floyd, Hale Irwin, Tom Kite, Graham Marsh, Greg Norman, Mark O’Meara, Curtis Strange & Fuzzy Zoeller.

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL
 
 
Elsewhere…
On the women’s side, the LET ventures into the Alps for the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open, the JLPGA returns to the city of Toyota for the Chukyu TV Bridgestone Ladies Open, while the KLPGA changes format for the Doosan Match Play Championship.  Meanwhile, on the men’s side, the Nationwide Tour returns to Maryland for the Prince George’s County Open, the European Challenge Tour charts new ground at Poland’s inaugural DHL Wroclaw Open, and the China Tour ventures to Nanjing for the Sofitel Championship, while both the Tour de las Americas and Canadian Tour journey to Mexico for the Televisa Players Championship (Acapulco) and the San Luis Potosi Open respectively.