PGA Tour:  Stanford St. Jude Championship

Site: TPC Southwind  -  Memphis, TN
Yards: 7,244     Par: 70
Defending: Woody Austin 267  (beat Brian Davis by 5)
Field:   World Top 25: Ernie Els (3), Vijay Singh (10), Sergio Garcia (11), Padraig Harrington (14), Trevor immelman (16), Anthony Kim (19) & Stephen Ames (24)   Other Notables: Mark Calcavecchia, David Duval, Retief Goosen, Davis Love III, Larry Mize, Corey Pavin & Kenny Perry.

Notes: The Stanford St Jude dates back to 1945, when it debuted as the Memphis Invitational, and was won by then-amateur Fred Haas at the Chickesaw Country Club………The event wasn’t played from 1947-57, but has been a fixture since………Defending champion Woody Austin’s five-shot victory came on the strength of a closing 62, the best winning final round of 2007………The event has had only three foreign winners in its history: Gary Player in 1974, Nick Price (twice) in 1993 & ’98, and Greg Norman in 1997………History was indelibly made here in round two of the 1977 edition when Al Geiberger became the first man ever to break 60 in a PGA Tour event, carding a legendary 59 at the Colonial Country Club en route to winning the title by three shots.

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European Tour: BA-CA Golf Open

Site: Fontana Golf Club  -  Vienna, Austria
Yards: 7,071     Par: 71
Defending: Richard Green 268  (beat J.F. Remesy in a playoff)
Field:   World Top 25: None   Other Notables: Thomas Bjorn , Michael Campbell, Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell & Louis Oosthuizen.

Notes: This will be only the third playing of this smaller E Tour event, with 2006’s inaugural edition being won memorably by homestanding Marcus Brier………With the U.S. Open scheduled for next week, virtually all top international players have headed off to America, relegating the BA-CA to small-field status………A curious exception is New Zealand’s Michael Campbell, the 2005 U.S. Open champion, who will play here before making the long trip to San Diego.

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Asian Tour:  Bankok Airways Open

Site: Santiburi Samui Country Club  -  Koh Samui, Thailand
Yards: 6,316     Par: 71
Defending: Sung Lee 268  (beat P. Marksaeng by 3)
Field:   World Top 25: None    Other Notables: Prayad Marksaeng & Thaworn Wirtchant.

Notes: This is the fourth playing of this smallish event, which suffers from the same logistical limitations field-wise as the BA-CA in Europe………Notable entry Marksaeng, a six-time Asian Tour winner, was a winner at last week’s Japan Tour stop, the Mitsubishi Diamond Cup.

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Sunshine Tour:  Lombard Insurance Classic

Site: Royal Swazi Golf Club  -  Ezulwini, South Africa
Metres: 6,166     Par: 72
Defending: Peter Karmis 200  (beat T. Charamba by 1)
Field:   World Top 25: None    Other Notables: Desvonde Botes, Jean Hugo, Hennie Otto & Des Terblanche.

Notes: Another international event with a limited field, owing to next week’s U.S. Open – though this actually has at least as strong a field at the high end as most of the Sunshine circuit’s other summer stops………Fifteen-time tour winner Desvonde Botes has been showing better form of late and might well be viewed as this week’s favorite.

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LPGA Tour:  MaDonald’s LPGA Championship

Site: Bulle Rock Golf Course  -  Havre de Grace, Maryland
Yards: 6,596     Par: 72
Defending: Suzann Pettersen 274  (beat K. Webb by 1)
Field:   Ranked: The entire Rolex top 20 except Ji-Yai Shin (6), Juli Inkster (10) & Sakura Yokomine (17)    Other Notables: Everyone who’s physically able.

Notes: The LPGA returns to Maryland for its second Major championship, with Suzann Pettersen defending………All eyes will naturally be on world numbers one and two, Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam, who’ve combined to win nine of the tour’s 14 official 2008 tournaments to date………This event began in 1955 when Beverly Hanson defeated Louise Suggs 4 & 3 in a match play final, which followed 54 holes of medal play to determine the finalists………Mickey Wright is the only four-time winner of the championship (1958, ’60, ’61 and ’63)………Three-time titleists include Kathy Whitworth, Nancy Lopez, Patty Sheehan, Se Ri Pak and Annika Sorenstam, with Annika managing the unique feat of claiming it thrice in succession from 2003-05………Betsy Rawls, Mary Mills, Sandra Haynie, Donna Caponi, Laura Davies and Juli Inkster………Pre-tournament odds/favorites to appear here tomorrow.

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Elsewhere…
On the women’s side, the LET returns to the Netherlands for the ABN AMRO Open in Valkenswaard, while the JLPGA visits Shiga Prefecture for the 16th playing of the Resort Trust Ladies.  A fairly quiet men’s slate includes the Nationwide Tour’s Rex Hospital Open (Raleigh, NC), the European Challenge Tour’s Reale Challenge de Espana, and the European Senior Tour’s Jersey Seniors Classic in the Channel Islands.