This Week in Golf - October 29th through November 1st

MacKenzie rallied just to make the playoff, picking up birdies on three of his last four holes in regulation to tie the other players at 19-under 269. Turnesa led after each of the first three rounds, but took a double-bogey on the 17th hole, while Gay caught fire in the middle of his round to move up the leaderboard.

The tournament marked the official start of last season's Fall Finish. This year it falls fourth in the five-tournament swing that marks the PGA Tour's end-of-season rotation.

Many players in the field at Annadale Golf Club are competing to keep their tour cards for next season. Players who don't already hold exemptions will need to be in the top 125 on the money list at the end of the season.

The Fall Series concludes in two weeks at the Children's Miracle Network Classic, where Davis Love III won his 20th career title last year to earn a lifetime exemption on the PGA Tour. It marked Love's first win since 2006.

Next week is the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions event in China, a new addition to the PGA Tour schedule. Tiger Woods and 2007 champion Phil Mickelson have committed to appear as the tournament -- already a part of the European Tour schedule -- becomes the fourth stroke-play event to be included in the WGC series.

This week's Viking Classic will be broadcast on Golf Channel all four days.

EUROPEAN TOUR

VOLVO WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP, Finca Cortesin Golf Club, Casares, Spain - The 16 players at this season's Volvo World Match Play Championship will compete in a new format.

Players will be separated into four groups based on their positions in the world rankings. The four players in each group will compete in an 18-hole round robin format on Thursday and Friday against the other three players in their group.

Points will be awarded based upon a win, loss or tie and the leading player from each group at the end of Friday will advance to the semifinals on Saturday. The winner of Group A (led by Paul Casey) will play the winner of Group B (led by Sergio Garcia) and the winner of Group C (led by Henrik Stenson) will play the winner of Group D (led by Lee Westwood).

The two winners from those 36-hole matches will advance to the final on Sunday, also to be played over 36 holes.

Joining Casey in Group A are Retief Goosen, Anthony Kim and Scott Strange; while Garcia's Group B will also include Martin Kaymer, Robert Allenby and Oliver Wilson.

Rory McIlroy, Angel Cabrera and Simon Dyson will join Stenson in Group C; and Westwood's Group D will also include Camilo Villegas, Ross Fisher and Jeev Milkha Singh.

Ernie Els won the last Volvo World Match Play Championship in 2007, knocking off Cabrera with 6 & 4 victory in the final.

This year's event will be broadcast by Golf Channel on all four days.

BARCLAYS SINGAPORE OPEN, Sentosa Golf Club, Singapore - Playing opposite the Volvo World Match Play Championship this week is the Barclays Singapore Open, where a host of top stars are scheduled to appear as the European Tour winds down to the season-ending Dubai World Championship.

Only the top 60 players on the European money list -- formerly the Order of Merit, now called the Race to Dubai -- will make the field for the Dubai World Championship on Nov. 19.

Of those 60, only the top 15 players at the end of the tournament will split the whopping $7.5 million purse (it began as a $10 million purse, but was reduced by 25 percent).

World No. 2 Phil Mickelson and fellow multiple major winners Padraig Harrington and Ernie Els will lead a field that also includes U.S. Open winners Geoff Ogilvy and Michael Campbell.

Next week is the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions event, where Sergio Garcia won last season. This marks the first year the tournament is part of the WGC series.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

CHARLES SCHWAB CUP CHAMPIONSHIP, Sonoma Golf Club, Sonoma, California - The 2009 Champions Tour season comes to a close this week at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Andy Bean cruised to a nine-shot victory last year -- a tournament record -- but Jay Haas walked off as the winner of the season-long race for the Charles Schwab Cup.

Haas claimed the $1 million prize for the second time in three years, beating Fred Funk by just 12 points in the final standings.

Loren Roberts leads the current standings with 2,458 points -- 165 more than Funk, who finds himself in second place again. Bernhard Langer sits third, 348 points behind Roberts, and Haas is 602 points back in fourth place.

Only the top 30 players on the tour money list qualified for this week's event, and each will receive double points for their finishes.

Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds beginning at 4:30 p.m. (et) each day.

LPGA TOUR

HANA BANK-KOLON CHAMPIONSHIP, Sky 72 Golf Club (Ocean Course), Incheon, South Korea - The LPGA Tour returns to action for the first time in nearly a month for this week's Hana Bank-Kolon Championship.

The tour has been off since world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa captured the Navistar LPGA Classic on Oct. 4.

Last year, Candie Kung gutted out a one-shot victory on the Ocean Course at Sky 72 Golf Club to claim her fourth LPGA Tour victory. Kung's previous three victories all came in the 2003 season.

The debut of this tournament was cancelled in 2001 due to military actions by the United States and its allies following the September 11 attacks.

Next week is the Mizuno Classic, where Ji-Yai Shin won last year.

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