This Week in Golf - August 16th through August 19th

Golf Betting Lines

08/13/2007 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - CHAMPIONS TOUR - JELD-WEN TRADITION, Crosswater Golf Club at Sunriver Resort, Bend, Oregon - This is the fourth of five Champions Tour majors, and the first event in two weeks.

Eduardo Romero beat Lonnie Nielsen in a playoff last year for his first major -- and first Champions Tour win overall. Romero had lost to Loren Roberts in a playoff at the Senior British Open.

There have been six playoffs in the 19 years of the JELD-WEN Tradition. Romero was 52 when he won last year, the 12th champion 53 years old or younger at this event.

The Golf Channel will have coverage the first two days, yielding to NBC on the weekend. Next week's event is the Boeing Greater Seattle Classic, which was won by Tom Kite in a playoff last year.

PGA TOUR

WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP, Forest Oaks Country Club, Greensboro, North Carolina - This is the last event for players to earn points before the FedEx Cup playoffs begin next week at The Barclays.

It was called the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro last year when Davis Love III shot four rounds in the 60s to beat Jason Bohn by two shots for his 19th PGA Tour victory and first since 2003.

Aside from the four major championships, this is the third oldest event on the PGA Tour schedule. Forest Oaks has hosted this event since 1977. Love and his design team rebuilt all 18 greens and added 184 yards in 2002-03.

The tournament will be shown on the Golf Channel and CBS this week.

Next week, the playoffs begin at The Barclays. Only the top 144 players on the FedEx Cup points list qualify. Vijay Singh won The Barclays last June, his only victory of the 2006 season.

EUROPEAN TOUR

SCANDINAVIAN MASTERS, Arlandastad Golf Club, Stockholm, Sweden - There will be four major champions in the field this week for the Scandinavian Masters: Scotland's Paul Lawrie; and Americans John Daly, Corey Pavin and Jeff Sluman.

The Americans will be looking to follow in the footsteps of three countrymen who have won previously at this event: George Burns, Bob Byman and Craig Stadler. Tom Lehman, the 2006 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, was scheduled to appear but has pulled out of the field with a right elbow injury.

Marc Warren is the defending champion after beating Robert Karlsson in a playoff last year. The Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds this weekend.

Next week's event is the KLM Open, where Simon Dyson won in a playoff last year.

LPGA TOUR

CN CANADIAN WOMEN'S OPEN, Royal Mayfair Golf Club City, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada - Following an off-week, the LPGA Tour moves north for the sixth annual Canadian Women's Open.

This is the 36th year that the LPGA has played in Canada. The first time was in 1973 for the LaCanadienne, which later became the Peter Jackson Classic and the du Maurier Classic.

Of the 40 previous events staged in Canada, 20 have been won by current or future LPGA Tour Hall of Famers. Cristie Kerr, a probable future Hall of Famer, won by a shot last year over Angela Stanford.

The Golf Channel will have coverage on the weekend. Next week is the Safeway Classic, which Pat Hurst won last year.

NATIONWIDE TOUR

XEROX CLASSIC, Irondequoit Country Club, Rochester, New York - As the PGA Tour pointed out this week on its Web site, no 54-hole leader has won in the last 11 Nationwide Tour events.

This is just the third Xerox Classic. It is also one of only nine events remaining before the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship. Kevin Stadler won last year, claiming his third Nationwide Tour title.

The Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds. Next week is the National Mining Pete Dye Classic, won by Jason Enloe in a playoff last year.

CANADIAN TOUR

MONTREAL OPEN, Saint-Raphael Golf Club, Ile Bizard, Quebec, Canada - Canadian Wes Heffernan won the Montreal Open last year to snap a winning streak by players from the United States.

This event returned in 2004 after nearly 60 years of nonexistence. Before 2004, the last time this event was held was in 1945 at the Islesmere Golf Club and the champion was Byron Nelson.

This is the first full-field Canadian Tour event in a month. Next week is the Jane Rogers Championship, a new event.

DURAMED FUTURES TOUR

HUNTERS OAK GOLF CLASSIC, Hunters Oak Golf Club, Queenstown, Maryland - This is one of only three Futures Tour events remaining before Q-school officially ends the season.

Ashley Hoagland won the tournament last year. This week's field will be competing for a $75,000 purse, with $10,500 set aside for the winner.

The last two events of the season are the Gettysburg Championship and the ILOVENY Championship.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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