Mon Apr 21 15:05:23 2008

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This Week in Golf - April 24th through April 27th

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Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - PGA TOUR - EDS BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP, TPC Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas, Irving, Texas - The PGA Tour moves into Texas this week for the second of four trips into the Lone Star State.

An emotional Scott Verplank claimed this title last year. Verplank grew up in nearby Dallas and got to know the tournament's namesake, Byron Nelson, as a teenager.

Last year's event was the first without Nelson, who passed away in September 2006. He missed Verplank post three straight birdies and a great par save on the 17th to secure the late lead.

Verplank tapped in a short par putt at the last to secure his fifth PGA Tour title and first since 2001.

New Masters champion Trevor Immelman returns to play for first the first time since earning his first major championship crown.

The last several years this event was played over two courses, the TPC at Las Colinas and Cottonwood Valley Courses. Cottonwood has been removed from the rotation and newly renovated TPC Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas will host all four rounds.

The Four Seasons course has been played since 1983. This will be the first year since 1993 that the tournament will be contested on one course.

The Golf Channel has three hours of action the first two days, then CBS will cover three hours worth of action on the weekend.

The PGA heads to North Carolina next week for the Wachovia Championship, where it will be without defending champion Tiger Woods, who is recovering from recent knee surgery.

EUROPEAN TOUR

BMW ASIAN OPEN, Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club, Shanghai, China - The European Tour remains in China for the second straight week for the BMW Asian Open.

Last year's winner Raphael Jacquelin opened with a six-under 66 and got progressively worse each round, but hung on for a wire-to-wire victory.

Jacquelin, who won for the second time on the European Tour, closed with a one-over 73 to hold off Soren Kjeldsen, who also closed with a 73 to end two back at minus-eight.

The field this week will be headlined by Henrik Stenson, David Howell and Retief Goosen.

The Golf Channel has tape-delayed coverage of all four rounds. The European Tour returns to Europe next week for the Open de Espana, where Charl Schwartzel won last year.

LPGA TOUR

STANFORD INTERNATIONAL PRO-AM, Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort & Club (Soffer and Miller Courses), Aventura, Florida - We know one thing that won't happen this week, Lorena Ochoa won't claim her fifth straight win. That is only the case because the women's world No. 1 is not in the field.

Which is a blow for the organizers of the Stanford International Pro-Am, a new event on the LPGA schedule.

Minus the top player in the women's game, the field does sport eight of the top 10 players in the world among the 112 professionals scheduled to play this week.

Those 112 pros will be joined by an equal amount of amateurs, many of them celebrities. The amateurs are slated to play a 54-hole, stroke-play tournament.

Among the notables scheduled to compete are tennis players Ivan Lendl and James Blake, actresses Catherine Bell and Salli Richardson-Whitfield, baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, as well as television personalities Stone Phillips and Carson Daly.

ESPN2 has two hours of coverage all four days. The LPGA moves to Oklahoma next week for the SemGroup Championship, where Mi Hyun Kim won in 2007.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

LIBERTY MUTUAL LEGENDS OF GOLF, The Westin Savannah Harbor Resort and Spa, Savannah, Georgia - After six years as a stroke-play event, the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf returns to its roots this week as a team competition.

The event has three separate divisions in play this week. The Demaret division plays Monday and Tuesday, the Raphael division will play Friday and Saturday, while the main portion of the event, the Legends division, will play Friday through Sunday.

The Demaret players are 70 years old and up, while the Raphael players are between 50 and 69 years old. The Legends division is for players between the ages of 50-59. Both players on the winning team will earn an official win and official money.

The Golf Channel has tape-delayed coverage of round one, while CBS will cover the final two rounds. The Champions Tour shifts to Texas next week for the FedEx Kinko's Classic, where Scott Hoch won last year.

NATIONWIDE TOUR

HENRICO COUNTY OPEN, The Dominion Club, Richmond, Virginia - The Nationwide Tour moves north to Virginia this week for the Henrico County Open.

Australian Nick Flanagan needed three extra holes last year to defeat Chris Baryla for his first win of '07. Flanagan went on to claim two more titles en route to earning the Battlefield promotion to the PGA Tour.

Flanagan will not defend his title as he is playing at the Byron Nelson Classic this week.

The Dominion Club has seen its share of scoring records. In 1998, Notah Begay III became the first to shoot 59 in Nationwide Tour history. In 2004, Daniel Chopra scorched the course by posting a 30-under-par 258 total.

The 30-under par shattered the low 72-hole score by four shots and matched the lowest total score (258) in tour history. Chris Smith was the first to post 258 at the 1997 Omaha Classic.

The Golf Channel has two hours of action the first two days, then three hours of coverage on the weekend. Next up is the South Georgia Classic where John Kimbell was victorious last year.

CANADIAN TOUR

CORONA MAZATLAN MEXICAN PGA CHAMPIONSHIP, El Cid Golf & Country Club, Mazatlan, Mexico - Byron Smith finished off a final-round 67 last year to earn a three-stroke win over Scott Hawley.

Smith won again later in the season and went on to claim the top spot on the Canadian Tour Order of Merit in 2007.

There is no television this week. The Canadian Tour will be off next week, but returns the following week for the Iberostar Riviera Maya Open, where Spencer Levin won last year.