Betting Odds - Graffiti - Podcast

San Jose Costa Rica - As of this afternoon - Betting Odds - Graffiti Wall has been officially moved to it’s new home domain at: www.betting77.com

Here we will be able to better serve our Graffiti Wall Odds readers and expand the site into directions that will greatly enhance your betting information and abilities.

BETTING ODDS - GRAFFITI - PODCAST will remain here at this URL strictly for our week to week podcasts.

Thanking you the daily readers for your continued support

President CEO

Tommy Mac

St. Andrews, Scotland - This time there would be no meltdown, no miraculous shot from another player, no doubt about it.

Lorena Ochoa has her first major championship.

The Mexican star closed with a one-over 74 in the final round Sunday to win the Women’s British Open by four shots, ending her 0-fer in major championships with a weekend of steady golf on the Scottish coast while all the pressure of dubious past performances in the majors rested on her slight frame.

She seemed to handle it with ease, protecting her first-round 67 with three scores of 74 or better to finally gain that last bit of validation for her now-unassailable No. 1 ranking.

No one — not Annika Sorenstam, not previous foil Karrie Webb — could stop Ochoa this time. Her stunning 16-month run to the top of the women’s game has its climax.

“It was a great day,” she said.

Ochoa finished at five-under 287. She led after each of the four rounds, a fine achievement in the first professional women’s tournament ever hosted by storied St. Andrews.

Tiger Woods also went wire-to-wire for his second win at St. Andrews in 2005.

“It’s really hard to describe and I think it’s not going to be easy to realize what just happened,” Ochoa said, responding to her status as the first woman to win on the course.

Several players took stabs at Ochoa’s lead early on, but there were only three other survivors to par when all was said and done. Jee Young Lee and Maria Hjorth had matching 71s in the final round to finish at one-under 291.

Reilley Rankin also shot a 71 and was alone in fourth place at even-par.

Sorenstam, who was within five shots of Ochoa after six holes, went five-over par on her last 12 holes and tumbled all the way into a tie for 16th place at four-over 296.

Looking for a jolt to her middling play, Sorenstam didn’t come close to getting it. She closed with rounds of 77 and 76 on the weekend.

“I’m swinging as good as I can. I’m putting as well as I can, but it is just not coming together,” Sorenstam said. “It was just one of those weeks.”

The 25-year-old Ochoa had never won a major before Sunday, but she didn’t lack opportunities.

She squandered a seven-shot lead in the final round of last year’s Kraft Nabisco Championship and was beaten in a playoff by Webb. It was a record- tying meltdown at the modern women’s majors, one that almost felled her in regulation.

Many remember Webb’s miraculous hole-out eagle from the fairway at the 18th hole that Sunday, and for good reason. But lost in the mix was Ochoa’s own eagle moments later, set up by a gutsy five-wood into the 18th green at Mission Hills.

Ochoa was in the mix until the last hole of the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open, then suffered a case of the shanks. She closed with a quadruple-bogey when a par could have gotten her into a playoff with Birdie Kim.

The ‘06 Kraft Nabisco was the only other time Ochoa held the 54-hole lead at a major. Sunday, she improved to 7-6 all-time with the third-round lead, and 3-3 this season.

It was her 13th career win, her 10th in the last 16 months, her fourth this season.

And it was never in doubt.

The high winds that hounded players and sent scores soaring on Saturday had died down by Sunday morning — it did rain, however — and Mhairi McKay and Miki Saiki posted early 67s to prove there were good numbers to be had on the Old Course.

As it turned out, Ochoa didn’t need one of them.

Several players made early runs at her lead while Ochoa opened with four consecutive pars, including Sorenstam, who made birdies at the third and sixth holes to pull within five shots.

Ochoa responded with back-to-back birdies from the fifth, shaking off any early jitters she may have had. The birdies put Ochoa at eight-under, giving her a seven-shot lead.

She gave a stroke back with a bogey at the eighth, and her lead was trimmed to five shots after Lee made a birdie ahead at the ninth.

But Ochoa made the turn with the same six-shot lead she held overnight after rolling in an 18-foot birdie putt at the ninth. When she lipped out a 10-foot par putt at the 11th, her advantage was five again.

Further bogeys at the 15th and 17th only served to trim her final margin of victory.

“I believed that I would win the tournament Monday when I first started practicing,” Ochoa said, laughing. “But the 18th tee shot (Sunday) is when we did it.

“After we hit that tee shot and put it in the middle of the fairway … I was walking with my caddie just saying that, you know, we did it and it was a great feeling.”

And a long time coming.

LPGA TOUR

WOMEN’S BRITISH OPEN, Old Course at St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland - When Sherri Steinhauer won the Women’s British Open last year, it took more than a couple of sentences to explain what she had accomplished.

Steinhauer capitalized on a Saturday 66 to win by three shots over Sophie Gustafson and Cristie Kerr at seven-under 281, even after closing with a pedestrian 72 in the final round at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

It was her second major championship and first since the 1992 du Maurier Classic, the event that was replaced as a major by the Women’s British Open in 2001.

Sherri Steinhauer won the Women’s British Open last year. Of course, Steinhauer had also won back-to-back Women’s British Opens in 1998-99 before it was a major, so she was no stranger to holding that title — even if she was a little surprised to be holding it again.

“I feel like I’m living in a dream. I just absolutely am stunned,” she said afterward.

Steinhauer didn’t have far to travel for her title defense this week. She was in France along with the other top pros for the Evian Masters last week, where Natalie Gulbis claimed her long-awaited first victory.

Annika Sorenstam tied for sixth place in France, her first top-10 finish since March. At last year’s Women’s British Open, she fumbled her way to a 79 in the final round and finished 14 shots behind Steinhauer.

Sorenstam has just one British Open win, in 2003 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. Plenty of players will be looking for their first major this weekend, including world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa.

This is the first time the Women’s British Open will be played at the Old Course at St. Andrews, the site of so many memorable men’s British Opens.

TNT will have coverage for two hours on Thursday and Friday, beginning at 10:00 a.m. (et). ABC will broadcast afternoon coverage on the weekend.

The LPGA Tour is off for a week following the British Open, returning Aug. 16 for the CN Canadian Women’s Open, which was won by Cristie Kerr last season.

WORLD GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS

WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Firestone Country Club (South Course), Akron, Ohio - Of course we are not allowed to bet on golf, but that won’t keep us from making recommendations to those who feel so inclined (so long as they bet where it’s legal, you understand).

Put a sawbuck on Tiger Woods to win this week. You may only make enough to buy a couple of beers, but easily-earned beer is good beer.

Tiger Woods has won the Bridgestone Invitational five of the eight times it has been played since 1999.

Woods has won the Bridgestone Invitational five of the eight times it has been played since 1999, including last year’s playoff victory over 2004 winner Stewart Cink, which came in the middle of Woods’ long winning streak.

He has, of course, occasionally allowed others to walk away with this title. Cink’s win in ‘04 marked the third straight year Woods failed to win (Craig Parry and Darren Clarke were victorious in ‘02 and ‘03).

His dominance in this event is made all the more impressive considering who it comes against: yearly, the best players in the world line up to play. This year’s field is no different. All the usual suspects will be on hand, including each of the 2007 major winners so far (Zach Johnson, Angel Cabrera and Padraig Harrington).

Keep an eye on Phil Mickelson, who has missed three of four cuts since withdrawing from the Memorial with a left wrist injury. The PGA Championship is next week, and Mickelson is emerging as an early sleeper pick in some circles.

We know: Mickelson a sleeper? He is when he’s playing this inconsistently.

The Golf Channel will have coverage of the first two rounds of the Bridgestone from 2-6 p.m. (et) on Thursday and Friday. CBS will broadcast for five hours on both weekend days beginning at 1 p.m. (et).

This is the third and final WGC event of the season. Henrik Stenson and Woods won the previous two.

Woods will defend his title at the PGA Championship next week. There are no competing events on the PGA or European Tours while the players are at Southern Hills.

PGA TOUR

Only three of the previous seven champions will be in the field this week, including Will MacKenzie.

RENO-TAHOE OPEN, Montreux Golf and Country Club, Reno, Nevada - The competing event this week on the PGA Tour is the Reno-Tahoe Open, where Will MacKenzie birdied the 72nd hole last year for his first win.

The birdie put MacKenzie at 20-under 268, one shot shy of a tournament record and a stroke better than Bob Estes.

Only three of the previous seven champions will be in the field this week, including MacKenzie. Some of them — like two-time winner Vaughn Taylor and Scott Verplank — will be playing at the Bridgestone Invitational.

Tadd Fujikawa will also be on hand, playing as a professional. Fujikawa, you might recall, became the second-youngest player to make a PGA Tour cut at the Sony Open in January.

It came just four days after his 16th birthday.

The Golf Channel will have exclusive coverage of all four rounds, beginning at 6:30 p.m. (et) on Thursday and Friday and at 9:00 p.m. (et) on both weekend days. It will air replays of every round early in the morning.

EUROPEAN TOUR

THE RUSSIAN OPEN GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP, Le Meridien Moscow Country Club, Moscow Russia - It’s unlikely anyone noticed — as we wrote in our recap a year ago — but no one has ever played better at the Russian Open than Alejandro Canizares.

Alejandro Canizares posted four consecutive rounds of 67 or better at last year’s event.

Canizares rolled to a four-shot win at Le Meridien last year, posting four consecutive rounds of 67 or better to set a tournament scoring record and claim his first European Tour win.

The son of four-time Ryder Cup player Jose Maria Canizares, he became the quickest affiliate member to win on the European Tour, claiming title No. 1 in just his third start and surpassing better-known previous record holders Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell.

This obscure European Tour stop played opposite the PGA Championship last year. It will compete with the Bridgestone Invitational this week.

One thing to watch: the professional debut of U.S. Amateur champion Richie Ramsay of Scotland. His win at the Amateur was the first for a British subject since 1911.

The Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds, beginning at 8:30 a.m. (et) on the first two days and at 9:30 a.m. (et) on both weekend days.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

3M CHAMPIONSHIP, TPC Twin Cities, Blaine, Minnesota - David Edwards closed with a 67 last year to claim his first win on the Champions Tour — and first victory of any kind since the 1993 Heritage Golf Classic on the PGA Tour.

Hale Irwin, the winningest player in Champions Tour history, has also been the most successful golfer at this tournament. He has won it three times, but not since 2002.

Tom Watson is set to lead this week’s field following his win at the Senior British Open on Sunday.

A very busy Golf Channel will have live coverage of all three rounds and will broadcast replays of each day in the evening.

The Champions Tour is off next week, returning Aug. 16th for the next major championship, the JELD-WEN Tradition. Eduardo Romero won last year’s JELD-WEN in a playoff over Lonnie Nielsen.

NATIONWIDE TOUR

WICHITA OPEN, Crestview Country Club, Wichita, Kansas - Fresh off the yearly shootout known as the Cox Classic, the Nationwide Tour remains in the Midwest this week for the Wichita Open.

Last year, Kevin Johnson collected his fourth Nationwide Tour title and first since 2000. He won three times from 1997-2000, but had made just three cuts in 13 previous starts prior to his latest win.

The 40-year-old Johnson will be in the field this week, looking to become the first repeat champion in Nationwide Tour history.

Next week is the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic, where Craig Bowden won in a playoff last year. There is no television coverage for this week.

DURAMED FUTURES TOUR

USI CHAMPIONSHIP, Beaver Meadow Golf Course, Concord, New Hampshire - This is the first of five tournaments remaining before the Duramed Futures Tour 2008 Qualifying Tournament in November.

Last year, Charlotte Mayorkas claimed her second Futures Tour win (it was called the Laconia Savings Bank Golf Classic) on her way to becoming a rookie on the LPGA Tour.

Next week’s event is the Betty Puskar Golf Classic, where Kristy McPherson won last year.

Jim Furyk has his sight set on the top spot.

Jim Furyk moved back to No. 2 in the latest Official World Golf Ranking following his win Sunday at the Canadian Open.

Furyk’s last two wins have come at the Canadian Open. He moved past Phil Mickelson to take the second slot behind top-ranked Tiger Woods, but there was only one other change to the top 20.

Niclas Fasth, one of the steadiest players in the world this year, moved up two places to No. 20 this week, bumping Stewart Cink down a spot.

Andres Romero was also a mover. A week after his surprising third-place finish at the British Open, the Argentine won the Deutsche Bank Players’ Championship on the European Tour and moved up 22 places to 29th in the rankings.

The top 10 were: Woods, Furyk, Mickelson, Ernie Els, Adam Scott, British Open champion Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Geoff Ogilvy.

Luke Donald, K.J. Choi, Steve Stricker, Retief Goosen, Masters champion Zach Johnson, Rory Sabbatini, U.S. Open winner Angel Cabrera, Paul Casey, Trevor Immelman and Fasth rounded out the top 20.

Gullane, Scotland - Kansas City native, Tom Watson won his third Senior British Open in five years on Sunday, the only survivor to par at tough Muirfield after four windy days on the Scottish coast.

Graffiti Wall reports that Watson closed with a two-over 73 in the final round, making a double-bogey at the 18th hole but still beating Mark O’Meara and Stewart Ginn by a shot.

He met an old foe in Muirfield, the site of his 1980 British Open victory on the PGA Tour. The weather cooperated for Watson down the stretch, with clouds yielding to blue skies as he closed out his fifth major on the Champions Tour.

Watson now owns eight British Open titles among his 13 career majors on the PGA and Champions Tours.

He ended this one at even-par 284.

“The last few days playing Muirfield were some of the most serene days of my life,” said Watson. “This is one of my favorite golf courses, and the golf was pretty darn good this week.”

Ginn, the overnight leader, was done in Sunday by five consecutive bogeys from the 10th hole and only tied O’Meara for second place after a birdie at the 17th.

O’Meara, the 1998 British Open champion, joined him at one-over 285 with a final-round 72. Both players missed birdie putts at the 18th hole that could have sent the round to a playoff.

Watson won his first two Senior British Opens in playoffs.

“I made it a little difficult on myself today,” chuckled Watson, who also made a double-bogey at the 10th hole on Sunday. “Fortunately, those two guys didn’t make their putts.”

Defending champion Loren Roberts tied for fourth place with Jay Haas, Lonnie Nielsen and Eduardo Romero at four-over 288.

Watson seized the lead Sunday with a pair of birdies on the front nine, the first coming on a 20-foot putt at the third. He still held a share of the lead even after making his first double-bogey of the tournament from the deep rough at the 10th hole.

There was a two-shot swing at the 11th, where Watson made birdie and Ginn made bogey to give the eventual champion a two-stroke lead.

Watson later stumbled to a bogey at the 14th, but it didn’t matter. Ginn was in the midst of his bogey streak, and O’Meara was still three shots back.

All Watson needed was a six on the par-four closing hole, which he got after hitting a deep bunker with his last drive. It wasn’t the way he wanted to walk down 18, a champion again, but it was enough.

“I ended up making enough good shots today,” Watson said.

His victory at Muirfield in 1980, as a 30-year-old established star, was the third of his five British Open wins as a member of the PGA Tour. It came by four shots over Lee Trevino.

Now a 57-year-old Hall of Famer, Watson has been prone to mini collapses in the recent past. He gave up final-round leads in each of the last two U.S. Senior Opens, including this year at Whistling Straights, where tossed away six shots in a five-hole stretch.

It included two double-bogeys — the same number he had on the back nine Sunday at Muirfield. This time, Watson wasn’t sweating it.

“I felt more relaxed than I did at the U.S. Senior Open. I wasn’t comfortable at Whistling Straights,” Watson said. “But I gotta quit making these doubles.”

John Ross finished in fifth place at five-over 289, and Donnie Hammond was another shot further back at 290.

Nick Faldo tied for 14th in his debut on the Champions Tour after sharing the first round lead. He closed with a 75 in the final round — his third straight score of 74 or worse after an opening with a 68 at Muirfield.

Gullane, Scotland - Ireland’s Des Smyth birdied his final four holes on Friday to move into sole possession of the lead after two rounds of the Senior British Open Championship.

Graffiti Wall reports that he posted his second consecutive one-under 70 and is in the lead at two-under- par 140.

Muirfield showed its teeth on Friday as not one player in the 142-man field broke 70. One player shot a 90 and only five golfers are under par through 36 holes thanks to heavy winds.

Gordon Brand Jr., one of the first-round co-leaders, shot a two-over 73 and is tied for second place with 2002 Senior Players Champion Stewart Ginn (70), two-time champion Tom Watson (71) and the player who lost in a playoff here last year, Eduardo Romero (71). The group came in at minus-one.

Nick Faldo, who grabbed a piece of the first-round lead in his Champions Tour debut on Thursday, struggled a bit on Friday with the putter. He only managed a three-over 74 and is tied for sixth place at even-par 142.

“You try and play the best you can,” said Faldo, who won two claret jugs at Muirfield. “It felt like I made bogeys everywhere. If I can get the right attitude, who knows what can happen.”

Perhaps the biggest indicator of how difficult Muirfield was on Friday came in the picture of the third first-round leader, Nick Job.

The Englishman recorded a nine on the par-three 13th, notched a triple-bogey, double-bogey, five bogeys and two birdies on Friday. All tallied, Job shot a 14-over 85 and missed the cut by two at plus-11.

Smyth, a two-time winner on the Champions Tour in 2005, certainly did not look like the man who would be atop the leaderboard early in Friday’s second round.

He bogeyed the third, a hole he birdied on Thursday, then bogeyed the 10th. Smyth’s third bogey of the round came at the 14th and that put him at two-over for the championship.

Things turned at the 15th when he recorded his first birdie. Smyth ran home a 12-foot birdie putt at the 16th and made it three in a row with a tap-in birdie at the par-five 17th.

Smyth broke free of the pack thanks to a spectacular six-iron approach to the last. His ball stopped 18 feet left of the hole and the Irishman drained the putt for the 36-hole lead.

“I hit a purple patch down the stretch that changed the whole day really,” said Smyth. “Conditions were very difficult. I was delighted personally and for the Irish people that Padraig won last week, but I will only think about an Irish double if I am still there when we go down the last nine holes on Sunday.”

More important than Smyth collecting his first major trophy on the elder circuit, he needs a good finish just to keep his card on the Champions Tour. He only notched two top 10s in 2007 and knows a big week would be a relief.

“Obviously I would love to win but whatever happens I need a good result because of the way I have played all year on the Champions Tour,” admitted Smyth. “I only have two top 10s and I am worried about keeping my card. I need a big result somewhere along the line and this could be the place to do it.”

Brad Bryant, the reigning U.S. Senior Open champion, shot an even-par 71 and is tied for 10th with Lonnie Nielsen (74), 1998 British Open winner Mark O’Meara (71), John Ross (72) and Senior PGA Champion Denis Watson (74). The group came in at plus-one.

Dave Stockton, the final co-leader from Thursday, struggled to a five-over 76 and is tied for 15th at two-over par.

Defending champion Loren Roberts played the back nine in three-under 32 and finished two rounds in a tie for 25th at plus-four.

Among the other notable players to miss the cut include Peter Jacobsen (152), Mike Reid (152) and Wayne Grady (153).

Gullane, Scotland - Nick Faldo is making the most of his Champions Tour debut.

The six-time major winner posted a three-under-par 68 on Thursday to share the opening-round lead of the Senior British Open Championship at Muirfield, the site of two of Faldo’s three British Open titles.

Gordon Brand Jr., Nick Job and Dave Stockton are tied with Faldo atop the leaderboard.

Scott Hoch, Sam Torrance, Morris Hatalsky, Bruce Heuchan, Lonnie Nielsen and reigning Senior PGA Champion Denis Watson share fifth place at two-under-par 69.

Faldo, who turned 50 on Wednesday, is playing only his third competitive round of the year. He teed it up at Carnoustie last week for the British Open Championship, but missed the cut. That made Thursday’s opening round all the more shocking to Faldo.

“I was very surprised,” acknowledged Faldo, the European Ryder Cup captain in 2008. “I was trying to do the best I could, trying to find a routine and I was able to do it. And that scared me. I didn’t know what to do.”

Faldo’s round started poorly when he hit his drive in the right rough and could not make par. He atoned for the error at one with three consecutive birdies from the third, all from inside five feet.

Faldo birdied the seventh and two-putted for a birdie from off the green at the par-five ninth. He parred four straight from the 10th, but made a mess of the 14th en route to a bogey.

At the 17th, Faldo drove into the right rough and could not reach the green with his second. He finally played his third to 25 feet and just missed the par save.

Faldo got into the group at minus-three with a spectacular approach at 18. His six-iron approach stopped three feet from the stick and Faldo converted the birdie try for his share of the first-round lead.

“Yeah, that was nice,” said Faldo, referring to his approach at the closing hole. “When I looked back at that second shot, I thought, well, you love looking back and saying ‘you hit five-iron from there, three-iron from there,’ so I went for the shot. I thought, ’squeeze one up close’ and I did. It was very pleasing.”

Faldo, who won his Opens at Muirfield in 1987 and 1992, is trying to get his golf game back in shape. He has played very little competitively as his time is spent in the booth for The Golf Channel and CBS.

“So then I’ve got to learn to deal with the different feelings playing this game, which I haven’t had in a long time,” admitted Faldo. “I played solid that back nine — it’s a little tougher. I made a mess of 17 and hit a great shot into the last. So I feel I squeezed out of the course and gave back what was about right, so that’s pretty good.”

Brand tallied three birdies in his first 10 holes. He dropped a shot at the 14th, but rebounded with a birdie at the par-five 17th to get his spot atop the leaderboard.

Job, a member of the European Seniors Tour, was only one-under par on his round thanks to a bogey at the 16th after four birdies and two bogeys. He birdied the final two holes for his 68.

Stockton, a two-time PGA Champion, flew out of the gate with four birdies in his first 10 holes. He had sole possession of the lead thanks to seven straight pars on the back, but bogeyed 18 to fall into a tie.

“My ball-striking was good at the U.S. Seniors Open, and the combination of knowing it was Muirfield and my game was coming back, well, I did come over with expectations of sticking around but I wasn’t expecting to see my name at the top of the leaderboard,” said Stockton.

Jay Haas, the leading money winner on the Champions Tour, opened with a one- under-par 70 on Thursday. Tom Watson, a two-time winner of this event, also shot a 70.

Brad Bryant, who defeated Watson to win the U.S. Senior Open, shot a one- over 72.

Defending champion Loren Roberts only managed a three-over-par 74.

NATIONWIDE TOUR

COX CLASSIC, Champions Run, Omaha, Nebraska - The Nationwide Tour remains in the nation’s heartland this week for the Cox Classic.

Johnson Wagner, last year’s winner, has moved on to the PGA Tour. However, he has missed the cut in 13 of his last 15 starts, but he does stands 126th on the money list thanks in large part to tying for ninth at the Houston Open.

Wagner closed with rounds of 64-63 to win by four strokes over Craig Bowden.

Bowden put together a strong effort despite the fact that his young daughter had gotten sick earlier in the week. Due to that, he nearly missed the event. Instead, Bowden birdied the 18th for a solo second place finish.

The Golf Channel has coverage of all four rounds from Champions Run. Next up for the Nationwide Tour is the Wichita Open, where Kevin Johnson won last year.

SENIOR BRITISH OPEN - SENIOR BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP, Muirfield Golf Club, Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland - The Senior circuit heads across the pond this week for the Senior British Open as the golf world remains focused on the British Isles.

The middle of July brings three straight weeks of British Opens. Irishman Padraig Harrington won the British Open last week, this week is the Senior British and next week will be the Women’s British Open.

Loren Roberts headed to Scotland last week to begin preparation for his title defense at the Senior British Open. He played 136th Open Championship at Carnoustie, but after rounds of 74-75 missed the cut.

Loren Roberts is the defending Senior British Open Champion. Last year, Roberts entered the final round four strokes clear of Eduardo Romero, but both struggled Sunday. Roberts could only manage a five-over 75, while Romero shot 71. That left them tied at six-under-par 274.

Things would have been more interesting if Tim Simpson hadn’t struggled to a four-over 74 to end at minus-one. Dick Mast tried to make it a three-man playoff, but his Sunday-best, three-under 67 left him one stroke back.

Roberts needed only a par on the 18th in the playoff at Turnberry to win his second Champions Tour major.

Romero was denied his first Champions Tour win, but he didn’t wait long to collect it. He claimed the final major in 2006, the JELD-WEN Tradition, as he erased a five-shot deficit then birdied the first playoff hole for the title.

This week’s host course, Muirfield, has hosted its fair share of top-flight events, including the Ryder Cup, Walker Cup and British Amateur. Muirfield has also hosted more Open Championships, 15, than any other course.

Bob Charles and Tom Watson are the only two players to have won the British Open and Senior British Opens at the same venue.

Three players are scheduled to tee it up this week who have a chance to match that feat. The one likely with the least chance is Gary Player. He does own 19 Champions Tour wins, but the 71-year-old has not won on tour since 1998.

Tom Watson, who owns five British Open and two Senior British Open crowns, won at Muirfield in 1980. He has won nine Champions Tour events, with this year’s Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am title being his last.

The last of the three players with a chance to win the Open and Senior Open on the same course is Nick Faldo.

Faldo, who turns 50 on Wednesday, will look to win for a third time at Muirfield. Faldo won the British Open at Muirfield in 1987 and 1992. He played at Carnoustie last week, but missed the cut by six strokes.

This will be just the 21st playing of this championship, while it is just the fifth year on the Champions Tour schedule.

The winners of the first two majors this year were both first-time winners. Denis Watson, the Senior PGA champion, and Brad Bryant, the U.S. Senior Open winner, will both try to collect their second major title at Muirfield.

TNT will have two hours of coverage of the first two rounds. ABC will cover the weekend action with 90 minutes of coverage Saturday and two hours of action on Sunday.

The Champions Tour will be back in action next week with the 3M Championship, where David Edwards earned the 2006 title.

PGA TOUR

CANADIAN OPEN, Angus Glen Golf Club (North Course), Markham, Ontario, Canada - The PGA returns to North America, but remains outside the U.S. as the tour heads to Ontario for the Canadian Open.

With the new PGA Tour schedule, this event was moved up a little more than a month from September 7-10 last year. Thanks to the new schedule, there is less star power than normal heading to Angus Glen.

Jim Furyk heads the field at the Canadian Open. World No. 3 Jim Furyk heads the field, but the next highest-ranked player is Canadian Mike Weir, who is ranked 38th. The only other players in the top 50 are No. 38 Stephen Ames, a naturalized Canadian citizen who was born in Trinidad, and No. 46 John Rollins.

Furyk, the defending champion, closed with rounds of 67-65 to fend off Bart Bryant by one and Sean O’Hair by two last year at Hamilton Golf & Country Club.

Furyk trailed Justin Rose by two entering the final round, but Rose went the wrong way. He closed with a four-over 74 to drop into a share of 14th.

The event rotates over several different courses with 38 different venues hosting throughout tournament history. The North Course at Angus Glen is hosting the event for the first time since 2002.

The Golf Channel will broadcast action of the opening two rounds, while CBS takes over for the weekend.

Next up for the PGA Tour is a pair of events. Many of the top players in the game will be in Akron, Ohio, for the World Golf Championships - Bridgestone Invitational, where Tiger Woods is the defending champion. The opposite event is the Reno-Tahoe Open, where Will Mackenzie claimed the title in ‘06.

EUROPEAN TOUR

DEUTSCHE BANK PLAYERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP OF EUROPE, Gut Kaden, Hamburg, Germany - The European Tour has its second straight big event as the field heads to Germany for the Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe.

Several players who teed it up last week at Carnoustie have made the trek to Gut Kaden this week.

Anders Romero is still looking to secure his first tour win. Anders Romero had the lead on the back nine at the British Open, but his double bogey-bogey finish left him in third place, one stroke out of the playoff.

Romero will go to Gut Kaden looking to secure his first tour win. He had four top-10 finishes this year and had four last year as well. Romero posted 20- under par last year at this event, but that was just good enough for a tie for fourth place.

Last year, Robert Karlsson fired four rounds in the 60s and set a new tournament scoring record of 263. That gave him a four-shot win over Charl Schwartzel and Lee Westwood.

Several players for the U.S. PGA Tour remained in Europe to play Gut Kaden this week. That list includes Americans J.B. Holmes and Brett Wetterich, as well as South African Rory Sabbatini and Australia’s Rod Pampling.

The German contingent will be led as usual by Bernhard Langer, a three-time winner here. Other Germans in the field include Martin Kaymer, Marcel Siem and Sven Struver.

The Golf Channel will have three hours of coverage all four days.

Next week, the European Tour also offers two events. The biggest and brightest stars will be at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, while the remainder of the field plays the Russian Open Golf Championship, where Alejandro Canizares won last year.

With his playoff win at the British Open on Sunday, Padraig Harrington climbed four places to No. 6 in the latest World Golf Rankings.

Harrington matched his career-best ranking thanks to his first major championship win.

The top-five remained the same, but there was plenty of change behind that.

Tiger Woods held steady at No. 1 and was followed by Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Ernie Els and Adam Scott.

Following Harrington at No. 6, was Vijay Singh, who dropped one notch to seventh. Sergio Garcia, a playoff loser to Harrington, jumped five spots to eighth.

With those moves, Henrik Stenson, Geoff Ogilvy and Luke Donald all fell two places to ninth through 11th respectively. K.J. Choi tied for eighth at the British Open. That helped him inch up a spot to 12th.

Steve Stricker was one of three other players who tied for eighth. His amazing turn-around continues, as he moved up three places to 13th this week. Retief Goosen tumbled three to 14th.

Zach Johnson remained 15th, while Rory Sabbatini slipped two to 16th. The next three players — Angel Cabrera, Paul Casey and Trevor Immelman — stayed put at 17, 18 and 19.

Stewart Cink jumped up three to close out the top 20. His move bumped Niclas Fasth out of the top 20 to 22nd.