This Week in Golf - August 19th through August 22nd

Golf Betting Lines

08/16/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - JELD-WEN TRADITION, Crosswater Club at Sunriver, Sunriver, Oregon - The major championship season continues this week with the JELD-WEN Tradition.

The Tradition is the fourth of five majors on the Champions Tour.

Mike Reid needed an extra hole last year to defeat John Cook, who bogeyed the final hole of regulation to force the playoff. Reid won his second major title on the senior circuit to go along with the 2005 Senior PGA Championship.

Reid and Cook finished at 16-under par, two clear of Brad Bryant. The two returned to the 18th tee for the extra hole, where Reid sank a 10-foot birdie putt to claim the title.

The Champions Tour majors have been dominated by Bernhard Langer and Fred Couples. Couples was a playoff loser to Tom Lehman at the Senior PGA and finished three strokes behind Langer at the U.S. Senior Open.

Langer has won each of the last two majors on the Champions Tour. At the Senior British Open, the German closed with a one-over 72 to fend off U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin by a single stroke.

Langer out-dueled Couples the following week for the U.S. Senior Open crown to become the first man to win back-to-back majors on the Champions Tour since Tom Watson turned the trick in 2003.

The final major will be played the second weekend in October when Jay Haas defends his title at the Senior Players Championship.

Golf Channel has coverage the first two rounds before NBC takes over on the weekend.

The Champions Tour remains on the west coast next week for the Boeing Classic, where Loren Roberts is the defending champion.

PGA TOUR

WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP, Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, North Carolina - Ryan Moore needed three extra holes last year to collect his first PGA Tour title.

Moore parred the first two extra holes, then birdied the third to defeat Kevin Stadler and Jason Bohn.

Stadler parred the first two holes, then tripped to a bogey on the third to lose the title. Bohn bogeyed the first extra hole to drop out of the playoff.

There is plenty on the line this week as everyone is fighting to get inside the top 125 on the FedEx Cup points list to qualify for the playoffs that start next week.

Some players, like Anthony Kim and Lucas Glover, are also vying to become a captain's pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team

Including Moore, the field includes five former champions and six players that have won this season. Only one player ranked between 126 and 150 on the FedEx points list is not in the field this week.

That player is Matt Every, who was reportedly suspended for three months by the PGA Tour.

There is plenty of history at this event. Sam Snead won this title eight times, the PGA Tour record for most wins at a single event.

Golf Channel has three hours of coverage the first two days. CBS has three hours of action starting at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday

The FedEx Cup playoffs start next week with The Barclays, where Heath Slocum is expected to defend his title.

EUROPEAN TOUR

CZECH OPEN 2010, Prosper Golf Resort, Celadna, Czech Republic - One week after the season's final major, you would expect the field to be a little watered down as players recover from the stress of the PGA Championship.

However, there is a strong field set for the Czech Open since this is one of the last two events to automatically qualify for the European Ryder Cup team.

Miguel Angel Jimenez headlines the field as he tries to gain a spot on the European Ryder Cup for the fourth time. Four other players -- Simon Dyson, Ross McGowan, Peter Hanson and Oliver Wilson -- are also looking for high finishes to earn their way on the Ryder Cup team.

Last year, Oskar Henningsson closed with back-to-back rounds of five-under 67 to collect a two-stroke win over Steve Webster and Sam Little. The victory was Henningsson's first on the European Tour.

Henningsson has struggled this year as he has missed nine cuts and has just one finish inside the top 40 all year and that was at the Open de Espana.

Golf Channel will have three hours of action all four days, starting at 9 a.m. the first two days and 8:30 a.m. the final two days.

Next week is the final event to automatically qualify for the European Ryder Cup team, the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, where Peter Hedblom won last year.

LPGA TOUR

SAFEWAY CLASSIC, Pumpkin Ridge Golf Course (Ghost Creek Golf Course), North Plains, Oregon - Another event that needed a playoff last year, the Safeway Classic was won by M.J. Hur.

The Korean closed with a seven-under 65 to get into the extra session, then birdied the second playoff hole to defeat Suzann Pettersen and Michele Redman.

It was the first LPGA Tour victory for Hur. She has just two top-10 finishes this year and both were in New Jersey.

The first came at the Sybase Match Play Championship, where she lost in the third round, and the other came at the ShopRite LPGA Classic, where she finished two strokes behind winner Ai Miyazato.

This is the first event back in the United States in just over one month, as the tour visited France for the Evian Masters and England for the Women's British Open.

A very busy Golf Channel will have two hours of action early on Friday, then coverage from 5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. (et) on Saturday and Sunday.

The LPGA Tour heads out of the country next week as Pettersen is expected to defend her title at the CN Canadian Women's Open.

CANADIAN TOUR

SEAFORTH COUNTRY CLASSIC, Seaforth Golf Club, Seaforth, Ontario, Canada - Brian Unk caught fire at Seaforth Golf Club last year and never settled down.

He closed with a seven-under 64 to pick up a three-stroke win at 28-under 256. Unk set the Canadian Tour record for lowest total score and lowest score in relation to par

The victory was Unk's second on the Canadian Tour. He has played in just three tour events this season, as well as one on the Nationwide Tour, but will be on hand to defend his title.

The Canadian Tour Championship is next week. James Love was a playoff winner there last year.