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The debate regarding the length of the PGA Tour Season is certain to once again take center stage with the news this week that Tiger Woods will skip the final Tour event, the Tour Championship.

For years, the PGA has been trying to bring greater interest to the fall golf season. The development of the Tour Championship, an event featuring the top thirty money winners on Tour, was thought to be just the ticket when it was created twenty years ago. The event has indeed featured many of golf's great names when one looks at it past champions, including the likes of Tom Watson, Tom Kite, Curtis Strange, and current big guns Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Phil Mickelson, and of course Woods.

But the season ending tournament in 2006 will not feature the top thirty golfers. Before Tiger made his announcement, Stephen Ames, currently ranked twenty-first on the money list, had already indicated that he would not play due to injury while a tired Phil Mickelson, number four on the list, had previously announced he was packing his competitive spirit away for the remainder of the golf season as well. For Lefty, it marked his second straight year that he had chosen to pass over the season's final major event.

But the Tiger news had to come as a complete downer for the Tour and PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem. After all Woods is far and away the greatest draw on Tour. His absence will translate to fewer tickets and to a smaller television viewing audience.

Woods pulled out citing fatigue from his late season play schedule. However, he did announce his intent to play in additional, non-PGA events in upcoming weeks.

The length of the season has received enormous attention the last few years. The PGA season begins in Hawaii in very early January. The Tour moves to California and Florida in late winter, then across the country as the summer weather picks up. In the midst of an event every single week from January onward, the Tour then moves into high gear with the four major championships that begin with the Masters in April and end with the PGA Championship in August.

For years, the PGA Tour has tried to maintain golfer and fan interest beyond that final major in August. That led directly to the current schedule that now concludes with the Tour Championship in November.

None too soon, the PGA Tour is set to use a revamped schedule beginning next year. Instead of the current season ending championship based on the top thirty money winners on Tour, the new schedule is supposed to feature a NASCAR-like points chase and with that new format, a different late-summer tournament format. As part of that new concept, the Tour Championship will again be considered the final, top event, but the tournament is to be moved from November to September.

The changes loom essential for golf. After all, you really can't call the event the Tour Championship if the event cannot draw two of the game's top four players, no matter how large the prize money is.

Tour Championship - Big For Many Others
While the news about who isn't attending has garnered most of the attention, there still is a great deal of interest among certain players regarding the final event. Ernie Els was asking down the stretch this weekend where he stood, all with an eye towards making next week's event. The Big Easy struggled a bit in Sunday but another strong tournament pushed him easily inside the magic number. Joe Durant also kept his late season charge moving with a tie for fourth to solidify his final position. His win last week pushed him to 29th and his current hot streak could really be meaningful at an event where everyone makes the cut and some serious cash is on the line. Two other players who could make 2006 statements at the event are Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh. A win by Furyk would cap off his finest golf season ever in grand style while a win by Singh would turn what has thus far been a good season into one that could be considered on a par with that of Furyk. And lastly, keep your eyes on Troy Matteson next year. Missing cuts in 14 of his first 26 events in 2006, the youngster had his fifth straight top ten with his ninth place finish at the Chrysler this week. The only downer for one of the Tour's hottest is he still could not quite climb into the top thirty to be able to compete next week.

While Tiger Woods takes some time off in the middle of his six tournament win streak and eight win season, the PGA TOUR has continued its weekly format. In recent weeks, Davis Love broke his long winless streak, one that went back more than three years, while the youngster Troy Matteson began to show the form that many thought he would when he came to the TOUR with his first PGA win last week.

But perhaps the most startling of numbers may be that of Vijay Singh. Amazing, because Vijay has continued to slide downward from the pinnacle of golf, a position that he held barely two years ago. It seems just yesterday, though it was three years ago that the elder statesman took home the honors of top money winner on TOUR, ending the lengthy string of Woods at the top of the money list. It was only two years ago that he took top money honors again, parlaying his superlative play during that two year run to the very top of the golf world. The Fijan's rise was complete when he replaced Tiger Woods as the number one ranked player in the world in 2004.

As everyone now knows, it didn't take Woods long to regain the top spot. The game's best player put things together late last year and moved back on top of the golf world. On top of his superb year in 2005, Woods has driven a stake into everyone with his 2006 season, one of the very best of his career.

How good as Woods been this year? Well he as won eight times as everyone knows. He also has won his last six starts on the PGA TOUR. The most amazing number is that Woods has eight wins and eleven top ten finishes this year in just fifteen starts. His win percentage tops fifty percent, his top ten percentage tops seventy percent, and his world ranking is nearly three times the number that Jim Furyk has posted as the number two man.

Which brings us back to Singh and his so-called slide down the ladder. In 2006, Singh has slid all the way to the number five ranking world wide, trailing not only Woods and Furyk, but also Phil Mickleson and Adam Scott.

However, consider what Vijay has done in 2006. He did win once at the Barclay's Classic. And this past weekend, he notched his twelfth top ten finish of the season at the Funai Classic at Disney, giving him top tens in 40 percent of his starts. In addition, Singh also added to his more than four million in season earnings.

Also, consider 2005, the year that began with Singh at number one world wide. The big fella' didn't exactly allow Woods to return to the top without a fight. Singh would win four times around the world in 2005 and finish in the top ten a total of eighteen times in thirty events.

But his slide may be in great part by two events that will haunt him from 2006, two missed cuts at the British Open and the PGA Championship. Because world rankings are based on performances, not just overall, but in great part by how a player finishes in the major championships Singh has slipped further behind the remarkable Woods.

So for Singh, though the fall seems somewhat far, down to fifth, it should be noted that in fact many players still have never had a season like the one Vijay has had in 2006. Many players still have yet to win while others like Love had gone three years without tasting victory. So one win and twelve top tens represents another solid year for one of the very best players in the game.

Put that on top of four wins in 2005, eighteen top tens and well Singh is still playing some darn good golf. The difference of course, is what Tiger has done in 2006, elevating his play once again to essentially make the performances and seasons of other players inconsequential.

But if not for Woods, one would be stating that Singh has put together yet another strong season, giving him really four consecutive years of golfing at a very high level. It is hard to imagine how someone playing so well for so long is not higher up in the world ranking.

Except of course the fact that the PGA TOUR is so deep that even Vijay's excellent level of play in 2006 is simply not strong enough to have him at the top. His twelve top tens only ties him with Furyk and his forty percent top ten percentage has him trailing the likes of Scott.

It has been another remarkable year for Singh, despite the fact that he has been sliding downward. Take note folks, he is tied at the top for top ten finishes in 2006, indicating another steady if not spectacular year.

Additional notes: Troy Matteson continued his late season run with his runner up finish at Funai. A final round seventy proved a bit of a disappointment, but the last four weeks the youngster has shown everyone the skills that made him the NCAA collegiate champion in 2002. Also, Davis Love continued his improved play at Funai. Love tied for fifth with Singh at nineteen under - he too had a relatively poor Sunday that kept him from ever being in contention for the victory.

Suppose a golfer drives a ball down the fairway, slicing or hooking the ball in the direction of one of the cart paths. Suppose further that the path is marked with small wooden stakes and a rope to remind golfers that the cart needs to stay off the fairway in that specific area. Finally, we walk up to find our somewhat errant drive directly under the rope, sitting up on the grass, the ball fully in play except the rope prevents any swing.

The above scenario is described as taking relief from a movable obstruction. In this instance there is to be no penalty assessed but the player should not move his or her ball out from under the obstruction if the obstruction is truly movable. The rule applies to any aspect of the upcoming shot, the backswing, follow through, and the player's stance.

In the case of the scenario described, the rope should be taken down so that the player may play the ball exactly as it lies. If the rope cannot be easily removed, a couple of the stakes should be pulled out of the ground so that the rope is moved out of the way. The first priority is to try and remove the movable obstruction so as to play the ball as it lies.

If by chance the ball is moved during the removal of the obstruction, there is again no penalty. But the ball must be replaced to its original position, with as near as the same position and lie as possible.

In the rare instance that the ball were to come to rest on top of such an obstruction (say one of the posts), then the ball should be lifted and the obstruction removed as before. The ball should be dropped, from shoulder height and then played from the lie created. If by chance you were to lift the ball because it landed on top of a movable obstruction, the rules even permit you to clean the ball when you lift it.

Now, if the ball comes to rest in a position with such an obstruction and it is simply not possible to remove the obstruction, then the ball must be dropped in an area where the ball may be played without the golfer being impeded by the obstruction. Such a drop should never be nearer the hole.

Again, such an instance may involve any aspect of the player's swing or stance. To gain relief from the immovable object, the player lifts the ball and then drops, using the one club-length of relief provision, dropping from shoulder height, with such a drop occurring no nearer the hole. However, the one club distance of relief does not mandate a drop into a hazard unless the obstruction is created from a lie within a hazard. The obstruction rule does not permit a drop on the putting green.

Suppose you manage to push a shot into a lateral hazard area where the ball winds up bouncing around, coming to rest with a terrible lie. As you arrive you see that the ball is almost buried but at the same time there is an immovable obstruction that hinders your stance or your swing path. Can you take relief due to the obstruction and drop the ball within the hazard?

The answer is no. If you wind up in a hazard you cannot use the obstruction rule to give you an improved lie. If you are in a hazard and cannot play the ball due to an obstruction, relief is obtained by the prior rules we discussed using stroke and distance rules. Likewise, if you are in a bunker and there is an obstruction, you may not use the one club length rule to remove you from the bunker. The ball must be dropped in the bunker.

Remember that any time you lift the ball due to an obstruction, you may clean it before it is dropped. But you may never use the obstruction rule to try to take advantage of the game. It may be invoked only if you have an otherwise playable lit and the obstruction is the reason that your swing or stance is impeded.

Finally, what happens if your ball is lost within an immovable obstruction, say the ball disappears down a drainage pipe. First, there must be irrefutable evidence that the ball went in the obstruction, otherwise it should simply be treated as a lost ball. Under that scenario, you must use the lost ball rule of stroke and distance, going back to the location of the prior shot, drop a ball, add the original swing and a penalty shot and play from that original spot once again.

If we are certain the ball went into the pipe, then the player may introduce a new ball, dropping at the nearest spot that the ball was last in play, no nearer the hole. However, if that were to happen within a lateral hazard, the rules of golf would not permit a free drop. The ball would be treated as if it was lost in the lateral hazard.

Most times, the weekend golfer is happy to play a round without any real interest in keeping score. But as a player gets out on to the course more and more, there is the inherent desire to see if he or she is actually improving.

Though one can easily tell if he or she is striking the ball well, the true key to golf is a player's ability to scramble when either mishits or misfortune come into play. In other words, to fully judge improvement, a player must somehow come to grips with how to measure their mishits as well. Ultimately, the only way to determine game improvement is to see if your score goes down as you play additional rounds.

As you become interested in keeping score, you soon realize that to be honest you need to understand some of the basic golf rules. Those rules pertaining to out of bounds stakes, water hazards, unplayable lies and lost balls all become a large part of determining whether or not your score is truly improving. Again, the quality of your misses is as important as the quality of your better hits.

So what are the basic stroke rules? Let's start with three of the simplest of situations, the out of bounds stakes, a ball in a water hazard, and an unplayable lie. If you strike the ball and it crosses over the fairway or rough, then goes out of bounds or into a water hazard, many golfers believe that they only need to drop the ball where it left the playing surface, no nearer the hole, and take a one stroke penalty.

However, that is not truly the proper course of action for out of bounds stakes. Technically, the rule is to play another ball from the same spot that the original was played from. In addition, a one stroke penalty must be added if that is the ball that becomes in play.

Therefore, a player who believes he or she may have hit a ball out of bounds or into a water hazard should drop a second ball at the place where the shot just took place. The player should state he or she is hitting a provisional ball in case the first ball is indeed out of bounds or in the water and unplayable. In the true game, the player must declare that he or she is indeed hitting such a provisional ball. A failure to do so means that the first shot is indeed considered lost and the second ball is in play using the stroke and distance penalty constraint.

In the first case, when you arrive at the out of bounds, two options exist. You may play your original ball if the ball is not out of bounds, and may do so without adding a stroke. You can stand out of bounds to hit the ball as long as the ball itself is in bounds. In this instance, the provisional shot is simply forgotten and you play the first ball. But if the ball is out of bounds, then you move to playing the provisional ball, which is now lying a total of three additional shots from where you originally played (the first hit, the penalty, and the second hit). You move to playing your provisional ball whether or not you find the ball.

The above situation is often referred to as a stroke and distance penalty. In other words, you are penalized a shot plus you must replay the original distance. It is not proper to simply drop a ball where it left the in bounds mark, take a penalty, and play on.

There is a special situation where a water hazard will be referred to as a lateral water hazard. In this case the hazard is marked with red stakes. As opposed to out of bounds stakes which are generally red, you can play the ball as it lies in the water hazard if you deem that you could actually do so. If you cannot, it is ok to drop a ball at the spot where it left the proper surface, take a penalty and play from that spot, moving as far back from the hole as you desire in the process. The key is that you must not be any nearer the hole in dropping the ball.

A water hazard that is marked with yellow stakes is not considered a lateral hazard. However, the same rules apply as above.

So in the case of entering a water hazard, lateral or otherwise, you may also want to play a provisional ball, declaring that you are doing so. If the first ball is in the hazard, you can always play the provisional under the stroke and distance rule. Second, if the ball is lost, you have no argument as to where the proper place to drop the ball truly is.

Finally, there is the concept of the unplayable lie. The golfer is the sole judge as to whether a ball is unplayable. For example, the ball could lie under a rock or between several rocks. The key is that it must be truly unplayable. However, a ball resting against a root or at the base of a tree is not necessarily unplayable. If the golfer can get the club head on the ball in some direction, even if it means playing sideways or backwards, then the ball is not in an unplayable situation.

Here you essentially have three options. First you may use the same stroke and distance format as above, playing from the original spot. Second, you may drop the ball within two club lengths of where you found the ball, no nearer the hole. Lastly, you may drop the ball at any point behind the spot where the ball lay, as long as you keep the drop point directly in line with the hole and the original spot. Obviously, it would be improper to take the ball more than two club lengths, moving out to the side so as to open up a path to the hole.

Technically, these three basic options are among the first areas where an amateur must see improvement to see his/her score improve. Keeping the ball in play so that penalty shots do not come into play is one of the first signs of growth as a golfer.

The quality of your misses is the first real sign that you are improving as a player.

By Karen Melchers

While watching the recent American Express golf event taking place outside London, I was suddenly aware that Nick Faldo had said something profound: "He's that immeasurable amount better than everyone else..." He was, of course, referring to Tiger Woods and what he said reverberated in my mind.

I had been absent-mindedly thinking about what a consummate player Tiger is and a thought I'd had before suddenly came into my conscious mind. Could Tiger be so good at age 30 that he could flub a shot on purpose to experiment with a new club or to try a different stance or to simply to give the rest of the field a sporting chance knowing he could, most likely, recover and go on to win?

What a shocking thought! But I don't think it was a thought original to me. It seemed, during that afternoon of watching and listening to Faldo and the other commentators, that they were alluding to the same thing. It was Faldo again who said, "I think he's challenging himself." And went on to point out that Tiger's expertise and sang froid sometimes made it seem as though he were saying to everyone else, You go play in that part of the playground while I stay over here and play my game.

It made sense.

I think Tiger Woods is a sportsman and a gentleman who chooses not to run roughshod over the other players. Certainly he wants to win but that desire doesn't prevent him from realizing that other players on the tour can become demoralized by always being shown up. It's not always a palatable experience to play against someone so consistently better than you are. It can, in fact, get old. People like Jim Furyk, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickleson, Zach Johnson, and Adam Scott are good players by anyone's standards and shouldn't have any reason to feel they are less than good just because someone else is so much better. They're excellent players and role models but are simply not up to Woods' weight (I'm mixing my sport metaphors here).

That leaves us with Tiger. He doesn't have anyone to measure himself against except himself. I think I feel bad for the guy.

What can it be like to be 30 years old, earning thousands of dollars for every stroke, and being the cynosure of the entire world? Surely he can go nowhere that he isn't recognized, where people don't watch his every move and analyze his every word and action. I couldn't stand it and maybe he gets a little tired of it too. I have a son who's 30 and certainly can't imagine him handling that amount of pressure with anything like the grace that Tiger does.

So beneath all the surface success does anyone else see a core of sadness, a hint that maybe the fun is gone, and that golf and his leadership role in the golf world has become, dare I say it, a chore and a responsibility?

Case in point: recall the American Express commercial where Tiger talks about a rainy day as a time for him to be a kid, a spectator, a couch potato and then his voice continues, "Trouble is there's never a rainy day. My life is about never settling," and he's pictured practicing in the rain. Yikes! Does this mean that he can't allow himself to do those ordinary rainy day things out of guilt? And that forces him outside in the rain instead of under a blankie taking a snooze in front of the fireplace. Ye gods and little fishes now I KNOW I feel bad for the guy.

I think we're all to blame for never letting him forget that he's the best in the world. For always asking him questions and comparing him to great players of other times. For pecking at him the way the birds pecked at townspeople in that Hitchcock movie. Pecking, pecking at him as if he were a thing that belonged to us instead of being a 30-year-old guy who golfs really well.

We do expect too much of Tiger. Let's just let him be a guy who puts his pants on one leg at a time, loves his wife and mother, misses his Dad and--look at the operative words here--plays the game of golf.

While the major focus this week is once again on Tiger Woods, there are a number of other interesting developments on the PGA TOUR.

Of course, you have to begin with Woods and his yet another dominating performance, an eight stroke victory at the World Golf Championships - American Express Championship. The win ran his PGA winning streak to a full six events and the title was his eighth of the season. That earned Woods a distinction never before accomplished on the TOUR, three seasons with at least eight TOUR victories (1999, 2000. Throw in two Majors and Woods has had one of his best seasons ever.

Woods has earned nearly 10 million in just 15 events. Most importantly his winning percentage is a sterling .533 with the eight wins in just 15 starts.

True to Woods form, he immediately dismissed comparisons to the past, stating only that he wanted to keep trying to get better. He also acknowledged that he didn't consider it six straight wins having recently lost in a match play event that is not considered part of the PGA TOUR competition.

But as great as Woods has been, if you look beyond him, you have to take note of the continued sterling play of Jim Furyk. In fact, if not for Woods, Furyk would be emerging as the top golfer on TOUR.

Many noted that it was Furyk who carried Tiger in the team matches of the recent Ryder Cup debacle. Punctuating his strong year with yet another outstanding tournament, Furyk finished fourth this week, one shot out of second, giving him 12 Top Tens on the year in 22 starts, topping even Singh's 11 in 24 starts. Furyk failed to build upon his seven top three finishes by that paltry one stroke.

Most importantly for the American, he moved to the number two ranking world-wide. It is an amazing stat given that many had conceded that a Mickelson win at the US Open would have moved Lefty to the top spot in the world, if not in the rankings, at least in the public's mind. But then came Mick's collapse on the 18th at the Open and with his mistakes his season quickly went South. And now, as the golf year heads towards the silly season, Mickelson finds himself number three behind the unusual swinging Furyk.

In addition to the play of these two Americans, TOUR fans should take note of the performances of one European, one South African, and an Aussie this past week. First off, Luke Donald continued his climb up the golfing charts with his sixth place finish at the WGC. For the youngster who helped the Europeans dominate the Americans in the Ryder Cup, the finish was Donald's ninth Top Ten in 17 starts, solidifying his number eight ranking world wide.

The Aussie Adam Scott finished second at the WGC, helping him match the numbers of Donald, nine Top Tens in seventeen starts. Though Scott is winless on the year, his continued strong year helped him move to fourth on the World Ranking list, allowing him to slide past the struggling Vijay Singh. This youngster is one major away from moving into the PGA elite.

And perhaps the biggest news may be from the performance of the player known as the Big Easy. Ernie Els continued his strong recent play, earning a solo fifth at the WGC-AEC. For the native of South Africa, once considered a rival to Woods for the top spot, it represented his third Top Ten in his last five starts on TOUR, allowing him to climb back tot the number six spot in the World Golf Rankings. The Big Easy has to be feeling that he has finally recovered from his knee surgery and thinking positively about the 2007 season.

Ryder Cup and the American Performance: The poor performance of the Americans at the Ryder Cup continues to be the fodder for writers in the golf world. But a check of the World Rankings perhaps tells the true story, that though America has the top three players in the World in Mickelson, Furyk, and Woods, the number of Americans in the rankings continues to drop. The Yanks no longer dominate the golfing world. After those top three men, you have to go to 15th and 16th to find the next two Americans, Chris DiMarco and David Toms. Throw in the fact that only Chad Campbell at 22 and Stewart Cink at 23 are currently ranked in the Top Thirty of the current World Golf Rankings and the Yanks have just seven of the current top thirty world-wide, and one, Mickelson playing very poorly of late. With such numbers it is no wonder that Europe took home yet another Ryder Cup in such dominating fashion.