This Week in Golf - September 10th through September 13th

By It will be narrowed even further following this week's event, Sports Network

The Sports Network

Last year, Camilo Villegas captured his long-anticipated first career PGA Tour victory with a two-under 68 in the final round, holding off a hard-charging Dudley Hart to win the BMW Championship by two shots.

Villegas moved to No. 2 in the playoff standings following the win, but was statistically unable to overtake Vijay Singh for the FedEx Cup and its $10 million top prize.

Singh, who won the first two playoff events last year, simply had to finish four rounds at the Tour Championship to claim the lucrative title. As there is no cut in the playoff finale, Singh easily kept his position at the top -- even as Villegas claimed his second-straight victory.

There is no cut at the BMW Championship either, so all 70 players in the field this week will have four rounds to make something happen. Forty of them will not move on.

Steve Stricker overtook Tiger Woods for the No. 1 spot in the playoff standings after winning the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday. Woods fell to No. 2 in the standings and was followed by Barclays winner Heath Slocum, Zach Johnson and Scott Verplank.

Following the Tour Championship in two weeks, the No. 1 player in the standings will earn the $10 million bonus. Second place receives $3 million, third gets $2 million, fourth earns $1.5 million and fifth place receives $1 million.

Villegas got up and down for par to defeat Sergio Garcia on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to win last year's Tour Championship, taking second in the playoffs to Singh.

To follow this week's action at Cog Hill, tune in to Golf Channel on Thursday and Friday, and NBC on the weekend.

EUROPEAN TOUR

MERCEDES-BENZ CHAMPIONSHIP, Golf Club Gut Larchenhof, Cologne, Germany - Robert Karlsson had nine top-10 finishes worldwide and was among the hottest players in golf heading into last year's Mercedes-Benz Championship.

Only one thing was missing from a season that saw Karlsson place in the top-10 in three consecutive majors -- a victory.

The lanky Swede broke free of his close-but-no-cigar streak with a two-shot win at Gut Larchenhof, posting a one-under 71 in the final round to finish at 13-under 275. It was his first win in two years and the eighth of his career on the European Tour. He claimed No. 9 in his next start, winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in a three-way playoff.

Karlsson's win made for a nice story, but this tournament is all about the Germans.

Four-time Mercedes-Benz champion and Hall of Famer Bernhard Langer will lead a home contingent in Cologne that also includes red-hot Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka. Langer, who spends most of his season playing on the Champions Tour, won the tournament in 1989, 1991, 1997 and 2001.

Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds this week beginning at 9:30 a.m. (et) on Thursday and Friday and at 8 a.m. both weekend days.

Next week is the Austrian Golf Open, where Jeev Milkha Singh won last year.

LPGA TOUR

NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP, Pinnacle Country Club, Rogers, Arkansas - Seon-Hwa Lee closed with a four-under 68 in the final round last year, making birdie on the final hole to win by one shot over hard-charging Jane Park and Meena Lee.

Seon-Hwa Lee finished at 15-under 201 to capture her fourth LPGA Tour win and second of the season.

Park, playing in one of the first groups out Sunday, fired a 10-under 62 in the final round to vault up the leaderboard and tie Meena Lee for second place.

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