PGA / Chris Ryan / 15 October 2009 / Leave a comment Bet Now

The PGA Tour is in Las Vegas this weekend - not a bad pit stop, especially for the adventurous of heart (and mind): "Hey dude, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" - for the second annual Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open, writes Brian Heard.

The host and main benefactor of the event, 28-year-old pop music star/mogul Justin Timberlake, is, not surprisingly given his financial and organizational investment in the tournament, in love with the sport of golf.

So much so that he's not only made this event possible, but is angling to make it a larger piece of the PGA Tour pie, i.e., get it placed on the spring schedule, as opposed to the afterthought that is the Fall Series.

But afterthought or not, that's where we are on the calendar, the Fall Series. And though we won't see much of golfing's bluebloods until next year, no matter who's playing or who's not, it's still good to talk golf no matter the time of year.

So, the Fall Series then. It's really about the "who's not" on the PGA Tour. The top 30 on the money list - those who played in Tour Championship three weeks ago in Atlanta - won't see a whole lot of action in the five-week series, their seasons are in large part complete. This is really about who's had a tough year and is looking to hang on to playing privileges for next season. The top 125 on the money list retain their Tour cards for next year.

Just that statement alone assures there will be plenty of interesting stories and heaping spoonfuls of personal drama at TPC Summerlin this weekend.

We saw that for sure at the first of the five-event Fall Series two weeks ago in New York State when Matt Kuchar took home the Turning Stone Resort Championship in a sudden-death, six-hole playoff with Vaughn Taylor. It was Kuchar's first win in over seven years and assured the journeyman, who had at one point in his career lost his Tour card, a place on Tour for at least the next two seasons. Finishing second pretty much assured Taylor will be around full-time in 2010 as well. That's what's on the line for many players at this time of year.

The field

There should be plenty of scoring to be done in Vegas - and I do mean on the golf course. Summerlin has produced some really low numbers in the past, though weather, specifically wind, could play a factor.

And we actually do have a number of top-ranked players in the field, including a handful fresh off last weekend's Presidents Cup - another U.S. win; no surprise there.

The not-so-suddenly-controversial Anthony Kim will be in Vegas (party capital USA) this weekend, which will be no surprise to Australia's Robert Allenby, who insinuated Kim was out carousing "all night long" (thank you Lionel Richie) the night before their Sunday's singles pairing at the Presidents Cup. If Kim was, it was a good thing for Allenby, who lost 5&3 to a supposedly less-than-100-percent Kim - just think if the 24-year-old had had all his faculties, the match could have been over by the turn.

Jim Furyk, Hunter Mahan and Tim Clark will be there as well off Presidents Cup performances.

The tournament will also mark the PGA Tour debut as a professional of 2008 College Player of the Year, the highly thought of Rickie Fowler, out of Oklahoma State.

Predictions

There are plenty of interesting possibilities this week, as always when Tiger Woods isn't in the field. Is it me or is the Tour more intriguing when he doesn't play? Which is a frequent occurrence, by the way; this makes 26 of 43 events he hasn't appeared at on Tour this year - it's good to be the king.

Furyk would have to be a solid pick to win it - he is the top-ranked golfer in the field, after all. But I'm going with Steve Marino. I mean, come on, this has to happen sooner or later for the 29-year-old American. The guy's been hanging around the top of the leaderboard too often over the last two years for him not to catch a break or two one of these weeks and win.

Another top choice should be Ryan Moore, who has proven he can win (see the Wyndham Championship this year) against "B" fields and score on score-able courses.

And maybe, just maybe this could be the week for Clark. Arguably the best player to have never won on Tour, the vertically challenged 33-year-old South African has been a bridesmaid seven times, but never the bride. Could he finally break through? He did play pretty well in the Presidents Cup, going 2-2-1.

Others to watch:

Charley Hoffman - A UNLV grad, comfortable in Vegas, capable of piling up birdies.

Matt Kuchar- Hey, why wait another 7 ½ years?

David Toms - Has had a great year, but no wins (three runners-up).

Hunter Mahan - A scoring machine, no reason he can't go real low, hard to believe he's won only once.

Rory Sabbatini - Not exactly on top of his game right now, but since when has that mattered when it comes to the PGA Tour from week to week; things do tend to come and go for even the best players.