Getting to the Tour Championship turned out to be worth more than a trip to the Masters. Under new criteria soon to be announced by the Royal & Ancient, the British Open will exempt the top 30 players from the FedEx Cup standings and the top 30 from the European tour money list, which next year will be the “Race to Dubai.” Previously, only the top 20 from both tour’s money lists were exempt from…

Golfers on the European Tour will have to play 12 tournaments next year instead of 11 to stay a member on the Tour. The European Tour’s Tournament Committee voted Tuesday to make the change in advance of the start of the lucrative new $10 million Race To Dubai in 2009. The second-ranked Phil Mickelson is one of several players on the U.S.

The European Tour will require its members to play in at least 12 events next year, increasing the minimum by one event as more players contemplate whether to join for the $10 million Race to Dubai. The tour’s Tournament Committee voted for the change Tuesday. Phil Mickelson is among those who might join in 2009 when the tour season concludes with the top 60 players eligible for the Dubai World…

The European Tour
tournament committee decided on Tuesday to increase the number
of mandatory events players need to play on the European tour
from 11 to 12.

The European Tour
tournament committee decided on Tuesday to increase the number
of mandatory events players need to play on the European tour
from 11 to 12.

Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim were eliminated with pars. That left a big chunk of change for Sergio Garcia and Camilo Villegas to chase — $4.26 million to the winner of the sudden-death playoff and $2.756 million to the loser, meaning one stroke was worth $1.5 million. Villegas, who was five shots behind with 11 holes to play, wound up winning with a par for his second straight victory.

Exhausted double
2008 major champion Padraig Harrington said on Tuesday he would
crawl to this week’s Dunhill Links Championship as he aims to
win Europe’s order of merit for a second time.

ATLANTA (Ticker) - Vijay Singh has some nagging injuries that have prompted him to pull out of a couple of Asian tournaments he had planned to contest over the next two months.

Tournament host Tiger Woods
has announced a strong field featuring five of the world’s top
10 players for the year-ending Chevron World Challenge.

Tiger Woods says football players who have the kind of knee surgery that ended his season usually are not at their best for two years. “Luckily, I don’t play football,” Woods said Monday. Woods said his knee will probably be no more than 85 percent strong when he returns, but he sees no reason why he can’t get back to the level of play that brought him nine victories in 12 official events this…