ON THE FAIRWAYS \ This week’s golf events

PGA TOUR
Deutsche Bank Championship
Norton, Mass.

Schedule: Friday-Monday.
Course: TPC Boston (7,207 yards, par 71).
Purse: $7 million. Winner’s share: $1.26 million.
FedEx Cup points: 50,000. Winner’s share: 9,000.
Television: Golf Channel (Friday-Saturday, 3-6 p.m., 8:30-11:30 p.m.) and NBC (Sunday, 3-6 p.m.; Monday, 2-6 p.m.)
Last year: Tiger Woods won his fifth straight PGA Tour title, closing with a 63 for a two-stroke victory over Vijay Singh. Woods ran the streak to seven this year before losing to Nick O’Hern in the third round of the Accenture Match Play Championship.
Last week: Steve Stricker won The Barclays for his first victory since 2001, birdieing four of the last five holes to beat K.J. Choi by two strokes in the FedEx Cup opener. Stricker took the top spot in the playoff standings, and Choi moved into second place. Rory Sabbatini finished third to take the third spot in the playoff race.
Notes: Woods is making his first FedEx Cup start after taking a two-week break following victories in the Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship. He’s fourth in the standings, 4,950 points behind Stricker. With the groupings set by the standings, Woods will play alongside No. 5 Phil Mickelson and No. 6 Singh in the first two rounds. Mickelson is making his first appearance in the event. ... The top 120 in the FedEx Cup standings qualified for the tournament. Bernhard Langer, tied for 59th, is the only eligible player skipping the event. He turned 50 on Monday and is making his Champions Tour debut this week at Pebble Beach. ... The playoff field will be cut to 70 for the BMW Championship next week in Lemont, Ill., and to 30 for the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta. ... The FedEx Cup winner will get a $10 million deferred prize. ... Singh won the 2004 tournament, beating Woods and 2003 winner Adam Scott by three strokes. ... Tour player Brad Faxon teamed with architect Gil Hanse to rework the Arnold Palmer-designed layout.

LPGA TOUR
LPGA State Farm Classic
Springfield, Ill.

Schedule: Friday-Sunday.
Course: Panther Creek Country Club (6,608 yards, par 72).
Purse: $1.3 million. Winner’s share: $195,000.
Television: Golf Channel (Thursday, 1-4 p.m., 6:30-9:30 p.m.; Friday, 1-3 p.m.; Saturday, 2:30-4:30 a.m., 1-3 p.m.; Sunday, 3-4:30 a.m., 1-4 p.m., 10:30 p.m.-midnight).
Last year: Annika Sorenstam won the last of her 69 LPGA Tour titles, closing with a 10-under 62 at the Rail Golf Club to match the lowest final-round score by a tournament winner in tour history. Cristie Kerr finished second, two strokes back.
Last week: Lorena Ochoa won her third straight tournament and sixth of the year, a five-stroke victory in the Safeway Classic in Portland, Ore. The top-ranked Mexican star began the streak in the Women’s British Open and took the Canadian Women’s Open two weeks ago. Ochoa also broke Sorenstam’s single-season money record, earning $255,000 to push her total to $2,891,590. Sorenstam made $2,863,904 in 2002.

CHAMPIONS TOUR
First Tee Open
Pebble Beach, Calif.

Schedule: Friday-Sunday.
Courses: Pebble Beach Golf Links (6,822 yards, par 72) and Del Monte Golf Course (6,365 yards, par 72).
Purse: $2 million. Winner’s share: $300,000.
Television: Golf Channel (Friday, 6:30-8:30 p.m.; Saturday, 12:30-2:30 a.m., 6:30-8:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1-3 a.m., 6:30-9:30 p.m.; Monday, 1-3:30 a.m.)
Last year: Scott Simpson won his first Champions Tour title, beating Jay Haas and David Edwards by a stroke.
Last week: Zimbabwe’s Denis Watson won the Boeing Classic in a seven-man playoff, the largest in tour history. The Senior PGA winner eagled the second extra hole to beat Craig Stadler and R.W. Eaks. Gil Morgan, Joe Ozaki, Dana Quigley and David Eger were eliminated on the first playoff hole.

PGA EUROPEAN TOUR
Johnnie Walker Championship
Gleneagles, Scotland

Schedule: Thursday-Sunday.
Course: Gleneagles Hotel, PGA Centenary Course (7,320 yards, par 73).
Purse: $2.8 million. Winner’s share: $468,210.
Television: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-noon).
Last year: England’s Paul Casey beat countryman Andrew Marshall and Denmark’s Soren Hansen by a stroke. Casey also won the 2001 Scottish PGA at Gleneagles for his first professional victory.
Last week: England’s Ross Fisher won the KLM Open in the Netherlands for his first tour title, birdieing the final hole for a one-stroke victory over Dutchman Joost Luiten in the national championship.

Associated Press