He has not played on home soil since the U. S. Open, where he disappeared in the Rocco/Tiger show.  He “tuned up” at the Scottish Open to a 38th place finish, closing with a 73.  His opening round at the British Open was 79 and he finished the tournament in 19th place and never in contention.

It is a busy end to the season with the Ryder Cup coming the week before THE TOUR Championship, the final FedEx Cup event.  Six tournaments and the Ryder Cup over an nine week span.

Next up is the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, followed by the PGA Championship.  Then, the Tour heads into the FedEx Cup events where Mickelson did well last season. 

Can Lefty pull out one win?

Needing $80,000 to earn exempt status on the LPGA Tour, Michelle Wie will tee up on the PGA Tour’s Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.  Wie has one exemption left on the LPGA season and needs to finish at, or very near, the top of the leaderboard to finish in the top 80 on the LPGA money list to earn exempt status for the 2009 season. 

Wie is coming off her best tournament of the season at the State Farm Classic.  Her chances of earning exempt status on the LPGA next season was hurt by the disqualification from not signing her scorecard after the second round.  Wie was told after completing the third round where she was one-shot back of the leaders. 

For the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, it is a great marketing play and has stolen a lot of attention from the primary tournament on the PGA schedule - the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational, the last WGC event of the season. 

Opinions are held but the only way to see if this is good or bad, for either Wie or the tournament, is to see where she ends up on the leaderboard.  And, subsequently, the Canadian Women’s Open leaderboard.

Pick of the week … Sean O’Hair

Contenders … Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Brad Adamonis, Mike Weir, Stephen Ames

Surprise of the week … Bubba Watson

Pick of the week … Paula Creamer

Contenders … Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam, Jeong Jang, Suzann Pettersen, Brittany Lincicome

Surprise of the week … Natalie Gulbis

The 156-player field is always impressive at the Canadian Open.  This year Anthony Kim is looking to get his third win of the season and Sean O’Hair wants his second.  Veterans like Retief Goosen, Mark Calcavecchia and Fred Couples join Canada’s best golfer - Mike Weir - in the field.

What has been called the final leg of golf’s Triple Crown, the Canadian Open is the last national open played on the PGA Tour.  Tiger Woods won the three events - U. S., British and Canadian Opens - in 2000.

This year the RBC Canadian Open is being hosted at the Glen Abbey Golf Club for a record 23rd time.  The last Open held here was the 2004 tournament when Vijay Singh beat Mike Weir on the third playoff hole.  The par-71, 7, 222 yard course was one of Jack Nicklaus’ first designs.  Opened in 1976, the course has wide fairways and tough, undulating greens that are protected by deep bunkers. 

Gulbis faces some stiff competition in the field of 90 players.  Former champions Annika Sorenstam (200, 2002) and Paula Creamer (2005) are having great seasons and Lorena Ochoa has been almost unbeatable this year.  Top rookie Yani Tseng, who won the McDonald’s LPGA Championship Presented by Coca-Cola along with five top-5 finished this season, is also in the field this week. 

The Evian Masters is played at the Evian Masters Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France.  The 6,286 yard, par-72 course rests on the southern shore of Lake Geneva.  The course was designed by Cabell B. Robinson in 1904 with renovations in 1988 and 1990.  Highlighted by narrow fairways and tough greens, the course utilizes the lake and wooded areas to create a unique test for players.

The tournament was his after an eagle on the 17th hole put Harrington up by four shots.  He started the back nine after making bogeys on the seventh, eighth and ninth holes.  The defending champion fought back and made birdies on the 13th and 15th holes to take the lead.  The five-foot eagle putt on 17 made the 18th hole a celebratory walk.

Ian Poulter made a run at the title shooting a one-under, 69, but the Englishman settled for second place.  Greg Norman made the headlines all week and the former Open champion finished in third place after a final round 77.  Tied with Norman, Henrik Stenson finished a consistent week with final round 71.  Jim Furyk and amateur Chris Wood finished tied for fifth at 10-over par for the week. 

Nine players tied for seventh place (12-over), including Ernie Els, Paul Casey, Anthony Kim, Robert Karlsson, Stephen Ames, Steve Stricker, Robert Allenby and Ben Curtis.  For Ernie Els, he rebounded nicely after an opening round 80 to finish 69, 74, 69 to nab a top 10.  Anthony Kim played well in his first Open championship and, despite a final round 75, he got a top 10 finish in a major.

Other notable scores:

• Adam Scott finishes with 72 to move into a tie for 16th
• K. J. Choi finished 75, 79 to drop to 16th place
• Phil Mickelson scored rounds of 79, 68, 76, 71 to finish 19th
• Masters champ Trevor Immelman finished 19th
• Rocco Mediate shot 76, 76 over the weekend to fall to 19th place
• David Duval finished with 71 to rebound from an 83 to finish in 39th place
• Sergio Garcia didn’t have last year’s magic, finishing 51st with rounds of 72, 73, 74, 78

Tseng started the day with the lead and held that lead until a bogey on the last hole of the day, and tournament, moved her back into a tie with Oh.  Tseng shot an even-par 72 in the final round.  Oh moved into position with a round of 69, three-under par. 

They played the 18th hole in the playoff and Oh landed her approach shot to about 6 inches from the cup for a tap-in victory.

Na Yeon Choi finished in third place with weekend rounds of 69 and 68.  Stacy Prammanasudh, Hee-Won Han and Shanshan Feng, who shot 63 in the final round, all tied for fourth place. 

Kristy McPherson and Kyeong Bae tied for seventh and tied for ninth were Wendy Ward, Katie Futcher and Christina Kim, who led the first two rounds.

Norman shot a two-over par, 72, on a windy day that had measured gusts up to 50 miles per hour.  He started the day with a bogey and added two more on the third and sixth holes before dropping a birdie on the eighth hole.  A double-bogey on the 10th hole put Norman at four-over par for the day but the Shark rebounded with birdies on the 14th and 17th holes.

Harrington kept pace with Norman, shooting 72 with four birdies, four bogeys and a double-bogey.  Choi started his round with five straight pars before making double-bogey on the sixth hole.  He finished the round of 75 with two double-bogeys, two bogeys and a birdie.

Eight players are within five shots of Norman.  Scores were reflective of the conditions as many players couldn’t shoot better than 75.  Anthony Kim shot 71 in the third round and is tied for fifth at seven-over par.  He could be an interesting player to watch on Sunday.  Still in the mix are Rocco Mediate, Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter and Robert Allenby.  

The reigning McDonald’s LPGA Championship winner, Tseng started her bogey-free round with a birdie.  She made an eagle on the sixth hole and carded birdies on the seventh, 14th and 16th holes for her six-under day.

Futcher followed a second round 64 with a six-under, 66, to take sole possession of second place.  She will try to overtake the rookie for her first career victory.  In third place, Hee-Won Han set a tournament record with a round of 61, 11-under par.  Han birdied seven of the first eight holes and made four more after the turn to finish the bogey-free round. 

Michelle Wie was disqualified after the round for failing to sign her scorecard after the second round.  At the end of Saturday’s round, WIe was in second place, one shot back or Tseng.  The unfortunate incident puts a cloud over what was turning out to be a great week, and possible win, from Wie.