Philadelphia, PA -- (Sports Network) - PGA TOUR - BMW CHAMPIONSHIP, Bellerive Country Club, St. Louis, Missouri - The third of four FedEx Cup playoff events will be contested this week at Bellerive Country Club.

Last year at Cog Hill, Tiger Woods fired four rounds in the 60s, including a closing eight-under 63 to earn a two-shot win over Aaron Baddeley.

Woods' total of 22-under 262 smashed the old tournament scoring record by five shots, his fourth win at this tournament. As he continues to recover from his knee surgery, Woods won't defend his title this week.

Minus Woods, the 69 players that did advance to the third playoff event will have to contend with Vijay Singh. The Fijian has won both playoff events so far and has a commanding lead in the race for the $10 million payout at the end of the playoffs.

Singh is more than 12,000 points ahead of Sergio Garcia, who lost a playoff to Singh at The Barclays and shared fifth behind him at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

At the Deutsche Bank, 10 players played their way into this week's field for the BMW Championship, with the big mover being Tim Herron, who jumped from 99th to 48th.

Mike Weir took second behind Singh at the Deutsche and climbed to third on the points list.

Bellerive was scheduled to host the 2001 WGC-American Express Championship, but the event was canceled due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

However, it has hosted the 1953 Western Open, the 1965 U.S. Open as well as the 1992 PGA Championship among other big events. The course underwent renovations in 2005 and 2006.

After this year, the event moves back to Cog Hill for the 2009-2011 playings, and then to Crooked Stick in 2012.

The Golf Channel and NBC will again split television coverage this week.

Next week is a week off for the PGA Tour. The following week is the Ryder Cup and the Viking Classic. The European team will defend their title at the Ryder Cup, which will be played at Valhalla. The Viking Classic is the first Fall Series event, with Chad Campbell winning the title last year.

EUROPEAN TOUR

EUROPEAN MASTERS, Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club (Alpine Course), Crans Montana, Switzerland - European Ryder Cup teammates Lee Westwood and Miguel Angel Jimenez will be among the top players in the field for this week's Omega European Masters.

Last year, Brett Rumford defeated Phillip Archer by chipping in from behind the green on the first playoff hole to earn his third European Tour win and first since 2004. It was the first playoff at this event since 1998.

Rumford will join six past champions from the last 10 years at Crans-sur- Sierre -- among them, 54-year-old Champions Tour regular Eduardo Romero, who owns two European Masters titles. Previous winners Bradley Dredge ('06), Ricardo Gonzalez ('01), Westwood ('99) and Sven Struver ('98) will also be on hand.

Last week's winner at the Johnnie Walker Championship, Gregory Havret, will be looking to build on his thrilling victory at Gleneagles as he tries to become the first French player to win this event.

As usual, the Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds. Next week is the Mercedes-Benz Championship, which was won by Soren Hansen last year.

NATIONWIDE TOUR

UTAH CHAMPIONSHIP, Willow Creek Country Club, Sandy, Utah - This week's tournament arrives with a Nationwide Tour rarity: a defending champion.

Franklin Langham opened with a 63 in the first round of last year's Utah Championship, then added three more rounds in the 60s to finish off a two-shot win over Richard Johnson. It was Langham's third career victory on the Nationwide Tour, the first coming all the way back in 1993.

If he can pull off a win this week, Langham would become the first player in tour history to successfully defend a title. He had problems making cuts last season, and he finished No. 32 on the money list -- seven spots from earning a PGA Tour card for 2008.

Of course, if it can be said Langham had problems making cuts last season, it's safe to say the 40-year-old has found it literally impossible this year. He hasn't played more than two rounds all season.

The Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds this week. Next up is the Albertsons Boise Open, where Jon Mills set a tournament scoring record in his win last year.

CANADIAN TOUR

TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP, National Pines Golf Club, Barrie, Ontario, Canada - The Canadian Tour ends its 2008 season this week with its flagship event, the Tour Championship.

Though it is one of the smaller North American circuits, the Canadian Tour is still experiencing the same growth that bigger golf entities enjoy, and this year's event features a prize purse that has increased from $200,000 to $235,000 with the winner set to be awarded a $37,600 first-place prize.

It brings to an end the race for the Order of Merit title as the tour's leading money winner. The top two players on the list -- John Ellis currently leads Wes Heffernan by more than $25,000 for the top spot -- will receive exemptions into the second stage of PGA Tour National Qualifying School.

Last year, Bret Guetz won the Tour Championship for his first career victory by escaping Byron Smith's final-round 62. Guetz, playing this season on the Nationwide Tour, won't be back to defend his title.

UNITED STATES GOLF ASSOCIATION

U.S. MID-AMATEUR, Milwaukee Country Club, River Hills, Wisconsin - More than 260 amateur golfers will gather at Milwaukee Country Club this weekend for the 28th U.S. Mid-Amateur.

Beginning Saturday, the six-day championship will feature two rounds of stroke play followed by a cut that will trim the field to the low 64 scorers. Those players move on to the first of six scheduled match play rounds, with the winner to be crowned following Thursday's 36-hole final.

Last year, Trip Kuehne rolled to a 9 & 7 victory over Dan Whitaker for his first USGA title. Kuehne noted that the victory came at the end of a "long journey" -- 13 years after he lost to Tiger Woods in the 1994 U.S. Amateur final.

With the victory, Kuehne became the third USGA champion in his family, joining brother Hank and sister Kelly. Trip Kuehne retired from amateur golf after missing the cut by three shots at this year's Masters.

U.S. WOMEN'S MID-AMATEUR, Barton Hills Country Club, Ann Arbor, Michigan - Like the men's event that starts the same day, the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur will feature two rounds of stroke play followed by six rounds of match play, the only difference being an 18-hole final.

Last year, Meghan Bolger became the first player in 11 years -- and just the third in the championship's 21-year history -- to repeat as champion when she defeated Kerry Postillion in the final.

Bolger, then 29, claimed a 1-up victory when she was conceded a par on the 18th hole at Desert Forest Golf Club. Postillion, who was tied with Bolger through 17 holes, was unable to get up and down from a greenside bunker at the last hole.