FOOTBALL RULES: When the PGA Championship was coming to its dramatic conclusion on Aug. 15, a Denver TV station pulled the plug. Why? Because it was obligated to show a Denver Broncos-Buffalo Bills preseason football game. KCNC left the golf tournament with Vijay Singh and Justin Leonard still to putt on the 72nd hole. Leonard missed, Singh made and Singh eventually won in a three-hole playoff - none of which was shown live. KCNC officials said the station was contractually obligated to show the entire football game, although it could have stayed with the golf another 10 minutes. The station showed a replay at 10:50 p.m.
PHIL AT INNISBROOK? The fact that Phil Mickelson was unable to win a major after capturing the Masters - he came up five total shots short of a playoff at the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship - may be the Chrysler Championship's gain. Mickelson had hinted at severely cutting back his schedule after next month's Ryder Cup. But with an outside shot at earning his first PGA Tour player of the year award, Mickelson is prepared to add events to his schedule. He is committed to the Canadian Open, but that's it. Given that he played in last year's Chrysler Championship (he missed the cut) and likes to play the week before big tournaments, in this case the Tour Championship, perhaps he will again be in the field.
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? European Ryder Cup team captain Bernhard Langer will not arrive in his native Germany until Sunday morning for the final round of the BMW Open, the final qualifying event for European players to make the team. Langer will announce his captain's selections afterward, but has been taking some flak for not showing up until Sunday. The reason? His daughter, Jackie, is starting college in the United States and Langer is escorting her to school. He makes his home in Boca Raton.QUOTABLE
"If there were questions - I hope there weren't many - maybe this will answer some of them. But the true answers come at the Ryder Cup." - STEWART CINK, who won the NEC Invitational, his fourth PGA Tour victory, the same week he was one of captain Hal Sutton's at-large selections for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
STAT OF THE WEEK
Six players on the PGA Tour have won more tournaments this year than Tiger Woods: Vijay Singh has won five and Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia and Stewart Cink two each.
