FanHouse Padraig Harrington

SAN FRANCISCO -- Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods had just improved their Presidents Cup record together this week to 4-0 and were about to do the obligatory network interview Saturday evening when a leather-lunged voice from bleachers behind 16 green stopped everything.

"Wisconsin and Stanford in the Rose Bowl!!"

Sticker laughed out loud. Even Woods, who can ignore a marching band, turned to look into the stands, shook his head in disbelief and responded with a smile. Some things just are not going to happen, but this week at Harding Park Golf Club the loud guy was on the right track. Stricker, a big cheese in Wisconsin, and Woods, the Stanford dropout, are the granddaddy of all golf pairings.

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ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) -- Luke Donald was almost perfect with his putter on the way to an 8-under 64 at Kingsbarns on Sunday that gave him a one-stroke lead over Rory McIlroy and Simon Dyson in the weather-delayed third round of the Dunhill Links Championship.

Donald had nine birdies and just one bogey, at the 15th.

Four.

That is how many cuts Adam Scott has made since March 16. Four cuts in 14 tournaments. That is also the number under par the Australian hunker shot on Thursday at the Turning Stone Resort Championship, forcing everyone to kindly look up at the leaderboard, shake our collective heads and sigh, "Should have known."

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ATLANTA -- It would take a boatload of nerve to come down the stretch of a golf tournament, playing for a $10 million bonus and not lose a single bodily function.

So how much fun was it Sunday afternoon at East Lake Golf Club watching the PGA Tour's best look like they were in need of a extra-large jar of antacids?

Phil Mickelson was the lucky one. Beginning the week No. 14 on the FedEx Cup points list, Lefty admitted from the start he had the slimiest of chances. So he went out Sunday, shot 65 and won The Tour Championship.

The problems were for players who realized what they were chasing.

ATLANTA -- Tiger Woods is guaranteed to win the FedEx Cup and $10 million playoff bonus Sunday at East Lake Golf Club with a victory in the Tour Championship.

Considering he is two shots back of third-round leader Kenny Perry's 8 under, while both Sean O'Hair and Phil Mickelson are within two shots of Woods, that's not necessarily guaranteed. Also in the picture is Padraig Harrington, five shots back of Perry.

Possible scenarios for claiming the bonus:

ATLANTA -- East Lake Golf Club has a lot going for it.

Players seem to honestly like the historic course designed by Donald Ross and, if you are looking for history, this is where Bobby Jones learned to play the game as a kid.

There is, however, the finishing hole.

It's a par 3. At 235 yards with an elevated green and front bunkers to the right and left, it's a bear of a par-3, mind you, but still a par 3 to end a golf tournament. A very important golf tournament.

ATLANTA -- This is as close as the PGA Tour gets to a summer rerun.

Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington are back again, this time for the final twosome of today's third round of the Tour Championship. For the record, it will be the eighth time this year and the fourth since August they will have shared a pairing.

John Daly spends that much time with one person and he owes alimony.

There is nothing to litigate here.

Harrington could not be happier with the partnership.

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ATLANTA -- John Senden isn't apologizing for being in this week's Tour Championship.

"Points are points," he said. "If every shot counts, then I'm No. 30.''

He's right. The top 30 golfers on the FedEx Cup points list are at East Lake Golf Club this week, and Senden was the last guy in. It's the way he arrived that makes it interesting.

Two weeks ago at the BMW Championship, where this week's field was settled, Senden bogeyed the 17th hole of his final round and saw his projected finish drop him to 31st on the points list and out of action.

Senden was conceding as much, standing outside the scoring tent at Cog Hill lamenting the close call. But then a strange thing happened.

ATLANTA -- Arriving to the first tee box at East Lake Golf Club before starting Thursday's opening round of the Tour Championship, Sean O'Hair felt the need to do something Tiger Woods does not.

"Hi," he said, extending a right hand to announcer Tom Kerbo, whose job it was to introduce each golfer to the surrounding gallery. "I'm Sean O'Hair."

That O'Hair needed to identify himself in a field of 30 golfers would be only the first thing on a hot, sunny and humid Georgia day that made him different from you know who.

O'Hair shot 4-under 66, one shot better than Woods, who is joined by Padraig Harrington and Stewart Cink at 67.

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Earlier this week, Sean O'Hair, who had been struggling with his putting, got a useful tip from a guy that knows a little bit about the short game. His name is Tiger Woods. And after the tip, he is trailing his short game "student" after O'Hair went out ablaze, firing a 4-under 66 to lead the Tour Championship by a shot.

Tiger, along with Stewart Cink and Padraig Harrington, are one back at 3-under, with U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover alone at 2-under. O'Hair, the three-time winner on the PGA Tour including the 2009 Quail Hollow Championship, carded six birdies in round one, more than anyone on the course. He's currently in a position to where, if everything stood the same, he'd be the FedEx Cup champion.

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