FanHouse Sergio Garcia

Every sports fan has a little bit of a photographic memory. They remember images of their favorite players or incredible moments. The Joe Carter home run leap. The concluding seconds of the Miracle on Ice. Michael Jordan's final shot against the Jazz in 1997.

In golf, one year stands out for images that will forever be burned in our skull. That year was ten years ago, in 1999. You had the David Duval eagle putt for 59 drop as his yellow Tommy Hilfiger shirt came untucked and a rare first pump ensued. Sergio Garcia closing his eyes to hit a shot from behind a tree at Medinah, only to run down the fairway as it somehow found its way on the putting surface, scissor kick and all. Payne Stewart's statuesque image when the winning putt dropped at Pinehurst. Jean Van de Velde, hands on his hips, standing in the Barry Burn at Carnoustie, pants rolled up, making the most famous triple-bogey in the history of golf. Any and all images from that Sunday at Brookline, when the Americans stormed back to beat the Europeans at the Ryder Cup.

GolfChannel.com decided to put all these in writing in something they're calling "Project '99", and had some of their most talented voices jot down what they remembered from the event personally. Rich Lerner, who has been with The Golf Channel since 1997, chatted with FanHouse about the Van de Velde collapse, amongst other things. Click away for a little trip back in time.

Doug Barron has been suspended for a full year after failing a drug test, becoming the first PGA Tour player to fail such a test since the tour instituted their drug policy in July 2008.

Barron may not fit the mold of the normal athlete to fail drug testing, but in golf, he seems like the perfect culprit. The 40-year-old Barron has been a professional golfer since 1992, playing in 238 career PGA Tour tournaments and 110 career Nationwide Tour events.

On Monday, Barron issued an apology in a statement through the tour.

It seems almost like clockwork, that at some point during your week you'll find out that Colin Montgomerie is not happy about something. Maybe it's Sandy Lyle, saying he cheated. It could be a trigger-happy photographer that didn't know of Mrs. Doubtfire's wrath. Or it simply could be a painter that refuses to brush Monty on a canvas because of his man boobs.

What is certain is he does tend to toss shoes around a lot, and his recent Nike discharge flew directly at England's own Ian Poulter, who after missing out on the Tour Championship, decided that he wouldn't be accepting an invitation to the Vivendi Trophy match in Paris (previously called the Seve Cup), and that rubbed the 2010 Ryder Cup captain the wrong way.

Normal PGA Tour playoffs are important on a number of levels, one of the major ones being financial improvement. A guy winning a playoff normally pockets around a million bucks, along with an extended exemption of at least two years. But what if a playoff were worth $11.35 million? That's what could happen this week at the Tour Championship.

For all the complaining from the players and the media about the continued project that is the FedEx Cup, one thing's for sure -- the third year has been a lot smoother than the previous two. We've had a random winner (Heath Slocum) toss himself in the mix. We've had the Zeus of the golf world (Tiger Woods) put himself in his rightful position atop the standings, but with a decent shot of not winning if someone else were to win the Tour Championship.

For all the good, there is still some uncertainty in the system, with one of those possibilities coming to light this week -- the FedEx Cup could end, on Sunday at East Lake, with two potential playoffs.

Just like the Tiger Slam of 2001, these last few weeks might best be described as the Tiger Slump. Why? Because it wasn't an actual slump like most golfers go through, it was just Tiger Woods doings things that aren't Tiger-like. A loss after a 54-hole lead in a major. A missed putt on the 18th green for birdie that would have tied the lead. A, gulp, finish out of the top-10.

All that could be erased after the first two rounds at the BMW Championship. Woods followed up a first round 68 with a 4-under 67 on Friday, tying the lead at the third leg of the FedEx Cup race and moving him closer to the $10 million bonus. On a course that Woods has won at four times, Woods needed five birdies after making bogey on his first hole of the day to tie Mark Wilson at 7-under, a shot clear of Padraig Harrington Rory Sabbatini, Bo Van Pelt and Marc Leishman.

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The PGA Tour's best players are dog tired. They are at Chicago's Cog Hill this week for the BMW Championship feeling playoff pressure. They are running on fumes.

Do you feel their pain?

In a word: NO!

Golfers, despite all the sore backs, have never impressed anyone with their toughness. The game may have as rich a history as any sport played but rarely anywhere in its memoirs do you find Curt Schilling's bloody sock, or Willis Reed's emotional strength. (OK, Tiger at Torrey Pines in 2008. We'll give you that one, but who else?)

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Not a lot of rookies have had the chance to take command of the FedEx Cup. Zero, actually. The first year Tiger Woods was in control from the get-go. Last year, Vijay Singh was the man that couldn't be beat. If Webb Simpson continues to play like he has so far at the Barclays, he might find himself in a position to win some very nice cheddar for a first-year man on tour.

Simpson is currently 8-under for the first FedEx Cup tournament of the year, two shots clear of second place after a Friday 68 settled in nicely next to his first round 66. It seems like ages ago when we were writing about Simpson, who started his rookie year with two top-10s and a 68-67 start to the FBR Open (he'd finish 77-75 at TPC Scottsdale, and go on to miss nine of his next 13 cuts).

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Paul Goydos showing up on a PGA Tour leaderboard is like finding loose change behind the sofa cushions. Both, although never expected, are always welcome.

And after one round of play in The Barclays -- the first of the four-tournament FedEx Cup playoff series -- at Liberty National Golf Course in Jersey City, N.J.. there is the man friends call "Sunshine'' with a share of the lead.

So why do they call him Sunshine?

"Because of my sunny disposition,'' Goydos will deadpan with emotion of a mounted moose head.

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An inch. That was all that stood between Sergio Garcia and a playoff last week at the Wyndham Championship. Sitting in the greenside bunker on the 18th hole, the 29-year-old Spaniard found himself in need of a heroic hole-out to join Ryan Moore and Kevin Stadler in a playoff to decide the '09 champion.

The bunker shot looked perfect, coming out, biting perfectly and rolling like it was going to cash for the needed birdie. It was, as the golfing world has tended to say, too perfect of a shot, and the spin kept it from rolling that extra inch. Tap-in par, one shot out of the playoff, another hung-head for Garcia. Most times, Sergio lets these things affect him. Thursday at the Barclays, Garcia came out firing, posting a 6-under 65 to join Paul Goydos and Steve Marino as the leaders after day one.

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Monday afternoon in downtown New York and while Sergio Garcia may not have time on his hands, he does have his hands on an expensive timepiece.

Less than 24 hours after the final round of the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., provided another reminder that golf seems to be carrying a real mad-on for him, the star-crossed Spaniard is keeping a scheduled sponsor promotional appearance for Omega. In addition to hosting a clinic for youngsters from two New York junior golf associations, Garcia is on hand to donate his "Mission Hills Double Eagle Chronograph Constellation" wristwatch to a public display that includes Michael Phelps' Planet Ocean Chronograph and Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin's Speedmaster Moonwatch.

So when better to ask: Where has the time gone?