After two successful 2004 seasons, Padraig Harrington and David Howell turn to the Omega Hong Kong Open close out their 2004 golf seasons.

Harrington looks to defend his 2003 victory in Hong Kong and make a start at building the foundation for a season better than last year's second-place European Tour season. After deciding to play on the PGA Tour in 2005, Harrington hopes to defend his first career title with a win in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Ryder Cup star David Howell will be joining Padraig in Hong Kong. Howell is coming off an excellent showing at the Ryder Cup, but will be joined at the event by fellow Ryder Cup teammates Harrington and Miguel Angel Jimenez, as well as the likes of Nick Faldo and Jose Maria Olazabal.

The Omega Hong Kong Open starts Thursday at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling, Hong Kong.

Phil Mickelson, Masters winner, has joined the '59' club and won the 2004 PGA Grand Slam of Golf. The event, which features each of the year's major winners, was played over two rounds at Hawaii's Poipu Bay Golf Course - no easy challenge at par 72, 7,081 yards.

Phil's round features birdies at 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, and 18 and an eagle at 6. He parred the other six holes. Phil had a six-footer for 58 on the last, but slid the putt just past the hole. He had a tap-in for the 59.

Members of the ultra-presigious "59 Club" now include the following

Al Geiberger           1977
Chip Beck              1991
David Duval            1999
Annika Sorenstam       2001
Phil Mickelson         2004

Phil ended up at -17. Vijay Singh finished second at -12, birdieing the last to secure that spot, while Retief Goosen finished at -11. Todd Hamilton finished with a 75 to end up at +1 for the tournament.

Is Phil's switch to Callaway finally starting to pay off!!!

P.S. A day later, ESPN and The Golf Channel provide coverage.

Vijay Singh and caddy Dave Renwick have had a good year - Renwick has been with Singh for 7 of his 9 victories. However, reports are running rampant that there is a growing tension between the two.

Back at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, Renwick was replaced after two rounds due to a supposed hip injury by Vijay's fitness trainer, Joey Diovisalvi, who caddied for the other two Singh victories. Yet Renwick was spotted at the course on Saturday morning. Some speculation suggests that the two had a heated difference of opinion on the practice range at East Lake after Singh carded a 3-over 73 in the second round. "Vijay told Dave he was going to bench him for Saturday, and Dave said, 'In that case, you can bench me permanently'," it was alleged by an unnamed source.

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Tiger Woods is once again the #2 ranked player in the world. Though he may have given up a 54-hole lead in the Tour Championship, his second-place finish was enough to vault him back to second in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Vijay Singh remains perched in first, but Tiger's move drops Ernie Els back to third and Retief Goosen's win vaults him to fourth, pushing the slumping Phil Mickelson down a notch to fifth. Mike Weir and Padraig Harrington climbed to sixth and seventh while Davis Love III, who withdrew from the Tour Championship with a shoulder injury, fell to eight. Sergio Garcia and Stewart Cink round out the top ten.

Chandler "Old Bones" Harper, PGA Championship winner in 1950 and PGA Hall of Fame inductee in 1968 - died Monday in Portsmouth, Virginia from complications due to pneumonia.

Known for his wiry, thin frame, Chandler competed in the first nationally televised golf tournament, the 1953 ("Tam O'Shanter") World Championship of Golf. Chandler held a one-shot lead over Lew Worsham when Worsham holed a 115-yard wedge shot for eagle and a one-shot victory.

With eleven career PGA Tour victories, Harper retired after participating in the 1955 Ryder Cup matches. After retiring, Harper was instrumental in the design and construction of the Bide-A-Wee Golf Course in Portsmouth, Virginia, which hosted the Virginia State Open four times.

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Earning enough money in 2004 to put him in the top-30 on the PGA Tour money list, Padraig Harrington will finally make it official. He plans to join the Tour next year and intends to play 16 to 18 tournaments in a bid to earn his first PGA Tour victory.

"I've won plenty of events, but there's still that tag when I come here that I haven't won here," he said. "The only way to get rid of it is to win here."

Harrington had initially planned on joining the PGA Tour in 2004, but had to hold off after the birth of his son, Patrick. He says that the time is now right. However, he will keep his residence in Dublin, Ireland knowing there are plenty of flights available to get him back and forth.

In addition to the PGA Tour, Harrington also plans to remain on the European tour. This will bring his total tournaments during the year to around 30 or so.

It wasn't exactly the script the sports world was looking for - Retief Goosen squashing the hopes of an end to Tiger's "slump" - but it sure was in keeping with the rest of the year.

After a second and third round storm by Tiger Woods - fresh off his honeymoon with Swedish hottie and new wife Elin - Woods shot a final round 72 to finish four strokes behind South Africa's Retief Goosen. Goosen's final round 64 was partnered with his opening round 70, second round 66 and third round 69 to leave him at eleven-under for the tournament.

Jay Haas, who started the day tied with Woods for the lead, finished with a final round 75 and four-under for the tournament, tied for seventh place with Scott Verplank. Last year's champion, Chad Campbell, joined Davis Love III on the sidelines after he withdrew from the tournament after posting back-to-back 73's.

Going into the final round, you have to ask yourself two questions: is Jay Haas really this good, and can Tiger finally convert a win?

There's a reason Haas was on the abysmally-bad US Ryder Cup team: he's a good golfer who has excellent course management skills. At East Lake this week, with the winds swirling and the fairways tight, precise shots and a steady, confident stroke have given Haas a share of the lead at nine-under par.

The other way to win at East Lake is to be long, where Tiger continues to lead the Tour. Tiger stormed ahead today and shot five-under par to give him an equal share of Jay Haas's lead. However, where Haas has shot 67-66-68, Tiger has followed a first-round 72 (E) with rounds of 64 and 65. Obviously if this trend continues, Jay Haas will be three or four strokes back by the end of Sunday.

Still, don't count Jay Haas out just yet. With two second-place finishes on the Champions' Tour and a third-place finish at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Jay's due for a win before the close of the year.

Oh, and Vijay? Unless he shoots somewhere below 60, he's lost his chance to convert his tenth win of the season. Singh sits eleven shots off the lead, at two-over par.

Tiger woods came roaring back today and Jay Haas not only held onto but extended his first-round lead in the PGA Tour's season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta, GA.

A month shy of his 51st, Jay Haas followed up his first-round 3-under 67 with an even better 4-under 66 to take a two-shot lead over Stephen Ames. Haas is the oldest man to ever qualify for the Tour Championship. "Any time I lead is a great feeling at 20, 30, 40, 50, whatever it is," said Haas. "It's way too early to get too excited about it. But I haven't done it with smoke and mirrors. I've played solid golf, and that gives me encouragement for the weekend."

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