Flash back to Sunday, May 15, 2005. I'm glued to the TV watching fellow Arizona native and good guy Ted Purdy come from two back and shoot a 5-under 65 to beat rookie Sean O'Hair by one and win his first PGA Tour title. Just two days before that (on Friday the 13th no less), Tiger Woods actually missed a cut for the first time since 1998. A streak that lasted with 142 events and beat the previous record of 113 held by Mr. Byron Nelson himself. Anyone for superstitions?

Sadly Tiger will not be playing this year either and is quite understandable after his father Earl passed away last Wednesday. My sympathy and condolences go out to the Woods family. As many often say, the show must go on and let's take a look at this years EDS Byron Nelson Championship.

I would absolutely love to see Ted defend his title this week and this season is already looking better than last. Last year Ted's best finish leading up the Byron Nelson was a T20 at the Chrysler Classic of Tucson. This year his best finish so far is a T5 at the Bay Hill Invitational.

There will be plenty of top players to challenge Ted this week including last week's Wachovia winner, Jim Furyk, last year's runner up, Sean O'Hair, 2004 champion, Sergio Garcia, and 2003 champion, Vijay Singh. Phil Mickelson annouced recently that he will not be participating in this years Byron Nelson citing a little fatigue and wanting to prepare more for the U.S. Open. The list of previous winners is virtually a who's who that includes Garcia, Singh, Jesper Parnivik, Woods, Mickelson, Ernie Els, Jack Nicklaus, four-time winner Tom Watson, and of course Mr. Byron Nelson himself back in 1944.

The event began its life as the Dallas Open and officially changed its name to the Byron Nelson Championship in 1968. Starting back in 1995 the tournament is played on two courses: the first is the TPC Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas which is a 7,022 yard par-70 which tends to favor a shot-maker rather than a power player. Originally designed by Jay Morrish with the help of Byron Nelson and Ben Crenshaw the course was completed in an amazing 12 months, just in time for the 1986 Byron Nelson.

The second course is the 6,847 yard par-70 Cottonwood Valley Golf Course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and Jay Morrish, which was originally designed as a private course for the members of Las Colinas. In 1994 severe weather damage to the TPC forced this course into action and it was then the PGA Tour discovered how much they liked this course as well so it was the 1995 tournament that started the use of both courses.

The EDS Byron Nelson Championship has a purse of $6,200,000 with $1,116,000 to the winner. It will be held at the TPC at Four Seasons-Las Colinas and Cottonwood Valley Golf Course in Irving, TX from May 11 - 14, 2006 and can be heard on XM Radio and seen on USA and CBS at the following times:

Thu, 5/11 12pm-8pm ET XM 146
Fri, 5/12 12pm-8pm ET XM 146
Sat, 5/13 12pm-8pm ET XM 146
Sun, 5/14 12pm-8pm ET XM 146

Thu, 5/11 4pm-6pm ET USA
Fri, 5/12 4pm-6pm ET USA
Sat, 5/13 3pm-6pm ET CBS
Sun, 5/14 3pm-6pm ET CBS

Photo Credit: © AP.

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The sun has set on a record-setting final round at the Wachovia Championship, and it is time to move on to the great state of Texas for the Byron Nelson Championship. This tournament is the only one on the PGA Tour that is named after a Hall-of-Fame golfer, and it is definitely one of the special events on tour. This will mark the first time the "Big Five" have all played in the same tournament since The Masters. Tiger Woods is still the top-ranked golfer in the world, but Vijay Singh inched ever so close to the top spot with his playoff win Sunday at the Wachovia Championship. Tiger is sitting at 13.02 points, and Vijay is now up to 12.88 points and will surely regain the number one position with a win this week.

Tiger would have had a top-ten finish in Charlotte if he wouldn't have been hit with a two-stroke penalty on the tenth hole in the final round. He moved a wire to get a better look at an approach shot, and the rules infraction proved costly. That dropped him just outside the top ten into a tie for 11th. Phil Mickelson had an awesome final round going Sunday before double bogeying the 17th and bogeying the 18th. He still shot 66, and ended up in a tie for seventh.

The last time we saw Ernie Els, he was winning the BMW Asian Open by an amazing 13 shots. He will be teeing it up in America for the first time since having a terrible finish at Augusta. His fellow South African and remaining member of the "Big Five," Retief Goosen, will also be playing in America for the first time since The Masters. He had a little better finish at Augusta than Ernie Els, finishing in a tie for third. Goosen was last seen two weeks ago at the Johnnie Walker Classic in Europe where he finished in second place. So both Els and Goosen should be in "U.S. Open form" when they get started on Thursday.

Then there is Sergio Garcia. There are two sides of the story this week for the young Spaniard. He comes to the Byron Nelson Championship as the defending champion after winning here last year in a three-man playoff. He shot -10 for the tournament and defeated both Robert Damron and Dudley Hart in the extra session. That is the good news for him. The bad news occurred just three days ago in Charlotte. He held a six shot lead going into the final round and squandered that by shooting and even-par 72 on the final day. Both Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh shot 66 and forced their way into a playoff with Garcia to decide the winner. It didn't take long for Sergio to be eliminated from things, as he carded a bogey on the first playoff hole and finished in a tie for second. How will he react this week? Will he be able to shake it off and defend his Byron Nelson title, or will he be haunted by what might have been at the Wachovia Championship?

That is just six of the top guys in the world that will be playing this week in a very stacked field. There are a number of top-20 players making the trip to the Byron Nelson Championship this week. Some of the more popular names include the young guns Luke Donald and Charles Howell III. Some of the tour veterans that are teeing it up include last week's runner-up Jim Furyk, Stuart Appleby, Scott Verplank, Kenny Perry, Chad Campbell, and the always popular John Daly. These guys will be looking to sneak their way up the leaderboard and claim the title from the "Big Five" and Sergio.

The event this week will be played on two different golf courses, the TPC Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas and Cottonwood Valley Golf Club. The TPC Four Seasons Resort is among the top-ranked golf courses in the state of Texas and requires accuracy off the tee and great putting. It is 7,022 yards and par is 70. The finishing hole, also called "Byron's View", is a devilish par-4 that requires a tee shot down the right side of the fairway. This will set up a second shot to an undulating green guarded by bunkers on both sides. It is not nearly as tough as the 18th at Quail Hollow Club last week in Charlotte, but it will test the players in the final round.

Located on the west side of the TPC Four Seasons Resort, Cottonwood Valley Golf Club offers its own unique test of golf. It measures out to 6,847 yards and par is 70. Cottonwood Vally is noted for the first two holes. The first hole has a Texas-shaped green and an Oklahoma-shaped bunker. The second hole is a short par three that requires a short iron tee shot over water. Tough crosswinds make club selection difficult, as this hole was ranked the second hardest on the PGA Tour in 2000. A par-par start on this course will definitely get a player headed in the right direction.

I am picking the "Big Easy" Ernie Els to win this week in Irving, TX. He has stated that he is feeling very good about his golf game and has won three times on the European Tour in 2005. He had a couple of shaky starts in both The Players Championship and The Masters, but I think he is back and feeling better. And besides, it's about time for the U.S. Open, and that is when Els usually turns it up a notch. For my "sleeper" pick, I'm going with Scott Verplank. He has played so well his last four starts, including a tie for second at The Players Championship and a tie for 11th last week in Charlotte. He was also born in Dallas, TX and played college golf at Oklahoma State University, so he knows how to play in windy conditions.

Speaking of wind, the weather isn't looking perfect but should be ok. Thursday's opening round will be hot and dry, with some pretty gusty wind added into that. There is a chance of rain for the weekend, but it's not a very high chance. Highs should be anywhere from the mid 70's to mid 80's for the entire event. The total purse for the event is $5.8 million, with just over a million going to the winner. The EDS Byron Nelson Championship can be seen on USA and CBS at the following times:

Thu    4-6pm ET    USA
Fri    4-6pm ET    USA
Sat    3-6pm ET    CBS
Sun    3-6pm ET    CBS

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