The Two Events I'm Watching This Week

Well, I wager anyone could be watching them, but they're the activities that have storylines I'm interested in this week.

The LPGA will be at the Indy Women in Tech Championship, which is held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (aka "the Brickyard," where the Indy 500 is held every year). Tony Jesselli has a preview of the event here, but there are two things that particularly interest me this week.

• Lexi Thompson is defending her title, and it's her first event back after her self-imposed exile for personal reasons a few weeks back. I'll be interested to see how she plays.
• I'm equally interested to see how Emily Tubert plays this week. For those of you who missed it, Emily caught the bug for long drives after attending an event a couple of weeks back. This week she decided to try Monday qualifying for the Tennessee Big Shots tournament... and she not only got in, she won the thing! Then she drove to Indianapolis for the LPGA event, which she was already in. I'm curious to see how she does after her unexpected victory.

On the other hand, the PGA Tour will be in my backyard this week, teeing it up at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro NC. As I'm sure most of you know, this is the last regular season event before the FedExCup Playoffs start, so a number of players are under pressure to secure their Tour cards. But there's more on the line than that.

Henrik Stenson is the protecting champ, so his card is secure... However his spot on the European Ryder Cup group isn't. A variety of gamers are inside the same boat, jockeying for a niche thru the World Rankings factor list earlier than the Euro automatic qualifiers are determined. Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell, Rafa Cabrera Bello and Matthew Fitzpatrick are all within the discipline looking to make it in... Or as a minimum begin the "provoke the Captain" procedure.

Ironically, none of the maximum probable American choices can be at the Wyndham. They have apparently decided to take their possibilities with the FedExCup events. (I need to notice that Webb Simpson, who snagged the closing qualifying spot, WILL be gambling this week. This is a domestic recreation for him.) But it's worth noting that a few players who are more than a dozen spots down the United States list ARE gambling this week. These are players who typically play here -- guys like Brandt Snedeker and Ryan Moore -- and a few appropriate play at an area in which they're comfortable may want to provide them a jump on the alternative men if that play keeps throughout the Playoffs.

I actually have my very own mind on who is probably the United States alternatives but I'll wait a bit in the direction of the Ryder Cup to publish them. And I want to peer who the Euro qualifiers are earlier than I even attempt to guess theirs!

Bear in mind that both events begin on Thursday this year. The LPGA event was only 54 holes last year, but it's a full 72 this time around. The LPGA event begins at noon ET while the PGA Tour event follows it at 3pm ET, both on GC.