Golf

Golf keeps wanting to see a final-round tough-guy battle between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson for a tournament title. It gets one and it's halfway around the world.

At the World Golf Championship - HSBC in Shanghai, China, Mickelson holds a two shot lead over Woods and fellow American Nick Watney going into Sunday's final round.

Mickelson shot 67 Saturday to go 14-under while both Woods and Watney posted 70s to stand 12 under.

Tiger Woods plays golf all over the world, all the time, and tends not to discriminate when trophies come his way in different languages. Unfortunately, none of those trophies Woods holds are covered in Mandarin, but that could change if Tiger keeps it up at the HSBC Champions.

After two rounds in Shanghai, Tiger can't stop shooting 67s, and with a birdie on his final hole on Friday, Woods is tied for the lead at 10-under with first-round leader and fellow countryman Nick Watney.

Watney, ranked 32nd in the world, followed up his course record 64 on Thursday with a 2-under 70 to tie Woods and will be paired with Tiger on Saturday with a list of impressive golfers chasing, including 2007 HSBC champion Phil Mickelson, who is 9-under, just one shot back.

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If you didn't know any better when checking the leaderboard of the HSBC Champions, you'd think it was just another PGA Tour event. Unfortunately, it's not, but with all the American flags hibernating near the top, five of the top-12 to be exact, you'd think this tournament was being held in the States, not in Shanghai, China.

Nick Watney, an American, set the course record at Sheshan International Golf Club on Thursday with a 8-under 64, but near his heels are a few well known names, including Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, playing in this event together for the first time.

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If you can look past, for a moment, the fact that both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are multi-millionaires, playing the same game and hording appearance fees most of us won't accumulate in our lifetime, the two are practically polar opposites.

Tiger was a Stanford Cardinal to Phil's Arizona State Sun Devil. Tiger's right-handed to Phil's southpaw. Tiger's black to Phi's white. Tiger is known as a closer to Phil's (sometimes misconceived) choker.

The thing we can all agree on with Tiger and Phil is what they've done for the game of golf, none more apparent than their appearance together this week at the HSBC Champions, in Shanghai, China, a event that kicked off in 2005 and is now drawing the type of talent reserved for major championships and events hosted by past legends.

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.

It's golf's offseason, which doesn't really mean much for fans and players alike except there aren't any majors, and the competition dwindles. It also gives media and players a chance to reflect on the bigger picture. Players evaluate their years and see what could be improved, promising to work on that before next year rolls out. Media has the opportunity to hand out awards, evaluate certain tours and find flaws in those tours.

That is where this concept came up, about the LPGA and their struggle to gain identity. You could argue that women's golf is the second most important female sport, behind tennis, but it still seems that women's golf has struggled this decade to resonate with sports fans, even some golf fans. Annika Sorenstam had moments where she became a story bigger than golf, but most of that dealt with a missed cut and a skirt, the latter being more of a Fred Funk prank than anything.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Lanny Wadkins wanted to make one thing absolutely clear. "It's great to be here," he said.

Wadkins was seated on a stage at the World Golf Village on Monday, or on top of the world. Definitely one of the two, and as far as Wadkins is concerned, the views are identical.

With his name now in the Golf Hall of Fame, Wadkins has finally fulfilled something that was long overdue.

Wadkins -- along with Irishman Christy O'Connor, Sr., Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal and former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower -- was being inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

That was the good news. The bad was that it had taken Wadkins 14 years to get the call.

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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.

TAMPA, Fla. -- The two men had met for the first time only a handful of hours earlier on a warm December morning last year while standing in the clubhouse at TPC Tampa Bay before a Birdies for the Brave charity golf event.

Donny Alston and Brad Bryant. Brad and Donny.

Alston, an assistant club professional at a public course about 45 miles away, called the chance visit with the Champions Tour player "a hoot.'' Making it even better, Andy Bean, another senior tour star, had been there, too.

SONOMA, Calif. (AP) -- Joey Sindelar remained hospitalized Sunday after having a pulmonary embolism during the third round of the Charles Schwab Cup Championships.

The Champions Tour said Sindelar's condition had improved but doctors at Sonoma Valley Hospital wanted to keep the 51-year-old for further observation.