TEEING OFF

By THOMAS BONK

May 3, 2007 12 AM PT

Five things to keep an eye on this weekend on the pro golf scene:

1. If you’re measuring how deep the pool of PGA Tour events actually is, this week’s Wachovia Championship is about as far from the bottom-feeders as you can get.

Besides drawing 28 of the top 30 players in the world rankings -- No. 13 Paul Casey and No. 19 David Toms are the absentees -- the purse of $6.4 million is the highest of any non-major or non-World Golf Championship tournament all year, and it’s only about $400,000 less than the expected payouts for the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.

Tiger Woods is playing in his first tournament since the Masters and that is always the first step in securing higher tournament status, even more so than prize money. But there’s more.

Quail Hollow Club is popular with the pros, and the smartly scheduled date, the week before the newly positioned Players Championship, ensured a top-notch field. Plus, there’s the horsepower factor: the courtesy cars are from Mercedes-Benz.

Now, there needs to be an improvement in the ratings on CBS to show Wachovia that it’s investing its money wisely. Last year’s fourth-round ratings dipped 32% to 2.5 from 3.7 in 2005. There were weather problems.

2. Woods, by the way, is not packing the square-faced Nike Sumo driver he tested last week during practice at Oakmont Country Club. And, playing with John Cook, Woods shot a course-record 62 at the lengthened Isleworth layout last weekend.

3. You’ve got to start somewhere, and for Masters champion Zach Johnson, it was at the Nationwide Tour event being played this week in Fort Smith, Ark., where he won his first pro tournament in 2003.

4. Charl Schwartzel? Golfer or pretzel snack? Golfer. Not only has he joined countryman Ernie Els among three South Africans -- Retief Goosen is the other -- in the top six of the European Tour’s Order of Merit, the 22-year-old is also using Els’ former caddie, Ricci Roberts, and credited Roberts for helping in last week’s victory at the Spanish Open at Madrid.

5. They’re working another short week on the LPGA Tour. The SemGroup Championship is the fourth of nine 54-hole tournaments on the LPGA’s 32 official money tournament schedule. There are no 54-hole PGA Tour events.

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LEADERS

PGA MOST TOP-10 FINISHES

*--* Player Events T10 1. Robert Allenby 10 6 2. Luke Donald 10 5 3. Charles Howell III 11 5 4. Tiger Woods 5 4 4. Aaron Baddeley 10 4 4. David Toms 10 4 4. Jerry Kelly 11 4 4. Jeff Quinney 11 4 4. Bubba Watson 11 4 4. Mark Calcavecchia 12 4

*--*

LPGA MOST TOP-10 FINISHES

*--* 1. Lorena Ochoa 7 6 2. Stacy Prammanasudh 7 5 3. Shi Hyun Ahn 4 3 3. Morgan Pressel 5 3 3. Meaghan Francella 7 3

*--*

CHAMPIONS MOST TOP-10 FINISHES

*--* 1. Loren Roberts 8 6 2. David Eger 8 5 2. Jay Haas 9 5 4. Mark O’Meara 6 4 4. Brad Bryant 8 4 4. Hale Irwin 8 4 4. Eduardo Romero 8 4 4. Andy Bean 9 4 4. Allen Doyle 9 4 4. Tom Purtzer 9 4 4. D.A. Weibring 9 4

*--*

THE TOURNAMENTS

PGA TOUR

Wachovia Championship

* When: Today-Sunday.

* Where: Quail Hollow Club (7,442 yards, par 72), Charlotte, N.C.

* TV: Golf Channel (Today-Friday, noon-3 p.m., 6:30-8:30 p.m.) and Ch. 2 (Saturday-Sunday, noon-3 p.m.).

* 2006 winner: Jim Furyk.

LPGA TOUR

SemGroup Championship

* When: Friday-Sunday.

* Where: Cedar Ridge Country Club (6,602 yards, par 71), Broken Arrow, Okla.