This week: Nationwide Tour's Utah Classic, Thursday through Sunday, Willow Creek Country Club, Sandy, Utah.

World ranking: 576th.

2008 earnings: $92,624 (58th on the Nationwide Tour).

Last tournament: The Tacoma native placed tied for 36th at the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic on Aug. 24. The tour took last week off before swinging westward, and closer to Putnam's home. The Life Christian Academy graduate is making enough birdies – his 252 are fifth-most on the circuit. Yet he's ranked 48th in scoring average (71.05). The only other time Putnam played in Utah, he finished tied for second at the 2006 Nationwide Tour stop.

Tee time Thursday: 121:30 p.m. PDT with Scott Gardiner and Tee McCabe.

PGA TOUR's BMW Championship
Third leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs

Site: St. Louis.

Schedule: Thursday-Sunday.

Course: Bellerive Country Club (7,456 yards, par 71).

Purse: $7 million. Winner’s share: $1.26 million.

Winner’s FedEx Cup share: 11,000.

Television (all times PDT): Golf Channel (Thursday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 5:30-9:30 p.m.; Friday, 12:30-3:30 a.m., 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 5:30-9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 12:30-3:30 a.m.) and NBC (Saturday, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.).

Last year: Tiger Woods won for the fourth time at Cog Hill in LeMont, Ill., matching the lowest final round of his career with an 8-under 63 and shattering the course record at 22-under 262. Aaron Baddeley was second, two strokes back.

Last week: Vijay Singh shot an 8-under 63 on Monday to win the Deutsche Bank Championship, his second straight in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoff system and third in five weeks. The 45-year-old Singh, also the 2004 winner at TPC Boston, had a tournament-record 22-under 262 total. He has 34 PGA Tour victories, a record 22 after turning 40. Mike Weir was second, five strokes back.

Notes: Woods hasn’t played since season-ending surgery after the U.S. Open, but announced a second child is on the way. … The top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings qualified for the event. The field will be cut to 30 for the Tour Championship on Sept. 25-28 at East Lake in Atlanta. Puyallup's Ryan Moore was eliminated last weeks (after PGA Tour media officials told The News Tribune he had advanced to the St. Louis event). … Singh has a 12,225-point lead over Sergio Garcia. The Fijian, a playoff winner two weeks ago in the FedEx Cup opener at Ridgewood, is assured of taking the lead into the Tour Championship and another top finish might be enough to wrap up the title at Bellerive. … Singh earned $2.52 million the last two weeks to replace Woods atop the money list at over $6.4 million. … Tim Herron tied for fifth last week to jump from 99th to 48 in the standings. He closed with a 65. Angel Cabrera shot a 71 to take the 70th spot by 121 points over Pat Perez. … The players are grouped by the standings for the first two days. … Paul Azinger completed the U.S. Ryder Cup team Tuesday, selecting Steve Stricker, Hunter Mahan, J.B. Holmes and Chad Campbell as captain’s picks. Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard, Ben Curtis and Boo Weekley earned automatic spots for the Sept. 19-21 matches against Europe at Valhalla. … The tournament, previously the Western Open, will return to Cog Hill in 2009 and 2011. The 2010 event will be played at Crooked Stick outside Indianapolis. … Robert Trent Jones designed the course. His son, Rees Jones, recently renovated the layout. … Nick Price won the 1992 PGA Championship at Bellerive. … The 2001 American Express Championship at Bellerive was canceled because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. … The tour is off next week. The Viking Classic is Sept. 18-21 at Madison, Miss., opposite the Ryder Cup.

On the Net: http://www.pgatour.com

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