While the PGA Tour and its tournaments have donated over $1 billion to charity in the last 70 years, David Toms wonders how high that number would be if it counted what the players do separate of the PGA Tour.  For example, the figure doesn’t include the millions the Tiger Woods Foundation has contributed to scholarships and grants or Phil Mickleson’s Start Smart or Birdies for the Brave programs.

That is going to change.

Commissioner Tim Finchem announced a plan Tuesday to highlight what golfers do for charity and get more tournaments, sponsors, volunteers and fans more involved so the tour can do even more.  The campaign will be called “Together, Anything is Possible” and will be launched in 2010.

The most visible part will be letting fans know what players are doing through different charities.  The Tour’s website will enable fans to see which players support which charities.  The thought is that this will drive fans to become more involved with charities supported by their favorite players or find out which players support their favorite charity.

Another key piece will be bringing tournaments, sponsors and charities together to learn different ways to raise money.

Finchem has said that the campaign has nothing to do with criticism from Rep. Barney Frank and Senator John Kerry over title sponsorship of golf tournaments.

The 36th annual Players Championship kicks off this week at TPC Sawgrass.  The top ten players in the world are all scheduled to be at this weeks tournament.

The TPC Sawgrass is typically referred to as the unofficial 5th major.  As such, it has a bit more at stake compared to other tournaments.  The winner gets 600 FedEx Cup points.  Only 5 events on tour offer that many points to the champion.  The other 4 are the Masters, the US Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship.

Despite the points that are on the line, 3 of Europe’s biggest stars have decided to skip the event.  Ryder Cup stars Lee Westwood  and Miguel Angel Jiminez are taking some time off and Alvaro Quiros has opted to play in the Italian Open instead.

The British Open will return to Muirfield in 2013, the links course on the eastern shores of Scotland where golf’s oldest championship has been played for centuries.  Murifield last hosted the Open in 2002, when Ernie Els won in a four man play-off and Tiger Woods shot an 81 in the third round.

This will be the 16th time the Open has been played at Murifield and the 11 year gap between hosting is the longest since it was without an Open between 1948 and 19s, 59.

The HSBC Champions in China has been added as a World Golf Championship this year, with a new qualifying criteria and a $7 million purse.  This will be the largest purse ever for a golf tournament in Asia.

The HSBC Champions began in 2005 and has been sanctioned by every major golf tour with the exception of the PGA Tour.  That now changes with its status as the 4th World Golf Championship and the only one not staged in America.

Tiger Woods and defending champion Sergio Garcia have both committed to playing in this years tournament.  It will not be know exactly how many American players will play until the fall.  The event is played after their official season is over and any money earned will not count towards the PGA Tour money list.

Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning will be teaming up in this weeks pro-am at Quail Hollow.  Manning and Woods tee off at 7:30 AM Wednesday.  Woods is making his first PGA Tour start since finishing 6th at this years Masters.  Manning teamed up with Kenny Perry in last weeks Zurich Classic pro-am.

Other notable celebrities participating are NASCAR drivers Jimmie Johnson and Michael Waltrip, former NBA great Julius Irving and ESPN’s Chris Berman.

Stewart Cink urged pro golfers to show more support for the sponsors of tournaments by participating in them, especially in these tough economic times.  Cink made his comments from Connecticut on Monday as he was there to promote June’s Travelers Championship at the TPC River Highlands.  The insurance company recently committed to sponsoring the tournament through 2014.

Cink, who is a member of the PGA’s Policy Board thinks not all players understand the importance of participating in tournaments like the Travelers.  Without participation from the top players in the world, tournaments like the Travelers could face being dropped from the schedule (like the Corning Classic).  When top players don’t participate, the tournaments lose revenue in the form of lost ticket and merchandise sales.

This years Travelers tournament wil be played the week after the U.S. Open and already has commitments from Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh, Anthony Kim, Stuart Appleby and defending champion Stewart Cink.

Tiger Woods will play in his first tournament since the Masters when he enters the Quail Hollow Championship.  Woods committed to the event (formerly called the Wachovia Championship) on Friday.  The last time Tiger was here, he won the event in 2007.  He missed last years event due to knee surgery.

Joining Tiger at Quail Hollow are 9 more of the world’s tp 14 golfers.  Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Masters Champion Angel Cabrera and defending champion Anthony Kim have all committed to the tournament.

Defending champion Andres Romero was disqualified after the first two rounds of the Zurich Classic.  Romero shot what was thought to be a 75 on Friday, including a par on the par-5 18th.  Romero turned in his scorecard, forgetting to add a one stroke penalty for hitting his first shot into the water.  Per PGA Tour rules, since he turned in an incorrect scorecard, he was disqualified.

It likely would not have mattered, as Romero sat a 5-over through the first two rounds and the projected cut was 1-under.

For the current leader board, click here.

Zurich Classic of New Orleans – Charlie Wi leads the classic after Thursday’s round at 6-under par.  Five golfers are tied for 2nd at 5-under.  For the full leader board, click here.

South Georgia Classic – Jonas Blixt of Sweden leads at Kinderlou Forest golf Club after 1 round at 6-under.  Two are tied at 5-under behind him.  For the full leader board, click here.

Ballantines Championship – Mark Brown and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castrano are tied atop the leader board in South Korea at 7-under.  Three golfers are tied for 2nd at 6-under.  For the full leader board, click here.

The Merion Golf Club added 300 yards to the course in preparation for the Walker Cup Match in September (sort of a warm-up for the 2013 US Open for the course).  Merion is known for its narrow fairways, deep roughs and sculpted greens.  US Walker Cup captain Buddy Marucci is certain the the changes will challenge even the best golfers.

“Part of the genius of what has been done here is that the difficult holes were made more difficult, and the easier, shorter holes pretty much stayed the same,” Marucci said at a Walker Cup press event on Tuesday. “I think what has happened is the architecture that was there for 100 years just popped out even more, and the challenges are back to where they were.

“At some places, 300 and some yards might not be significant, but it has made a tremendous difference here, just by allowing that architecture to come back out.”