After determining the course of treatment for his wife Amy’s breast cancer, Phil Mickelson has decided to return to the course for the St. Jude Invitational June 11.  He will use the tournament as a tune-up for the US Open the following week.  After that, his schedule is still uncertain.

John Daly’s 6 month PGA suspension is officially over.  Daly was suspended in November after numerous off the course incidents and had recently been playing on the European Tour.  He has been given a sponsor exemption to play in the St. Jude Invitational June 11-14 and is expected to play.

In other news, Daly wore bright pink trousers in the Sunday’s final round at the BMW PGA Championship as a gesture of support for Phil Mickelson’s wife, Amy, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.  “I had a pair, so I figured I’d do that for her today. I thought it would be a good gesture,” Daly said of his trousers. “I know Phil very well and I know Amy. I’ve known them for a long time — we’ve played the Tour together. She’s a great lady. She has always been a sweetheart to everybody.”

Phil Mickelson’s wife, Amy, has been diagnosed with breast cancer.  Mickelson has indefinitely suspended his PGA Tour schedule to be with his wife during this time.  His wife will need more tests before beginning treatment, but major surgery could come within the next 2 weeks.

It’s always tough when a loved one has to battle a disease like cancer.  Our thoughts and prayers are with Amy, Phil and their children during this time.

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.

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.

With a 9-foot birdie putt on the last hole, Phil Mickelson secured a one-stroke victory over Tim Clark and Rod Pampling at the Crowne Plaza Invitational.

The victory was Mickelson’s 34th on the PGA Tour.  ESPN has a nice recap of the event.

Augusta National is where golf season begins, every year.

Sure, players tee it up at the Mercedes Championship in the first week of January, and every week since. But truly, the golf season does not start until the Masters. Consider all the stuff that happens before this week mere warmups — the preseason, if you will.

On Thursday, 94 players will compete for the green jacket and the honor of winning the year’s first — and most prestigious — major championship. But in reality, only two players have a legitimate chance of winning the Masters.

The odds-on favorite, of course, is Tiger Woods, winner of four previous Masters and 13 major championships. A victory by Tiger will fuel so much talk about a calendar-year grand slam that it will become the all-consuming golf story for at least the next two months.

Phil Mickelson is the only one who’s capable of putting that scenario to a swift end. While Lefty has been his mercurial self in the first eight tournaments he’s played — with a win and a playoff loss and also a missed cut — his game is the only one good enough to give Woods a serious challenge. With Tiger performing at his optimum level, no one else even has a chance.

But they’ll all show up anyway. And why not. As a professional golfer, getting into the Masters itself is quite a reward in itself.

Just ask Johnson Wagner.