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Graeme McDowell started the FedEx Cup at No. 27 and now goes to Crooked Stick needing a strong tournament to reach the Tour Championship. This is only his second year as a PGA Tour member during the FedEx Cup era, and he still hasn't quite figured it out.

Not the points - the emotion.

McDowell hasn't won this year, but he was in the final group at the U.S. Open and had a chance on the back nine of the British Open.

"I've just been fatigued the last few weeks," McDowell said. "I haven't switched on since the PGA Championship. It's my second shot at the PGA playoffs, and I probably haven't mentally gotten my head around it. It's a busy few months. I had a shot at the U.S. Open, I had a shot at the Open, did all right at the PGA. I think I'm tired. The big priority the next few weeks before the Ryder Cup is a lot of rest, making sure I'm fired up come Medinah."

If he had it do over, McDowell might have followed the route of Jason Dufner, who skipped The Barclays. McDowell missed the cut at Bethpage Black, which is the same as not playing. Of course, that's easy to say now.

"It's difficult to not play these things," he said. "They have big purses, and the carrot ($10 million bonus to the winner) is fairly large."

Dufner had that luxury.

He was No. 2 in the FedEx Cup going into the playoffs and only slipped to No. 6 after not playing. The only thing it might cost him is one of the top five seeds, meaning he could capture the FedEx Cup with a win at East Lake no matter what anyone else does.

And if Dufner had not been ranked so high?

"I might have had to think about it," Dufner said.

NOTES: Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and Tiger Woods are the only players to be No. 1 in the FedEx Cup, world ranking and the PGA Tour money list at the same time.

...Canadians David Hearn and Graham DeLaet are two of three players who started outside the top 100 in the FedEx Cup but have a chance to advance to the final playoff event should they do well at the BMW Championship. However, Hearn (No. 58) and DeLaet (No. 60) will need to be in the top 30 to make it to the Tour Championship in two weeks time. Both will be paired together for the opening two rounds of the BMW event.

... No one in the BMW Championship has competed in a professional event at Crooked Stick. Davis Love III and Billy Mayfair were at the 1991 PGA Championship when it was played here, but neither advanced out of the first round of the playoffs. The winner this week will earn $1.44 million. That's $240,000 more than the entire purse when Crooked Stick hosted the 1991 PGA Championship.

THIS WEEK IN GOLF

PGA TOUR - BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

COURSE: Crooked Stick Golf Club (7,497 yards, par 72).

TELEVISION: Golf Channel (Thursday, 3-6 p.m., 8:30-11:30 p.m.; Friday, 12:30-3:30 a.m., 3-6 p.m., 8:30-11:30 p.m.; Saturday, 12:30-3:30 a.m., 3:30-6 p.m., 9 p.m.-3 a.m.; Sunday, noon-2 p.m., 9 p.m.-3 a.m.) and NBC (Saturday, noon-3:30 p.m.; Sunday, 2-6 p.m.).

OH CANADA: David Hearn, Graham DeLaet

NOTES: This is the third of four FedEx Cup playoff events. The top 30 will advance to the Tour Championship in two weeks time where they will play for a $10-million bonus. ...Rory McIlroy, last week's winner, currently leads the points race with 4,799, followed by Barclays winner Nick Watney (3,468) and regular-season leader Tiger Woods (3,417). ... John Daly won the 1991 PGA Championship when it was played at Crooked Stick.

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LPGA TOUR - KINGSMILL CHAMPIONSHIP

COURSE: Kingsmill Resort, River Course (6,315 yards, par 71).

TELEVISION: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 12:30-2:30 p.m., 6:30-8:30 p.m.; Saturday, noon-3:30 p.m., 6:30-9 p.m.; Sunday, 2-5 p.m., 7-9 p.m.).

OH CANADA: Isabelle Beisiegel, Rebecca Lee-Bentham, Alena Sharp, Samantha Richdale, Lorie Kane, Jessica Shepley, Kirby Dreher,

NOTES: This is a new event but a familiar venue for the LPGA. The Michelob Ultra Championship was played at Kingsmill from 2003-09. Cristie Kerr won the event in 2005 and 2009. ... Annika Sorenstam won the 2008 Kingsmill event for the last of 72 LPGA Tour titles. She shot 64-66-69-66 for a tournament-record 19-under 265 total and seven-stroke victory. ...Top-ranked Yani Tseng is skipping the tournament to prepare for her title defense next week in the Women's British Open. Second-ranked Stacy Lewis, No. 5 Ai Miyazato and No. 10 Kerr are the only players in the top 10 in the field. Michelle Wie also is playing. She missed the cut in the Canadian Open and has only one top-10 finish this season.

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CANADIAN TOUR - THE GREAT WATERWAY CLASSIC

COURSE: Smuggler's Glen Golf Course (6,572 Yards, par 71)

NOTABLES: Matt Hill, Michael Gligic, Cory Renfrew, Chris Baryla, David Morland IV, Derek Gillespie, Kent Eger, Wes Heffernan, Eugene Wong, Roger Sloan, Nick Taylor

NOTES: This is the final event of the 2012 Canadian Tour season. ...The top two spots on the Order of Merit are still up for grabs and with it entry into the second stage PGA Tour Q-School. Matt Hill, Michael Gligic and Cory Renfrew currently sit 1-2-3 on the list. Hill leads Gligic by $5,500, with Renfrewsitting another $1,813 behind Gligic. Hill's spot is only threatened if Renfrew finishes inside the top two and Gligic finishes inside the top three, while Gligic and Renfrew are separated by the prize money equivalent of a 14th-place finish. ...Eugene Wong will be going for his third straight professional victory after winning the Tour Championship two weeks ago and the Vancouver Open last weekend.

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EUROPEAN TOUR - KLM OPEN

COURSE: Hilversumsche Golf Club (6,906 yards, par 70).

TELEVISION: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; Saturday, 7-11 a.m., Sunday, 6:30-10:45 a.m.).

OH CANADA: No Canadians entered in this event

NOTES: Germany's Martin Kaymer, the 2010 winner, is in the field along with Simon Dyson, Richie Ramsay, Darren Clarke, Paul Casey, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Dutch stars Robert-Jan Derksen, Maarten Lafeber and Joost Luiten. Lafeber won in 2003 at Hilversumsche to become the first Dutchman to win the national championship since 1947. ...European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal is paired with Ryder Cup players Kaymer and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts

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EUROPEAN SENIOR TOUR - PON SENIOR OPEN

COURSE: WINSTONopen Course (6,844 yards, par 72)

OH CANADA: Rick Gibson, Ken Tarling (alternate), Bill Hadwick (alternate)

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ASIAN TOUR - SELANGOR MASTERS

COURSE: Kota Permai Golf and Country Club, Malaysia

OH CANADA: Ron Harvey Jr., Lindsay Renolds

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