Ireland's Padraig Harrington tees off in the US$700,000 Omega Hong Kong Open this Thursday leading the field as the highest ranked player on the World Rankings. ...

The 36th Ryder Cup Matches, to be played at The K Club, Straffan, County Kildare, Ireland, will take place from September 22-24, 2006. ...

Southeastern Golf Association Golf Pass offers discount rounds to more than 30 golf courses in Brunswick, Savannah and Statesboro, Ga., as well as Bluffton, Daufuskie Island, Charleston and Myrtle Beach, S.C. The discounts range from 15 percent to over 50 percent off cart and green fees. ...

UPRIGHT Golf expands the marketing responsibilities of Will Nelson to include International Accounts. ...

Srixon staff professional Yuri Fudoh played with the Hi-Brid Tour golf ball on her way to winning a record 10th Japanese LPGA event of the season, the LPGA Tour Championship Ricoh Cup at Hibiscus Golf Club in Miyazaki, Japan, on Sunday, November 30. ...

On the heels of its successful launch of the 350cc 845 Forged Persimmon Driver, which was patterned after the original Tommy Armour 693 Persimmon Wood Driver, Tommy Armour Golf, a subsidiary of Huffy Corporation, introduces the 400cc 845 Forged Persimmon Driver, together with a matching set of 845 Metal Persimmon Fairway Woods. ...

The Canadian Tour announces that the fourth event of its 2004 Tour will be played April 19-25 at Brookside Country Club in Stockton. The 72-hole, full-field event will be televised in the United States, Canada and Japan by The Golf Channel. ...

U.S. Open Champion Jim Furyk, PGA Tour rising star Luke Donald and GOLF MAGAZINE Top 100 Teacher and CBS golf analyst Peter Kostis become part of an all-star line-up as they join the staff of GOLF MAGAZINE beginning with the January issue, available December 9. ...

CourseCo, Inc., is awarded the California state Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award in the category of Sustainable Practices. ...

United Turf Industries, developer of SofTrak Synthetic Putting Greens, announces the establishment of a new SofTrak dealership in Missouri and Northeast Arkansas through Danny Little. ...

About Golf's "Best of 2003" debuts Thursday, December 4. Seven categories of clubs and equipment are included. Selections will be unveiled one category per day, for seven days, culminating in the Best New Drivers of 2003 on Wednesday, December 10. ...

Jackets Required announces the addition of Lookaway Golf Club in Buckingham, Pa., to its customer list. Jackets Required sells embroidered sportcoats for men and women and caters to country clubs. ...

Brian Pavlet, leading money winner on the 2003 Pinnacle LDA Tour, will carry a No. 1 LDA ranking into the 2004 professional long drive season. ...

Nine of the top 10 professionals in the World Golf Rankings will compete at the 2004 Mercedes Championships in the PGA Tour's season-opening event January 5-11 at Kapalua's Plantation Course. The tournament features a purse of $5.3 million, with $1,060,000 going to the winner along with the keys to a 2004 Mercedes-Benz SL500 and the Tiffany Trophy.

The professional golf season never really ends, they just stop counting the money players earn during "Silly Season."

So Fred Couples, the king of the Skins Game, will never see that $605,000 he won last weekend pop up in his official PGA Tour statistics. It will, however, spend just like the official earnings.

While the money isn't tallied up, sometimes the results of Silly Season events do matter.

Take Sergio Garcia for instance. The 23-year-old Spaniard has been working his way through a swing change in 2003, trying to reduce the lag at the top of his swing. The process has proven to be a struggle, and Garcia failed to win on either the PGA Tour or the European Tour.

After not winning anywhere since the Korean Cup in 2002, Garcia nailed a 20-foot birdie putt to defeat Retief Goosen on the first playoff hole last Sunday to win his second Nedbank Challenge. The title also came with a $1.2 million first prize. Unofficial, of course.

The money may only earn interest in Garcia's bank, not to mention the gratitude of his accountants, but his victory could signal a return to form for "El Nino" and possibly a challenge to world No. 1 Tiger Woods in 2004.

Garcia's triumph is even more impressive considering the depth of talent in the 18-man field. World No. 2 Vijay Singh was second, three strokes in back of Garcia and Goosen. Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke was another shot back in fourth. World No. 3 Ernie Els as a distant 17th, 16 shots off the pace.

Some of the Silly Season events are entertainment, fun events like the Franklin Templeton Shootout with host Greg Norman, the Skins Game and the upcoming Office Depot Father/Son Challenge.

Next week's Target World Challenge also has its entertainment value, but the fact that Woods is the host and 15 other world-class players comprise the field elevates this event. Eleven of those 16 players won 26 of the 47 tournaments on the PGA Tour this season.

Among those in the field are Davis Love III, Kenny Perry, Justin Leonard, Nick Price, Singh and Clarke. Three of the four major winners of the recent season, Mike Weir, Ben Curtis and Shaun Micheel also will tee it up for the $1.2 million first prize.

Two years ago, love used his win over Woods in the Challenge to revitalize his game.

And just in case you're thinking all the golf between Thanksgiving and the Mercedes Championships on Jan. 8 are unofficial, consider that the European Tour starts its 2004 this week with the Hong Kong Omega Open and the PGA Tour's Qualifying School finals will run for six days, concluding next Monday.

The final three rounds of the Q-School will be telecast by The Golf Channel and should be compelling viewing, as tour hopefuls try to gain, or regain, their full playing privileges for next season.

Among the better-known players at Q-School are Steve Pate, Per-Ulrik Johansson, John Morgan, Grant Waite, Olin Browne, Boo Weekley, Ty Tryon, former Nebraska football player Scott Gutschewski and Asian star Arjun Atwal.

With the number of cards available cut from 35 to 30 for the 170-player field, the pressure will be more intense than usual.

The money here, although small, is official, but what really counts is earning a playing card and maybe getting a shot at some of that unofficial loot in the late winter of 2004.