Golf Central

The PGA Tour's finest will be "Walking in Memphis" (sorry, we just couldn't resist) this week, looking to get one more big performance under their belts before chasing the American dream at next week's US Open. Woody Austin stormed to victory at last year's event, and will be looking to do the same this week, leaving the rest of the field in "Heartbreak Hotel" (one more of those and there'll be trouble). Here's five things you need to know about the St.Jude Classic...

1.) Always change a winning formula
This tournament has done its fair share of chopping and changing over the years. A bunch of businessmen originally hatched the plan for the Memphis Open in 1958 in a country club grill, but someone, somewhere along the line decided to change it to the Memphis Invitational Open. Entertainer Danny thomas agreed to lend his name and influence to the event in 1970, thus,  the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic was born. We're not going to bore you with the rest, but eight name changes later and we've got the  FedEx Stanford St.... oh just forget it.

2.) Geiberger's smoking hot 59
On a sticky, stiffingly-hot (a 100-degree heat to be precise) to be June's day at the second round of 1977 Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, you could have been forgiven for thinking that a 59 was well and truly off the cards. Step up Al Geiberger, who, after an incredible eleven birdies and an eagle (that's a nifty 13 under par), became the first man to break 60 in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event. Although the record has since been tied, it has never been bettered... not even by (shock horror!) Tiger Woods or Byron Nelson.

3.) Bolt avoids Memphis blues
Golf was probably the last thing on Tommy Bolt's mind going into the final round of the 1960 Memphis Invitational Open, after taking his wife into hospital on that morning. Having learned during the round that she was going to have surgery that night, the 42-year-old US Open champ birdied 16 and 18 that resulted in an 18-hole playoff with Ben Hogan on the Monday, which Bolt won. The most incredible part of this tournament victory lies in the fact that Bolt was in 31st after 36 holes, a daunting nine strokes off the pace. The comeback remains a tournament record.

4.) Going, going, gone
Thanks to an auction that will benefit St.Jude Children's Research Hospital, golf fans have been given the chance to caddie for either Vijay Singh or Camillo Villegas at the Pro-Am for this year's event. Being on the bag for Vijay Singh (especially having learned this week about his past-life as a bouncer) is probably similar to watching paint dry, so we decided to put the money from our tea kitty on a day with '"Hombre Araña." Alas, you won't be seeing us on the fairways of TPC Southwind this week.

5.) Memphis: Home of Kings
There's far more to "The Bluff City" than the St. Jude Classic, however. Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and B.B King all started their careers in Memphis in the 1950s, as did Elvis Presley, who enjoyed the bodyguarding services of the aptly named Memphis Mafia. Sadly, Memphis's Lorraine Motel played host to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Expect to see us next year at The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, where we won't be singing March Cohn's incredibly annoying "Walking in Memphis."

We won't be able to get away with it until next Sunday, golf fans ... but then again, who would want to? The Masters Tournament begins its 71st incarnation next Thursday - and who knows what magic will happen? SG Matthews takes you through a tour of some of the landmark events throughout Augusta's history that make the tournament arguably the most anticipated golf event of each year.

Perhaps it had something to do with April Fools' Day coming up, but was a week of odd behaviour in golf - from Woody Austin's stomach problems to Bubba Watson's disrespect for his elders. SG Matthews takes another slantendicular look at the happenings in golf that make us wiser for yet another week. Onwards, legions of Rusties! ...

The world's greatest sartorial golf-fest will be back in full swing when the William Hunt Trilby Tour 2008's signature event tees up in July, and if you thought the PGA Tour's dress codes are a bit too lenient these days when caddies are allowed to wear shorts, this is your kind of event.

Mind you, it all looks great too - as styled-out fields of professional and amateur golfers will to gear it up and tee it up at Hunt's showcase - a one-of-a-kind blend of top golf and style run by the Savile Row thread-meister to showcase his wears, as well as some of the best young golf swings in Britain ...

On this day in 1951, in the remnants of Hiroshima, Japan less than six years after the atomic bomb, Ayako Okamoto was born to become her country's most successful female golfer ever. Crossing the pond of the Pacific Ocean as an Asian pioneer on the LPGA Tour, Okamoto was the first non-American to top the tour's money list in 1987, winning 17 events between 1982-92. Ayako got into the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame in 2005, but despite her successes, she never won a major - her best finish was a playoff loss in the 1987 US Women's Open ...