Philadelphia, PA -- (Sports Network) - PGA TOUR - TURNING STONE RESORT CHAMPIONSHIP, Atunyote Golf Club at Turning Stone Resort, Verona, New York - New York native Joey Sindelar, playing his rookie season on the Champions Tour, accepted a sponsor's exemption to play on the PGA Tour this week.

He couldn't have picked a better Fall Series tournament.

This week's Turning Stone resort -- with its $6 million purse and $1.08 million winner's check -- is the most lucrative of the seven tournaments that make up the PGA Tour's season-ending series.

"It's awesome that the leading tournament of the PGA Tour's Fall Series is held in Central New York," said Sindelar, a Horseheads native, "and that I can compete in front of the people who cheered me on my whole career."

More exciting for the other players, though, is the prospect of a big paycheck.

With many of the top stars planning to take the rest of the season off following the FedEx Cup playoffs, there is ample opportunity for good finishes and good money in the Fall Series. Players who are not inside the top 125 on the money list will be looking to get there to secure their PGA Tour cards for next season.

Michael Allen was one of those players last year. He finished second behind winner Steve Flesch to pick up a $648,000 check, moving him from 154th on the money list to 89th.

It was the fourth PGA Tour win for Flesch and second of the 2007 season. He will be in the field this week to defend his title.

The Golf Channel will have coverage this week and also next week for the Valero Texas Open, where Justin Leonard beat Jesper Parnevik on the third playoff hole last year.

LPGA TOUR

SAMSUNG WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, Half Moon Bay Golf Links (Ocean Course), Half Moon Bay, California - Annika Sorenstam will play in her final Samsung World Championship this week as part of the elite 20-player field set to tee off at Half Moon Bay.

Sorenstam, set to retire at the end of the season, has won five Samsung World Championships, beginning with back-to-back victories in 1995-96. She won again in 2002, then in 2004 and '05.

World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa has won the event the last two seasons, closing with a 66 in the final round last year to beat Mi Hyun Kim by four shots in a dominating performance against the best players in the women's game.

Ochoa and Sorenstam -- with 10 wins between them this season, including seven by Ochoa -- will be joined in the field by 2008 major champions Yani Tseng, Inbee Park and Ji-Yai Shin; Ladies European Tour money leader Helen Alfredsson; and sponsor's exemption Juli Inkster.

Other top players like Paula Creamer, Jeong Jang, Cristie Kerr, Suzann Pettersen and Karrie Webb earned their berths by way of the LPGA Tour money list.

The prize purse is $1 million and the tournament will be broadcast by the Golf Channel on Thursday and Friday and by NBC on the weekend.

Next week is the Longs Drugs Challenge, where Suzann Pettersen is the defending champion.

EUROPEAN TOUR

ALFRED DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP, St Andrews, Carnoustie & Kingsbarns Fife, Scotland - A three-course rotation and stellar field are the most recognizable aspects of this week's tournament, the Alfred Dunhill Links Championships.

Nick Dougherty won last year's event, bolstered by back-to-back 66s in the second and third round that helped erase a middling 71 on Sunday. He beat Justin Rose by two shots.

Reigning British Open and PGA champion Padraig Harrington, the world No. 4, leads the field and is a two-time winner, having claimed victories in 2002 and '06.

Each of the other five previous champions -- Dougherty, Colin Montgomerie, Stephen Gallacher, Lee Westwood and Paul Lawrie -- will also be in the field.

Other top stars who will be on hand this week include eight of Harrington and Westwood's Ryder Cup teammates: Paul Casey, Soren Hansen, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Robert Karlsson, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Oliver Wilson.

Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Darren Clarke lead the remainder of the names.

The Golf Channel has coverage of all four rounds. Next week's event is the Madrid Masters, a new tournament on the European Tour.