Frys.com Open preview

Lowdown: The PGA Tour's "Fall Series" continues this week with the Frys.com Open at CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin, California. Rocco Mediate defends the title and Tiger Woods is in the field. Last year veteran PGA Tour player Rocco Mediate completed a remarkable one-shot victory in this event. During the week he holed out for eagle in every round, including a hole-in-one at the par-3 3rd in round one. He'll be back this year to defend but he'll face a strong field that includes former World Number 1 Tiger Woods. Woods has now dropped outside the world's top-50 but there are some good signs for the American coming into this tournament. He's making a fresh start with a new team, including Joe LaCava as his newly hired caddy. He's also just broken the course record at The Medalist Club in his home State of Florida - he fired in an impressive 62. In addition the CordeValle Club is close to where Woods went to college at Stanford. The CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin, California is a Robert Trent Jones Jnr layout and the designer feels it to be one of his best creations. It's a pleasantly undulating track set through an attractive valley. There's an elevation change of some 150 feet out on the course so club selection is often challenging. It's just the second year the layout has been used to host this event.

Venue: CordeValle Golf Club, San Martin, California Date: Oct 6-9 Course stats: par 71, 7,368 yards Purse: $5,000,000 Winner: $900,000 Defending Champion: Rocco Mediate (-15)

TV Coverage: Thursday 6 - Live on Sky Sports 3 from 10pm Friday 7 - Live on Sky Sports 2 from 10.30pm Saturday 8 - Live on Sky Sports 3 from 10pm Sunday 9 - Live on Sky Sports 1 from 9.30pm

Player Watch: Tommy Gainey - The man who's more famous for wearing two gloves than for his golfing achievements will be looking to change that with a victory here. He has four third place finishes on the PGA Tour this year and it's high time he stepped up and secured a victory.

Paul Casey - Back from yet another injury (this time his toe,) Casey is confident he's back to full fitness following a six-week layoff. He'll be frustrated to have not got a huge amount from 2011 and will be looking to change that.

Tiger Woods - He's surely going to turn his fortunes around at some stage and perhaps this could be the week. New caddy, a course record in Florida... could this be the return of the Tiger?

Key hole: 17th. A driveable par 4 with teeing options from 295 to 325 yards, the green will be receptive to a good drive but it must carry all the way to the surface over the water. There's a chance of an eagle here if a player is chasing coming down the stretch.

Skills required: Greens in regulation. The putting surfaces are large and receptive so the GIR stats should be pretty high. That also means putting will be important, particularly from distance.

Where next? European Tour - Bankia Madrid Masters preview