OAKVILLE, Ontario (AP)—The PGA Tour has agreed to loan the Canadian Tour money and assist next year in tournament development and sponsorship.

The amount of the loan wasn’t disclosed Wednesday.

“Understanding its current financial issues, the PGA Tour has agreed to lend support to the Canadian Tour in 2012,” said Ed Moorhouse, the PGA Tour’s co-chief operating officer. “Our goal is to help lend stability to the Canadian Tour, which we believe plays an important role in professional golf and has proven to be a valuable system for developing players over the years.

“We will assess the situation with the Canadian Tour during the course of the coming year to determine what level of PGA Tour support should be provided moving forward.”

The Canadian Tour has been a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours since 2009.

“Whether this leads to more direct involvement by the PGA Tour beyond 2012 will depend on a number of factors, including our ability to strengthen and grow the Canadian Tour across Canada from coast to coast,” Canadian Tour Commissioner Rick Janes said. “In the meantime, it is a great opportunity to work with the pre-eminent brand in golf and we can only benefit from that experience.”

Tom Lehman won three times in his Champions Tour Player of the Year season.

Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

In the closing weeks of the Champions Tour season, Tom Lehman at times downplayed the feat of a Player of the Year trifecta.

Never before had a player won such honors on all three Tours operated by the PGA TOUR. Lehman, who won the award on the then-Hogan Tour (now Nationwide Tour) in 1991 and the PGA TOUR in 1996, knew he was fortunate to be in such a position by age as much as accomplishment. No other former Hogan/Nationwide Tour Player of the Year is toiling regularly on the 50-and-over circuit.

But Wednesday, upon officially being named Champions Tour Player of the Year, thus completing the triple play, Lehman could fully appreciate the accomplishment and come clean a little bit about just how much he wanted it.

“I think it’s every bit as significant simply because it’s a goal that I set,” Lehman said. “I think anytime you set a goal that’s a lofty goal, and this one was lofty because no one had done it before. I was aware of that.

“Because of that reason, it’s significant. It’s the culmination of a journey. It’s a journey that’s been a lot of fun. There’s no guarantees. There were no promises that I could achieve that. It took a lot of good playing and also some good fortune for me to win.”

Lehman was strong all year on the Champions Tour, having won three times including a major title. He took over the Schwab Cup points lead after the season’s second event and never looked back, though the points race did tighten up at the season finale as Mark Calcavecchia bid to win the Charles Schwab Cup Championship and take the $1 million season prize. Calc came up short, and Lehman had the Schwab Cup.

“There’s a lot of things happened this past year that went in my favor. John Cook lost in two playoffs. Calc almost came back and won the Schwab Cup,” Lehman said. “Those guys had great years, played great golf, but things kind of tipped my way.

“When you work so hard and you want it so badly, you chase that dream, then the dream does come true, it’s significant. I was very, very aware over the last couple years I had a chance to do something that no one’s done before, at least to this point.”

MORE: Lehman wins POY, Kenny Perry and Chip Beck also honored | Lehman’s 2011 results

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP)—Tom Lehman now has won player of the year at every stage of his career.

Lehman has been voted the Champions Tour player of the year after a season in which he won three times and won the Charles Schwab Cup. Lehman also won the money list, the only Champions Tour player to surpass $2 million.

Two decades ago, Lehman was player of the year on what then was called the Hogan Tour. He was voted player of the year on the PGA Tour in 1996 when he won the money list and two tournaments, including the British Open for his lone major.

Lehman said Wednesday this award means as much as the other two because he set a goal to become the first player to win all three.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP)—Sixty years after he wrote from the first of 210 major championships, Dan Jenkins is headed for the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Jenkins, 82, will be only the sixth media member in the hall when he is inducted May 7 at the World Golf Village along with Phil Mickelson, Hollis Stacy and two other inductees who are to be announced Thursday in London.

His career goes from Ben Hogan to Tiger Woods, from the manual typewriter to Twitter, and Jenkins is still going. He previously worked for the Fort Worth Press, the Dallas Times Herald and Sports Illustrated, and he has been writing for Golf Digest since 1985. Jenkins also has written 20 books, including “Dead Solid Perfect.”

“Being from Fort Worth, I would follow Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson anywhere,” Jenkins said Wednesday on a conference call to announce that he was selected through the Lifetime Achievement category. “Since they’re in there, I’m happy to be the third guy from Fort Worth so included.

“I’m delighted to be in such good company with the people who are already in there, especially the players.”

The other five media members in the Hall of Fame are writers Herbert Warren Wind, Bob Harlow, Herb Graffis, Bernard Darwin and television producer Frank Chirkinian. They were inducted posthumously.

“I should note that over the years, the World Golf Hall of Fame has been very sparse in their recognition of people from Dan’s craft, only recognizing the very, very best,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said.

Jenkins covered his first major at the 1951 U.S. Open. Hogan shot 67 in the final round to win at Oakland Hills, and Jenkins still says that round on that “monster” of a golf course remains as good as he has seen anyone play.

“Oakland Hills looked more like a penitentiary than a golf course,” Jenkins said.

He listed that among his top three moments in golf, along with Jack Nicklaus winning his sixth Masters at age 46 and the 1960 U.S. Open, regarded by many as being one of the greatest days in the history of the championship. Arnold Palmer shot 65 in the final round to beat Hogan, the aging star, and Nicklaus, the emerging star was still an amateur that day at Cherry Hills.

“I’d never experienced—ever as an old, cynical writer—as much excitement as all of us felt that afternoon following that action” Jenkins said. “There have been so many great moments in golf that you even forget some of them. But that one still stands out. … There have been so many great tournaments that I’ve been privileged to see, and people paid me to go watch, that I’m awfully grateful for it.

“And I’m so happy that I chose the profession I did.”

His writing style was grounded in humor, and he often mocked the players he felt unworthy to win a major—starting with Jack Fleck, who took down his beloved Hogan in a playoff at Olympic Club for the 1955 U.S. Open, which remains one of the game’s biggest upsets.

Through all of his writings, though, Jenkins said he never tried to sell out accuracy for a good joke.

“Even though I was making a stab at humor, I don’t think I ever wrote a line I didn’t believe,” Jenkins said. “I tried not to draw too much blood. I tried to rave about all the heroes of the game, and they deserved it. … When something great happens—like when an Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods or Ben Hogan happens—you don’t have to be funny, you just have to be accurate.

“When you have to be funny is when you’re on deadline and somebody like Jack Fleck creeps up on you,” he said. “That’s when you have to tap dance, because it doesn’t make any sense. We have more and more of that these days, don’t we?”

Jenkins already is in the Texas Golf Hall of Fame and the National Sportscasters and Sports Writers Hall of Fame. He has been longed with the PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism, and the Memorial Journalism Award.

Finchem listed all his achievements, including his numerous writing awards, when introducing him on the conference call.

“You left out my cure for polio,” Jenkins replied.

As we continue our countdown towards No. 1 at the end of this month, players 41-45 feature five past PGA TOUR winners.

One of those – Davis Love III – not only will strive in 2012 to add to his career win total of 20, he also has the added responsibility of being the U.S. captain at the Ryder Cup.

Below is a link to each of the 5 players who were revealed on Tuesday. PGATOUR.COM will countdown the players for the rest of December, with No. 1 unveiled on Dec. 30.

Be sure to check out this year’s new addition of the Three Wise Men – Chris DiMarco, Arron Oberholser and Craig Perks, who offer their takes on each of the players on the list.

Let’s us know how you think these players will perform in 2012 and whether we ranked ‘em too high, too low or just right.

No. 41: Davis Love III

No. 42: Louis Oosthuizen

No. 43: Charley Hoffman

No. 44: Bo Van Pelt

No. 45: Camilo Villegas

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE ARCHIVE PAGE/SCHEDULE FOR THE TOP 100 PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2012

The United States doesn’t have a player in the top five in the Official World Golf Rankings, but Englishman Ian Poulter doesn’t think the U.S. needs to worry. With a bevy of young Americans on the rise, Poulter expects the U.S. to return to form soon.

"There is some great talent coming out of the States," Poulter told reporters this week on the eve of the Australian Masters in Melbourne. "I’m not going to say they are in a slump in any way, shape or form; they have some fantastic players.

"But I think certainly in the next 18 months, two years, we will see a push from those young guys in the States."

The youngsters certainly will enter the 2012 season with some momentum. Of the 16 players in their 20s who won PGA TOUR events in 2011, 11 of them were from the U.S. – including FedExCup winner Bill Haas, runner-up Webb Simpson and Rookie of the Year Keegan Bradley.

Poulter, arguably the TOUR’s snappiest dresser, especially likes the potential of another fashionable golfer — Rickie Fowler.

Although Fowler, who turned 24 on Tuesday, has yet to win a PGA TOUR event, he did break through recently with a six-stroke win on the OneAsia Tour at the Kolon Korea Open.

"Obviously it won’t take him long to start winning plenty of tournaments,” Poulter said. “He won in Asia, but he hasn’t won over there. I’m sure it won’t be long before he makes a hard push up the world rankings."

Fowler currently ranks 29th in the Official World Golf Rankings – just one spot behind Poulter.

Bradley achieves goal but wants more

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

The opportunity only comes around once. Keegan Bradley took advantage of it.

Thanks to wins at the HP Byron Nelson Championship in May, then the PGA Championship in August, the 25-year-old Bradley claimed the 2011 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year award.

Bradley

"You get one chance at it," Bradley said Tuesday after the announcement was made, "and it was the main goal of mine to start the year.

"It’s a huge honor."

En route to winning the Rookie of the Year honors, Bradley did something that not even PGA TOUR Player of the Year winner Luke Donald could do this year — win a major.

By beating Jason Dufner in a playoff at the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club, Bradley became the first player since Ben Curtis in 2003 to win a major championship in his first major start.

He also became the only American to win a major this year.

But having produced plenty of fireworks in his first season on TOUR, Bradley knows there are ways he can improve in his sophomore year.

In fact, he will strive to do what Donald did this year — get himself consistently in contention to win each time he plays. In 28 starts this year, Bradley had four top-10 finishes, compared to Donald’s TOUR-leading 14 top-10s in 19 starts.

"Next year I just look forward to getting back out there and playing, seeing these courses for the second time and knowing the players a little better," Bradley said. "Most importantly being a little more consistent  … try not to miss any cuts or less cuts but to keep contending in tournaments and try to win every time I tee it up just like Luke did this year."

It’ll be a tough act to follow, but after his 2011 season, it’s doubtful anybody will underestimate Bradley’s ability to create excitement.

MORE ON BRADLEY: Announcement | Transcript

Donald’s consistency key to POY award

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

For the second consecutive year, the PGA TOUR Player of the Year was won by a player who did not claim a major championship.

But unlike Jim Furyk, who won three events along with the FedExCup in 2010 en route to earning the season-ending award, Luke Donald didn’t even have those lofty credentials on his resume in 2011. But he did produce something that was the envy of all others on TOUR this year: Consistency.

Donald

Not only did Donald win two events, he finished in the top 10 in 12 of his other 17 starts (including two runner-ups and two third-place finishes). No other player could match Donald’s 14 top-10s this year. And he played just as well in Europe, as he became the first dual-member to win money titles on the PGA TOUR and European Tour in the same year.

That made it extremely difficult for his fellow TOUR pros to ignore.

"I feel like I’ve always built my game around being consistent," Donald said Tuesday after the announcement in which he became the first Englishman to win the TOUR’s Player of the Year award. "I think having a proficient short game and a reasonably consistent putter will always make a year reasonably consistent, no matter how you play. It’s a big equalizer. It really can make up a lot for some bad long game."

Not that his game was bad off the tee — just short. He ranked 147th in driving distance but 57th in accuracy. The closer he got to the pin, however, the better he played — 41st in Greens In Regulation and first overall in Strokes Gained-Putting.

"For a number of years, my long game wasn’t where I wanted it to be," Donald said. "I’ve certainly made big strides this year. I think my driving accuracy percentages, my greens in regulation percentages have all gone up. My short game has stayed at a consistent level. That’s really been the difference this year, I think, in terms of my overall consistency, just taking it from where I maybe would not miss many cuts but finished 20th, 25th a lot, taking those to top 10s and five 5s and having chances to win.

"Obviously every year you’re just trying to look for ways to improve, and I obviously found a place to improve on, and it’s really served me well in terms of consistency."

Donald called his 2011 season a "breakout year" and said that becoming the first player to win both money titles was "something very special."

But he also knows an asterisk will remain attached to his name until he wins his first major. Having produced an historical achievement in 2011, the 34-year-old Donald is intent on producing a more personal kind of achievement in 2012.

"Obviously this year has been a breakout year for me in terms of my confidence levels, and hopefully those confidence levels will be carried over to next year and will serve me well in the majors," Donald said. "I think before this year I’ve been a good player and a consistent player but never really a great player, and obviously this year has been really a big step for me in terms of my mental side and the way I approach tournaments and how I feel about them.

"I can only think that that will serve me well for the majors next year, and I’m certainly looking forward to the challenge."

MORE ON DONALD: Announcement | By The Numbers | Transcript

Discuss: Donald, Bradley win awards

Luke Donald was named the PGA TOUR’s Player of the Year in an announcement made Tuesday by PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem.

Keegan Bradley was named the TOUR’s Rookie of the Year.

TOUR players voted on both awards.

Here’s your chance to discuss the winners and congratulate both players.

FOR MORE ON DONALD AND BRADLEY, CLICK HERE

Players No. 46-50 unveiled

There are a couple newly healthy players to keep an eye on in Tuesday’s edition of PGATOUR.COM’s Top 100 Players to Watch in 2012.

Paul Casey will be playing healthy in 2012 for the first time in nearly a year after battling a bad case of “turf toe.” Trevor Immelman, with his wrist injury in the rear-view mirror, is working full throttle to regain the kind of form that allowed him to win the Masters in 2009.

Below is a link to each of the 5 players who were revealed on Tuesday. PGATOUR.COM will countdown the players for the rest of December, with No. 1 unveiled on Dec. 30.

Be sure to check out this year’s new addition of the Three Wise Men – Chris DiMarco, Arron Oberholser and Craig Perks, who offer their takes on each of the players on the list.

Let’s us know how you think these players will perform in 2012 and whether we ranked ‘em too high, too low or just right.

No. 46: Rory Sabbatini

No. 47: Paul Casey

No. 48: Jason Dufner

No. 49: Trevor Immelman

No. 50: Robert Karlsson

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE ARCHIVE PAGE/SCHEDULE FOR THE TOP 100 PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2012

Players No. 51-60 unveiled

From a three-time major winner to a promising young rookie, there’s plenty of variety unveiled Monday on PGATOUR.COM’s Top 100 Players to Watch in 2012.

Padraig Harrington owns three majors and Retief Goosen has a pair of U.S. Opens to his credit. Winners in the past year on this list also include Jonathan Byrd (Hyundai Tournament of Champions), Martin Laird (Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard), Kevin Na (Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open) and Sean O’Hair (RBC Canadian Open).

At the other end of the spectrum is Bud Cauley, who made a splash in a limited number of starts in 2011 but could be poised for a big rookie season.

Below is a link to each of the 10 players who were revealed on Monday. PGATOUR.COM will countdown the players for the rest of December, with No. 1 unveiled on Dec. 30.

Be sure to check out this year’s new addition of the Three Wise Men – Chris DiMarco, Arron Oberholser and Craig Perks, who offer their takes on each of the players on the list.

Let’s us know how you think these players will perform in 2012 and whether we ranked ‘em too high, too low or just right.

No. 51: Jonathan Byrd

No. 52: Y.E. Yang

No. 53: Padraig Harrington

No. 54: Martin Laird

No. 55: Retief Goosen

No. 56: Charles Howell III

No. 57: Stewart Cink

No. 58: Bud Cauley

No. 59: Kevin Na

No. 60: Sean O’Hair

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE ARCHIVE PAGE/SCHEDULE FOR THE TOP 100 PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2012

The United States doesn’t have a player in the top five in the Official World Golf Rankings, but Englishman Ian Poulter doesn’t think the U.S. needs to worry. With a bevy of young Americans on the rise, Poulter expects the U.S. to return to form soon. "There is some great talent coming out of the […]

As we continue our countdown towards No. 1, players 41-45 feature five former PGA TOUR winners.

Below is a link to each of the 5 players who were revealed on Tuesday. PGATOUR.COM will countdown the players for the rest of December, with No. 1 unveiled on Dec. 30.

Be sure to check out this year’s new addition of the Three Wise Men – Chris DiMarco, Arron Oberholser and Craig Perks, who offer their takes on each of the players on the list.

Let’s us know how you think these players will perform in 2012 and whether we ranked ‘em too high, too low or just right.

No. 41: Davis Love III

No. 42: Louis Oosthuizen

No. 43: Charley Hoffman

No. 44: Bo Van Pelt

No. 45: Camilo Villegas

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE ARCHIVE PAGE/SCHEDULE FOR THE TOP 100 PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2012

By John Schwarb, PGATOUR.COM

TaylorMade was the story of the golf equipment world early in 2011 with the launch of its white-headed clubs including the R11 adjustable driver.

The company is at it again for 2012, with another product line that will likely draw attention first for the name, then the product itself.

The name: RocketBallz.

TaylorMade

Really.

TaylorMade’s new line of drivers will be priced at $299 when they hit the market in February, filling the gap between its top-end R11S (renamed and retooled for 2012) and value-priced Burner line. Two clubhead options are available, RocketBallz and RocketBallz Tour, and the company said PGA TOUR pros such as Jason Day and Camilo Villegas will play the clubs.

Drivers will be adjustable for face angle, loft and lie and packaged with a lightweight 50-gram shaft. The product line also extends to fairway woods, rescue clubs and irons, with only the irons not having white heads.

TaylorMade says the fairway woods are the first such steel-headed models to reach USGA/R&A speed limits, and from there came the RocketBallz name.

“I brought the prototype out to some players and Dustin Johnson was the first one to test it,” said Todd Chew, tour product specialist for TaylorMade. “He’s unbelievably long, as we all know, but he was just blown away by how far the Rescue was going. Dustin said a couple of times, ‘It’s like a rocket.’”

The name caught on, was etched into a prototype and stuck, even though some in the company weren’t quite sure about such an in-your-face label. “Obviously polarizing,” executive vice president Sean Toulon said.

The new R11S features a new five-way adjustable sole plate, which combined with the tuning sleeve and movable weights, creates 80 different launch settings.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)—Lotta Wahlin made seven birdies for a 6-under 66 Wednesday to take a one-shot lead over Becky Brewerton after the first round of the Dubai Ladies Masters.

The 28-year-old Wahlin, whose career was disrupted in 2009 when she was diagnosed with skin cancer, made a 26-foot birdie putt on the 18th for the lead to go along with six other birdies and one bogey.

The Swede is two shots ahead of four other golfers and four shots ahead of Lexi Thompson (70), the 16-year-old American who is the youngest winner on the LPGA Tour.

Thompson recovered from a slow start to make three birdies on her final three holes. The teenager came into the tournament as one of the favorites, having won the Navistar LPGA Classic in September.

“I struggled with my putter until the 16th hole,” Thompson said. “Then I figured some things out so it went well for the last three. I hit it well, just putts didn’t drop.”

Michelle Wie, looking for her first win of the year, was seven shots back after shooting 73. She’s tied for 54th in the 108-player field.

Wie, who was hampered last year with a back injury, is 17th in the rankings. She missed several birdie chances, including on the ninth—her final hole of the day.

“Frustrating,” Wie said. “It was one of those days where nothing went in and nothing went my way. It was pretty frustrating that I was 1-over par. I have tomorrow and my game is feeling pretty good. So I just have to go out there and score.”

Wahlin was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2009 while in Dubai. She only played a few events on the European Ladies Tour last year and several on the Swedish tour.

The two-time European Ladies Tour winner has fully recovered from the cancer. She wears sun screen and protective clothing that covers her arms while avoiding tournaments in sunnier locales such as Australia and Portugal. While Dubai normally can reach 122 degrees in the summer, temperatures in December are much cooler.

“I just have to be careful. I mean I have that kind of skin which is quite sensitive to the sun,” Wahlin said. “I thought is it really worth it to be out on the golf course in the sunny countries or is it better that I just quit playing golf and do something else. But I still have to live my life and golf is my life, or a big part of my life.”

Wahlin has struggled since returning to the tour full time this year, failing to earn a top 10 finish this season. She finished 52nd at last week’s Indian Open but said her cancer has given her a fresh perspective.

“Golf is not so important anymore,” Wahlin said. “If I have a bad round, I’m still disappointed. But it’s not the end of the world like it used to be. So that is a good thing.”

Brewerton had six birdies and a bogey. It was a marked improvement from the Indian Open, where the Welsh golfer finished 74th.

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Follow Michael Casey on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcasey1