By LORNE RUBENSTEIN, Toronto Globe and Mail

A friend has asked what it would take for Phil Mickelson to win the FedEx Cup that will conclude when the Tour Championship in Atlanta ends Sunday.

Good question. Complicated answer. Here goes.

"Thank goodness," a fellow said in an e-mail after Rory McIlroy won the Quail Hollow Championship Sunday in Charlotte.

Lorena Ochoa always said there was more to life than golf, and she'd hinted many times at an early retirement. But her announcement that she will retire at the end of this season, or perhaps earlier, does come as a shock.

"I'm surprised," fellow LPGA pro Lorie Kane said. "I didn't think she'd pull the plug right now. It's definitely another blow to the tour."

AUGUSTA, Ga. - For a treacherous course that looks benign, given its spacious fairways and huge greens, think of Augusta National Golf Club, where the Masters starts Thursday. The golfer who doesn't focus more intently than at just about any course will be gone, gone, gone by the end of the second round. That's especially true around and on the greens.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - It was two minutes before the telling hour of 2 p.m. here Monday when Tiger Woods would tell all, some, or little.

A cameraman took position along the path Woods was about to walk to his microphone. Two Augusta National Golf Club members, including Ron Townsend, the club's first black member, flanked him.

Hello. I'm calling from NewsSpeak radio in Calgary. We'd like to do an interview with you about Tiger Woods coming back to play the Masters.

-- Question. Is your name pronounced Silversteen or Silverstine?

-- Answer. It's actually Rubensteen.

-- Q. Oh, sorry.

-- A. That's okay.

Q. Is Tiger making the right decision?

Here's a theory: Tiger Woods's very public drama has opened up both players' tongues and the buttoned-down workings of the PGA Tour.

The more anybody is around professional golf, the more impressive is the contribution that Australians have made to the win column.

Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion, added to the record when he won the SBS Championship in Kapalua, Hawaii on Sunday. He also happened to win the PGA Tour's season-opener last year.

It's a shame that 2009 will be remembered more for the revelations about Tiger Woods' tawdry off-course escapades than other notable happenings in the game. So here are a few events that made news, and, for readers looking for a last-minute Christmas gift, a couple of books worth considering.

Golf pundits around the globe, and non-golf pundits too, have turned into Dr. Phil when it comes to their views on what Tiger Woods should do to repair his image, never mind his marriage.

Everybody's more worried about how the business of golf will suffer than how his wife Elin and Woods himself are suffering and will surely continue to suffer.