Two great fields in the world of golf this week: The Top 3 in the world at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic; some interesting storylines at the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Alas, Graeme McDowell isn't playing either. He's passing up a return visit to Pebble Beach Golf Links, site of his 2010 U.S. Open victory.

But Dustin Johnson, who blew the 2010 U.S. Open but is the 2-time defending champ at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, is playing. So is Vijay Singh, and I'm curious to see how Vijay does. He turns 48 in a couple weeks, but he's coming off a tie for third at the Phoenix Open - his best finish since 2008. And Singh loves Pebble Beach, he's a 2-time winner.

Also in the field at Pebble Beach are Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Padraig Harrington, Hunter Mahan and Geoff Ogilvy.

On the European Tour, world No. 1 Lee Westwood is coming off a missed cut. He's joined in Dubai by No. 2 Martin Kaymer and No. 3 Tiger Woods. Others in the Dubai field include Rory McIlroy, Edoardo Molinari, Sergio Garcia and Matteo Manassero.

Check the tournament pages for the lists of past champions, plus more tourney trivia and info:

• AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
• Omega Dubai Desert Classic

See also:
Pebble Beach pictures

Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey was a contestant on two different seasons of the Golf Channel's The Big Break, and he was the champion of one of them.

And Tommy Two Gloves has been the leader of this week's PGA Tour Waste Management Phoenix Open. He's still in the lead as I write this (early in the fourth round). But is Gainey the best Big Breaker? Which cast members from that show have had the best golf careers since their appearances on the series?

Two Gloves is not yet No. 1 - but he will be if he wins in Phoenix.

See the Top 5 Big Break Alums

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Update: Alas, Gainey triple-bogied the 71st hole in Phoenix and dropped down the leaderboard. Phoenix Open scores

Just a few days after the LPGA Tour canceled a tournament in Morelia, Mexico, citing security concerns due to drug-cartel violence, the tour now has another situation it must monitor in Mexico. Guadalajara - site of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in November - has seen "a marked escalation of criminal activity in the Guadalajara metropolitan area," the United States Consulate in the city said in a Feb. 3 "Security Update."

The U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara has advised its own employees to stay off the roads after dark, and specifically warned about the highway to and from the city's airport.

"We are aware of the recent warnings about Guadalajara," LPGA spokesman David Higdon told About.com, "and our security firm provided us a report this past week and recommended that we maintain our plans to play there in November."

On Feb. 3, the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara issued a "Warden Message" with the subject "Security Update." In part, it stated: Read More...

Phil Mickelson said recently that his goal is to reach 50 wins on the PGA Tour. How big an achievement would that be? Huge. How likely is Mickelson to reach that goal? Let's look at a few numbers.

In the history of the PGA Tour, only seven golfers have won 50 or more times:

• Sam Snead - 82
• Jack Nicklaus - 73
• Tiger Woods - 71
• Ben Hogan - 64
• Arnold Palmer - 62
• Byron Nelson - 52
• Billy Casper - 51

Mickelson is currently at 38, 12 wins away from joining that pantheon of greats. But first things, first: Mickelson needs another two wins to reach 40. There are two golfers in the 40-win range:

• Walter Hagen - 44
• Cary Middlecoff - 40

And there are two golfers between Mickelson and 40:

• Gene Sarazen - 39
• Tom Watson - 39

And then there's Phil. So right now, Mickelson ranks 12th on the all-time wins list. If most of his career hadn't overlapped (and been overshadowed by) Tiger Woods', Mickelson might already be considered one of the 10 best golfers of all-time.

But Mickelson is now 40 years old. To reach 50 wins, he has to win 12 times in his 40s. How many golfers have won at least 12 times on the PGA Tour after turning 40? Only two:

• Vijay Singh - 22
• Sam Snead - 17

Kenny Perry (11) and Julius Boros (10) are the only others with double-digit wins (Steve Stricker currently has nine). Vijay set a new standard for post-40s success, but Vijay also set a new standard for post-40s fitness.

Mickelson isn't exactly known for his fitness, and last year he announced the onset of psoriatic arthritis. That will certainly be a complicating factor in Phil's quest for 50.

There's also the fact that Mickelson has never had that one huge year in terms of wins. Singh once won nine times in a single season. Woods has nine different seasons of five or more wins.

Mickelson's highest single-season win total is four, which he's done three times, most recently in 2005. In the seasons since then, Mickelson has posted win totals of 2, 3, 2, 3 and 1.

And that's a good illustration of how difficult Mickelson's goal of reaching 50 is: If Phil duplicates those last five seasons, he'll still be short of 50. Because while 11 wins in five years is a very good record, it's still shy of the 12 wins he needs to get to 50.

Is Mickelson reaching 50 career wins possible? Absolutely. But I don't think it's likely. What do you think?

See also:
PGA Tour career wins list
Most PGA Tour wins after age 40
More on Phil Mickelson

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