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By Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Stephen Ames strolled around the conference room adjacent to the dining area in the temporary clubhouse early Monday morning, absentmindedly looking at the photos on the wall.

Stephen Ames is happy to delay his PLAYERS Championship defense until May. (Stan Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)

Was it weird, Ames was asked, to be back at the TPC Sawgrass one year -- well, 51 weeks and one day -- after his victory at THE PLAYERS Championship, yet still be seven weeks away from his actual title defense?

"Is this the same week?" Ames asked, a puzzled look crossing his face only briefly. "Well, yes, I guess it is."

Then Ames, who was in Ponte Vedra to meet with local media in advance of the PGA TOUR's signature event, broke into a big grin.

"I'm glad it's not (the week I defend)," he said. "It's freezing out there. And that's why we're moving it. We know predictive-wise, we'd get better weather."

That's one part of it, to be sure. But the move of THE PLAYERS to May was one in a series of dominoes designed to provide a more balanced TOUR schedule with a marquee event each month and a big-bang finish for the inaugural FedExCup.

This week is a case in point.

Taking THE PLAYERS' spot is another star-studded affair in the World Golf Championships-CA Championship at Doral. When all the interviews were done Monday, Ames was headed to south Florida where he and 73 other top-shelf players will be competing for shares of an $8 million purse.

While Ames must wait two months for his title defense, Tiger Woods has the honors at the CA Championship after winning at The Grove outside London last year. Ironically, though, he also won the Ford Championship at Doral last March so he's going for a rare -- and unprecedented -- double defense.

But there's more. The game's No. 1 player actually has won the CA Championship five times in seven starts -- and Woods has captured the last two tournaments at Doral where he is a combined 44-under par. Not to mention, Woods has won 12 of the 23 World Golf Championships he's entered.

Vijay Singh, though, grabbed some of the momentum after winning his second TOUR title of the season -- and 31st overall -- on Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. And with a field that includes all 50 of the top 50 players in the world, the action at Doral this week is sure to be intense.

The CA Championship comes a month after its sister, the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, and two weeks before the Masters takes the spotlight in April. The tournament also concludes a revamped Florida swing that features four standout venues in PGA National, the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, the Bay Hill Club and Doral's Blue Monster.

May's marquee event is THE PLAYERS while the U.S. Open takes center stage in June and the British Open in July. August begins the big finish with the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship in back-to-back weeks.

The Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., six days later then determines the 144 players who will start the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. Those four events -- The Barclays, Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championship and TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola -- provide a finale in August and September that will add suspense and significance to the end of the season.

Oh, and did we mention FedExCup champion receives an unprecedented $10 million bonus? Stay tuned for more.

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