Golf might be good for teaching life lessons, but championing education initiatives that improve lives is the primary charitable mission of this week’s Wachovia Championship.

On the heels of an important stop in New Orleans, the PGA TOUR moves to Charlotte, N.C., for the second straight $6 million purse and where winners are defined off the course, too. This time it’s the annual $1 million donation that the Wachovia Championship gives every year to Teach For America, an organization that uses recent college graduates majors to teach in rural and urban public schools in low-income communities for two years.

Quail Hollow Club, host site for the championship, also can dish out the lessons. However, the 156-man field, which features nine of the top 10 players in the world (only Tiger Woods is missing), seems capable of passing the test. The par-72 layout measuring 7,448 yards is an all-around examination, and the three winners all went to school on the main disciplines – fairways, greens and timely putting.

Not exactly the three Rs but, then again, you still have read greens, write down the scores and do the math on the way to trying to claim the title.

Last year: Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk shot closing 6-under-par 66s and made up a six-stroke deficit on Sergio Garcia to force a sudden death playoff, which Singh won over Furyk on the fourth extra hole. Garcia, whose 72 allowed his pursuers to catch him at 12-under 276, tied the record for sacrificing the largest 54-hole lead in PGA TOUR history. Garcia three-putted the first extra hole, and three holes later Furyk drove into the water to let Singh escape with a par and the title.

How he did it: Twenty birdies and an eagle offset several miscues over the week on the difficult Quail Hollow Club layout as Singh let his strength – ball striking – carry him into contention, then used his streaky putter to seal the deal. The lanky Fijian was 14th in driving accuracy and 11th in GIR, but the key was ranking third in putts per green (1.673 average) and 10th in total putting (28.3).

Strange but true: The winning aggregate score at the Wachovia Championship has been one stroke lower each year.

True but not necessarily strange: If Phil Mickelson had played the par-3 17th in level par for the week instead of 7-over par he would have qualified for the three-man playoff. He recorded three double bogeys and a bogey for his four rounds and finished tied for seventh.

If the course could talk: “Shot makers love me. Honest. You can look it up.”

Worth knowing:

•There have been 11 players who have made all three cuts at the Wachovia Championship, led by Vijay Singh, who has finished in the top 10 all three years (tied for second, tied for 10th and first).

• Jay Haas is the only player entered this week who played at Quail Hollow Club when it hosted the Kemper Open, and he is making his fourth straight appearance in the event – and made the cut in the first three. Haas, a member of Quail Hollow, is coming off consecutive victories on the Champions Tour.

• Jeff Sluman recovered from a minor skiing mishap to open with a 66 and finish joint 31st at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Sluman hurt his left knee during a ski trip after THE PLAYERS Championship. It forced him to miss the Verizon Heritage for the first time since 1985.

Vijay Singh has three top-10 finishes at the Wachovia Championship. (Feldman/WireImage)

• Jonathan Byrd was planning to enter this week’s Wachovia Championship after withdrawing from the Verizon Heritage due to torn cartilage in his ribs that he first suffered at the BellSouth Classic, but the South Carolina native apparently needs more time to recover.

•Hot putters have done wonders for some veterans. Bob Estes’s runner-up finish at the Shell Houston Open came after switching back to a bulls-eye model, while Fred Funk shot a closing 62 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans to end up joint second after changing putters and adjusting his stroke two weeks ago. He led the field in New Orleans in putting (97) and putts per green in regulation.

• David Toms, who won the inaugural Wachovia Championship, finished in the top 20 in each of his first six starts this year with a victory and three top-3 finishes, but in his last five he has missed three cuts and has one top 20 finish (tie for 15th at the BellSouth Classic). Eight of his last 14 rounds have been par or higher.

TOUR Insider’s strength of field index: Nine of top 10 and lots of others talent getting to the starting line. 9.3.

TI’s power ranking for the Wachovia Championship: 1. Phil Mickelson, 2. Jim Furyk, 3. Mike Weir, 4. Davis Love III, 5. Billy Mayfair.

Parting shot: "To go from 20-over par at The Masters to this (18-under par at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans), it proves I am on the right track. It is a work in progress." – Charles Howell III after tying for second in New Orleans