The year 2007 may only be a couple of days old but already the new PGA season is upon us. The first tournament of the year is the Mercedes-Benz Championship where Stuart Appleby will be looking for his fourth straight victory. This achievement is even more impressive considering how the tournament is restricted to winners from the previous season.

This will be a big year in golf for a number of reasons...

The FedEx Cup: The aim of this new concept is to insert some excitement into the year - most of that excitement pertaining to money. Basically, the top 144 performers from now to mid-August will qualify for a series of four more tournaments - and each of those tournaments will have a diminishing field. The 144 competitors will eventually be cut to 30, who will play for the Tour Championship with a prize of $10 million for the winner.

Tiger Slam II: Tiger Woods is halfway through his second Tiger Slam. How many additional majors will he win this year to bring him that much closer to Jack Nicklaus? How will the recent announcement that Tiger’s wife is pregnant affect his game? And can he continue his great form of 2006 where he swept all before him?

The Majors: Phil Mickelson won his third major in three years after taking out last year’s Masters - his second in three seasons. Can he defend his title successfully? This year’s US Open will back be at Oakmont for the first time since 1994 - the first year since 1910 that no American golfer won a major. In Britain, the Open is at Carnoustie for the first time since 1999 when Paul Lawrie won an infamous tournament after Frenchman Jean Van de Velde had a final-round meltdown. Like the US Open, the US PGA returns to its 1994 site in the shape of Southern Hills.

BPNTHWAM no more: No golfer wants this dreaded label, which stands for Best Player Never To Have Won A Major. Current candidates would include Sergio García, Pádraig Harrington and Adam Scott, all of whom would hope to lose the tag in 2007.

USA A-OK? The USA have never won the Presidents Cup on foreign soil. Can they regroup from their Ryder Cup spanking and defend the title they won in 2005? This year's tournament will be played at the magnificent Royal Montreal Golf Club - the oldest golf club in North America. For the third straight time, Nicklaus and Gary Player will captain.