ESPN Golf

Major championships included, there's no more important week on the PGA Tour than this one. Twenty years from now, record books will tell who won the Zurich Classic, while history books will tell the story of the worst natural disaster ever to hit the United States. For all the progress made in the eight months since Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, not much has changed.

"I flew into Lakefront Airport and had to go through one of the hard hit areas," said Jerry Kelly. "The guy driving me in lost his house ... everything." This tournament -- and Louisiana food -- is a favorite of his. But this was Kelly's first visit since Katrina leveled pretty much everything in its path.

"I just had a blank stare on my face," he said. "You look at the greens [at English Turn], and even if they're not perfectly smooth, it's awesome that they've done as good a job as they have. I don't think anyone will complain this week."

This week's tournament had to move back to English Turn -- its home from 1989-2004 -- after Katrina destroyed TPC of Louisiana, which won't reopen until later this year. Even so, as one tour official said, it might not even be tournament-ready for 2007.

Before we get to who's hot and who's not, there's a sentiment among players and fans that it's a shame that more top players aren't here this week. A lot of times, that translates to Tiger Woods, who's been in New Zealand for two weddings and some R&R while his father continues an ongoing battle with cancer. I'm not necessarily suggesting Woods needs to be in New Orleans this week -- though it obviously wouldn't be a bad thing -- but only three of the top 10 players in the world are. In fairness, there are plenty of guys who've made donations and contributions, many times unbeknownst to the public. But as one tour player said, "I thought everybody would've showed up this week. There are other guys who have a lot less going on [than Tiger] that could've been here."

No one was hotter in New Orleans last year than Tim Petrovic, who putted his way to his first victory at age 38. No one is hotter this year than Phil Mickelson, who is teeing it up for the first time since winning the BellSouth and Masters back-to-back. After going winless on the left coast, you have to wonder if this will now be the summer of Phil. Much like Woods has changed his game through the years, Mickelson has done the same, only more recently and in a different way. He still gambles -- but only when necessary. The result? Mickelson leads the tour in greens in regulation, birdie average, scoring average and par breakers, and he is atop the money list.

In what's becoming a weekly mention of Australians, Stuart Appleby is coming off his first non-Hawaii win since 2003. He doesn't seem to fit the mold of past champions at English Turn, but how can you expect him not to play well given his three top-10s (including two wins) this year?

Meanwhile, Lucas Glover has played about as well as Appleby, sans the trophies. He finished T-3 a year ago and has a game that fits this course well.

Tiger isn't here -- and again, I'm not suggesting he needs to be -- as he is going through a lot with the ailing health of his father. In the end, the only thing Woods would do is increase television ratings, because whether or not he's in New Orleans, the people are going to show up in droves. That said, the timing of his car racing and bungee-jumping adventures probably couldn't be worse.

Since winning here last year, Petrovic has missed 16 of 30 cuts and has just two top-10s, both of which came in '05.

This tournament used to be the Carlos Franco show -- he won by two strokes in 1999, then defeated Blaine McCallister in a playoff the following year. The bad news: He's got just one top-10 this year. The good news: That total is already half the number he had all last season.

You can't talk about New Orleans without also throwing in the obligatory Steve Flesch mention. He won here in '03 and twice has been a runner-up (one of which was to Franco in '99). His only top-10 this year came at the BellSouth, and there's absolutely no reason to think he'll get another one this week.

Skyboxes on the 18th hole at English Turn are completely sold out, and the demand for more was so great that a dozen additional skyboxes were built on the 16th hole. With that kind of support, it's pretty obvious the tour made the right decision to include New Orleans as part of its rejiggered FedEx Cup schedule beginning in '07, something that originally was not part of the plan.

David Toms. There's no one the fans at English Turn would rather see win than local boy Toms. The former Tiger won here in 2001, holding off Phil Mickelson amidst chants of "LSU! LSU!" Toms has also done so much for the area through his foundation that it would only be fitting.

Brian Wacker is an assistant editor for GolfDigest.com.