For Timberlake, the key word during his TOUR event is ... fun

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Justin Timberlake has turned his love for golf into a showcase event of the Fall Series.

Rickie Fowler or Justin Bieber? It's probably not an friendly argument you've recently had with your buddies at the nearest 19th hole.

After all, the former is one of the rising stars on the PGA TOUR and a member of this year's U.S. Ryder Cup team. The latter is a teenage singing sensation from Canada with a platinum record. Other than their similar shaggy hair styles and perhaps their penchant for playing video games, there's probably not much that they truly have in common.

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But when you're Justin Timberlake and you straddle both worlds -- as a multi-faceted entertainer and a golf fanatic who hosts his own TOUR event this week in Las Vegas -- you can make the comparison. And perhaps it's telling that his love of golf is so strong that he's willing to turn his back on his fellow singing celebrity.

"Rickie Fowler is ... I think, he's cooler than Justin Bieber," Timberlake said this week in advance of the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

"Did I throw the gauntlet down? Oh, whatever. I'm taking Rickie Fowler."

This is the strange world that is Vegas and golf, when a mega-star like Timberlake can bring up Fowler vs. Bieber like it's one of the town's heavyweight fights. Of course, Timberlake's just having fun, enjoying the fact that he's the host of a TOUR event, one that does so much for the Shriners Hospitals.

This is his third year as host and as far as he's concerned, his main goal is to make sure everybody involved -- players, fans, caddies, volunteers -- enjoys the time they spend at TPC Summerlin this week.

"It's a fun week," he said. "I guess if you don't like having fun, then we don't want to see you out here."

Golf, of course, is the main attraction, the fourth of five Fall Series events, a key tournament for players seeking to secure their TOUR cards for next year.

But Timberlake does his part with a "Justin Timberlake and Friends" concert on Saturday that this year will feature Elton John, Christina Aguilera, Sean "Diddy" Combs and more. The concert, like the tournament, benefits the Shriners Hospitals.

"We've got an amazing, amazing lineup," he said, adding later, "It's nice to know you have friends in high places."

As Timberlake noted, though, it doesn't happen overnight. The tournament is a year-long process -- his first meeting for the 2011 event is next week. And his own schedule has been so busy that he hasn't been able to get out on the course as often as he'd like.

He finished wrapping the movie "The Social Network" in February, then worked on another film, "Bad Teacher," during the next two months. Then went into rehearsals for a film called "Friends with Benefits" that wrapped in September. Then he did a press tour for "Social Network."

On Monday, he played with former UNLV star Charley Hoffman, who won the Deutsche Bank Championship earlier this year. He said it was the first round he had played in four months.

"You can add up -- or subtract, which would probably be easier to do -- all the opportunities I've had to not play golf," Timberlake said. " ... My game is pretty terrible."

But this week, Timberlake's focus is not on his own game, but just to make sure his TOUR event is a great experience. He said several pros had told him how much they enjoy playing in Vegas. He wants to make sure it stays that way.

"A lot of players have come up and said this is the stop they love to come to on the Fall Series," Timberlake said. "The fact that we've been able to get the best in the world to say that, I'm very proud of that."