Every time I go to Hawaii I am always struck by how far away it is (12 hour flight from Toronto), and therefore when you finally get there and circle those beautiful turquoise and green islands before landing in Honolulu, I always feel you need to stay for at least 2 weeks to make the journey worthwhile.
It was always a boyhood dream of mine to go there and I feel so lucky that I have had the opportunity to get there in my life. It has never been colder than 55*F or hotter than 103*F and there is always a breeze, a perfect place to start a golf season, as both these guys and the Champions Tour do this month.
A select field of 34 tournament winners will start today, on the island of Maui, which is just a short hop from Honolulu.
This year there is a new sponsor replacing SBS, it's Hyundai...
Geoff Ogilvy will try to win for the 3rd year in a row, although he may have to withdraw since he cut a finger for 12 stitches playing on the beach last week.
Looking at past winners there hasn't been one from the US since Furyk in 2001. Ogilvy has 2, Daniel Chopra, Vijay Singh, Appleby has 3, Els and Garcia have 1 each which leads to the theory that these guys are all in mid season form already because they have been playing right up til Christmas either in Australia or on the European tour which has already started in South Africa and if you follow my missives you will know that guys who have won recently and are in this field include, Els, Appleby, Ogilvy, McDowell and Poulter.
None of our 6 Canucks qualified, world #1 Lee Westwood has chosen not to make the trip while he regains full recovery from his calf injury and of course neither Woods or Mickelson are in the field, but Carl Pettersson is by way of winning our RBC Canadian Open
Also of note, Graeme McDowell is paired with Hunter Mahan who he crushed with that historic putt to win the Ryder Cup.
With wide open fairways big bangers like Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson are getting plenty of picks,on the other hand Jim Furyk who is anything but long has been in the T10, 7 times here including his win in 2001. Also I will be watching Ian Poulter to see if he picks right up where he left off in Dubai a few weeks ago.
Ernie has been in the T6 five times on this course including his win in 2003, and as I mentioned he has already started his 2011 season by winning his South African Championship 3 weeks ago...
Every one of these guys has a story line, so enjoy the beautiful pictures from Maui, then Oahu over the next 2 weeks...makes me wish I was there again...
Hyundai Tournament of Champions
Monday Jan 3 – Sunday Jan 9, 2011
The Plantation Course - Kapalua Resort · Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii
Defending champion Geoff Ogilvy
bold : guys who have been playing right up until Christmas (times local)
10:20 am Atwal, Arjun Mediate, Rocco
10:30 am Lunde, Bill Beckman, Cameron
10:40 am Garrigus, Robert Bettencourt, Matt
10:50 am Lamely, Derek Byrd, Jonathan
11:00 am Appleby, Stuart Bohn, Jason
11:10 am Kim, Anthony Slocum, Heath
11:20 am Poulter, Ian Pettersson, Carl
11:30 am Crane, Ben Haas, Bill
11:40 am Palmer, Ryan Clark, Tim
11:50 am Villegas, Camilo Watson, Bubba
12:00 pm Scott, Adam Molinari, Francesco
12:10 pm Mahan, Hunter McDowell, Graeme
12:20 pm Rose, Justin Johnson, Zach
12:30 pm Day, Jason Els, Ernie
12:40 pm Johnson, Dustin Stricker, Steve
12:50 pm Kuchar, Matt Hoffman, Charley
1:00 pm Ogilvy, Geoff Furyk, Jim
Next week there is the first full field event over on Oahu on the Waialae course.
Bryan Angus
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