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It's about time

© Jeeho Yoo

Remember that mismatched outfit of pink baseball cap and a brown polo worn by Jim Furyk at the 2001 Merecedes Championships? One would have wished the eventual winner would take off the ugly cap while wearing the silk, white blazer given to the tourney's winners. Perhaps Furyk was covering his baldness, who knows? A prominent U.S. publication apparently knew little about the champ's hair loss, as its headline for Furyk's one-stroke victory over Rory Sabbatini showed: Furyk by a hair!

That sure seemed an eternity ago. But guess what; next Thursday, Furyk, along with all the PGA Tour winners from 2001, will be back at the beautiful Plantation Course at Kapalua, located at Maui, Hawaii. No one knows for sure whether the culprit of the ugly cap, Strata, will force Furyk to wear the same thing again, but fans can rest assured that they will get a kickstart to the brand new PGA Tour season.

The Mercedes Championships will launch the Tour's West Coast Swing, an equivalent of the Fall Finish. The West Coast Swing lasts until the Tucson Open, to be held in mid-February, and covers Hawaii, California and Arizona. This early stretch will be a good indication of how certain players are going to fare this year and will make an interesting build up to the season's first major, the Masters.

The Mercedes is exactly what it used to be called: the Tournament of Champions. It is an exclusive invitation only for the winners from the previous season. So some players do give up their time-off and get up for a tournament just after the New Year's day, but in return, they get to play in Hawaii with $4 million (all figures U.S.) up for grabs.

Historically speaking, winners from the recent Mercedes Championships have gone on to have strong seasons. The most startling example is Tiger Woods, who won the event in 2000 over Ernie Els and went on to win three majors. Woods also won the 1997 Masters in record-breaking fashion after capturing the 1997 Mercedes. David Duval established the lowest scoring mark for the event in winning the 1999 Mercedes and had three more wins before the Masters.

As for the course, Kapalua's Plantation Course offers spectacular views of Hawaii, and golfers can be distracted enjoying the scenery. It is a wide-open course, featuring generous fairways and sloping hills that favour even average hackers. The wind is a factor here, as is the case on most courses in Hawaii, and picking out right clubs for right distances can be challenging at times. But the wind can also work to the golfers' advantage on longer holes since it can neutralize the length.

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