The Kapalua International is the brainchild of Mark Rolfing to help fill in the PGA Tour golf calendar, which had no American events in the final two months of the year.
"That was a great start for us," said Rolfing, who was Kapalua's marketing director at the time and now serves as the tournament chairman.
"The thinking at the PGA Tour office, as I remember it, was that they told us, 'You're welcome to put on a tournament. But who's going to play in it? And who's going to televise it?' "
After the 1982 trial run, the first Kapalua International in 1983 was won by an Australian named Greg Norman - the first of his many victories on American soil.
Now, the 72-hole tournament at the West Maui resort is just one of a number of 13 events that make up what some golf fans charitably call the "Second Season" or a "Dash for Cash." Cynics label it the "Silly Season."
Rolfing bristles at the use of latter term.
It's hardly "silly," he believes, when more than $12 million is at stake in the tournaments.
Kapalua International's payoff is $1.2 million with the winner getting $216,000. One might call it the "Silly Season" but it's not silly money. The cash is for real.
And, Rolfing said, "Kapalua is not simply a made-for-TV event. It's a legitimate, 72-hole stroke-play championship. For better or for worse, this event started it all."
Rolfing isn't happy about all of the other Johnny-Come-Latelys that now crowd the postseason calendar, and PGA Tour officials can't be too elated either.
For one thing, not only has it diluted the talent pool for the Kapalua International, which is being sponsored by Lincoln-Mercury for the fifth straight year, it has weakened the early tournaments on the tour, including the Hawaiian Open.
A lot of players, claiming burnout, are skipping the early tournaments, especially those on the tour's West Coast swing. Instead of taking November and December off, many golf's established players are taking January and February off.
Cashing in on golf's money-machine season are two familiar Kapalua faces - Fred Couples and Davis Love III. They head a strong 56-player field, which begins play tomorrow at both the Plantation and Bay courses.
Together, they've earned more than $1 million at Kapalua. Couples posted back-to-back titles in 1993-'94 and Love won in '92 after finishing runner-up three times.
Jim Furyk, who used last year's victory at Kapalua as a springboard to his first tour victory in the Hawaiian Open two months later, returns to defend his title.
Also entered are Brad Faxon, who lost in the playoff with Furyk at Waialae, U.S. Open champion Steve Jones, 1995 Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, part-time Kailua resident Scott Simpson and Waikoloa's touring pro, Peter Jacobsen, and John Daly.
Play begins: 7 a.m. tomorrow, 8:45 a.m. Friday and 6:40 a.m. Saturday and Sunday
The courses: Kapalua Plantation and Bay courses
TV: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. tomorrow and 2:30-4 p.m. Friday on ESPN. 9-10:30 a.m. Saturday; 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday on ABC.
Admission: Free