The seniors' tournament of champions will mark the debut of the Jack Nicklaus-designed course, which signed a five-year agreement to host the event. It was played at Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico, the last two years.
Bland, of South Africa, voted the tour's top rookie, won the first of four 1996 titles by closing with a 2-under 70 for a one-stroke victory over Jim Colbert last year. Bland finished with a 54-hole score of 207 to set the tournament record.
Colbert, who was selected the player of the year for the second straight season, posted five victories and won the money title with $1,627,890.
Entered in the 54-hole event are multiple winners Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin, Isao Aoki, Graham Marsh, Walter Morgan, Bob Murphy, Dave Stockton and Tom Weiskopf.
Also, Jim Dent, Al Geiberger, Gil Morgan, Jay Sigel, Dale Douglass, Bob Charles, Dave Eichelberger, Mike Hill, Lee Trevino, Vicente Fernandez, Gibby Gilbert, Charles Coody, Raymond Floyd and Jimmy Powell.
Aoki, the first Asian to win a PGA Tour event with his victory in the 1983 Hawaiian Open, will be playing for the first time here since he joined the Senior PGA Tour in 1992.
Charles' victory came in the Hyatt Regency Maui Kaanapali Classic, which he successfully defended last October.
Irwin, who represents Kapalua on the tour, Nicklaus and Floyd will remain on the Big Island to play in the Senior Skins Game the following weekend at the Mauna Lani Bay Resort.
Arnold Palmer had been scheduled to be part of the foursome. But he will undergo surgery today.
No word has been made yet about a possible replacement.
Site: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.