Big pro golf tourney
may move to isles

Mercedes Championships
may replace Hawaiian Open and
Kapalua may get official event

By Bill Kwon
Star-Bulletin

The Hawaiian Open would be replaced by the Mercedes Championships, one of golf's most prestigious tournaments, and Kapalua Bay Resort on Maui would host an official PGA event called the Lincoln-Mercury Hawaiian Open the following week, under a proposal by the Professional Golfers Association Tour.

The PGA Tour has shaken up the 1999 tournament schedule to gain a higher television profile. The Tour is negotiating with the networks on a $150 million, 13-package deal and has readied a four-year schedule from 1999 to 2002 to woo the networks, according to a story published today in Golfweek.

Golfweek says the radical 1999 TV lineup has the Mercedes Championships, which is open exclusively to the previous year's tournament winners, kicking off the 1999 Tour season in Hawaii. That tournament would replace the United Airlines Hawaiian Open, a PGA Tour fixture for 32 years.

Hawaiian Open officials did not return calls. United Airlines' sponsorship deal with the PGA runs one more year and talks are said to be under way about a contract renewal.

A PGA Tour official, John Morris, said that the Golfweek article was premature at best and that nothing has been determined.

"There haven't been any decisions made," Morris said this morning. "We can't say where or when we're going to play until everything sorts itself out."

He also said that United is not yet out of the picture as a title sponsor. "We're continuing to talk to them."

Mark Rolfing of Rolfing Productions, which sponsors the Kapalua International, now an unofficial event, in November, said yesterday that he had been approached by the PGA to host a tournament at Kapalua following the Mercedes Championships, now held at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. "I really want the Mercedes Championships to occur in Hawaii. It would be great for the state. As a lead-in event for Kapalua, it would be great for us," Rolfing said.

"The PGA is now undergoing some delicate negotiations, which could break in a couple of days. It's a sensitive situation, but I assured them that if it's approved, they've got a deal with us."

Rolfing said he hopes the tournament at Kapalua is not an either/or proposition that would make the Hawaiian Open the odd man out. But if it is, Waialae would then be available for the Mercedes Championships.

"And some events will just go away," Rolfing said. "I don't know the situation with the Hawaiian Open. To us, we just want to have an event at Kapalua. It shouldn't be viewed as an us-or-them situation."

Rolfing noted that the current Kapalua International would be impacted under the schedule restructuring. It is not listed on the 1999 PGA schedule.

"We have a 16-year history here with the Kapalua International," Rolfing said.

"But, long-term, I don't know. November is getting crowded. There are too many events and not enough dates."

Hawaii plays host to five other professional golf tournaments.

The Senior PGA Tour has the Hyatt Regency Maui Kaanapali Classic in late October, the MasterCard Championship involving its tournament winners, at the Hualalai Golf Course, and the Senior Skins at Mauna Lani, both on the Big Island in January.

There's also the PGA Grand Slam of Golf at the Poipu Bay Resort on Kauai in November and the LPGA Cup Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Open in February at the Kapolei Golf Course.