Editorials
Tuesday, May 13, 1997ITS adrenaline pumped up with the addition of Tiger Woods, professional golf is gaining wider exposure, and Hawaii stands to benefit. Beginning in 1999, Hawaii will be host to the first two tournaments on the PGA tour, the first regular PGA tour events to be shown on prime-time TV on the mainland. The timing and enhanced television coverage of the tournaments could be a major boost for Hawaii tourism generally and Hawaii's growth as a golfing destination. Golfing changes will benefit
Hawaii tourismUnited Airlines has been the successful sponsor of the Hawaiian Open at Waialae Country Club for 32 years, but the airline is apparently unable to keep up with the giant strides being made by professional golf. Its purse this year was $1.2 million, too small to attract many of the big names in golf, such as Woods, Greg Norman and Nick Faldo. The average tournament purse this year is $1.7 million and is expected to top $3 million by 2000.
The Hawaiian Open, played in mid-February, will be replaced by one of golf's most prestigious events, the Mercedes Championships, comprised of the previous year's tournament winners and won this year by Woods at Carlsbad, Calif., its home since 1969. The Mercedes is scheduled for Jan. 14-17, 1999, to be followed by the Lincoln-Mercury Kapalua International, a traditionally November non-tour event played on Maui since 1982. It will be elevated to a regular tour event.
Scheduling of the tournaments in Hawaii in January makes perfect sense for the PGA. The National Football League playoffs will dominate daytime viewing by sports fans during those weekends on the mainland, and Hawaii's time difference affords an opportunity to avoid conflict in live coverage. ESPN will televise both Hawaii tournaments, including any playoff, and can do so without disrupting the type of schedules kept by the networks.
Tour officials have yet to decide whether to play the Mercedes at Waialae - the most logical Oahu course in terms of golfing difficulty and convenience - but expect to decide upon a site next month. Wherever it is played, the PGA has provided well-timed top-spin to the recovery of Hawaii's economy.
THE state Board of Land and Natural Resources, considering a staff recommendation to revoke Hilton Hawaiian Village's permit for the pier fronting the hotel and sell a new lease to the highest bidder, has encountered some complications. Hawaiian Village pier
The rights claimed by Hilton suggest that a decision to conduct an auction for a new lease or concession could set off a battle in the courts. Hilton General Manager Peter Schall said his company was willing to pay fair market value for the permit. It may be that the solution is to charge the hotel more for its permit to use a pier that it built and owns.
THERE were some 17,000 runners and walkers and 60 protesters who turned out for the Great Trans Koolau Trek. None of the participants were reported to have turned around and gone home as a result of the protesters' exhortations. That's fortunate, because success for the protesters would have encouraged them to step up their activities. Trans Koolau Trek
MUSEUMS give people a chance to learn about and cherish the past. Hawaii's most prominent are the Bishop Museum and the Honolulu Academy of Arts, but others have been added in recent years. A museum of surfing
People come from all over the world to surf the North Shore and to watch the action. Now they'll have a place to see surfing history.
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
