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Sports Watch

By Bill Kwon

Friday, December 29, 2000

GOLF WATCH

Ishii might not play
in Sony Open

SOMEHOW, it's not the same without David Ishii in the Sony Open or its predecessor, the Hawaiian Open, at the Waialae Country Club.

It's a distinct possibility. Ishii, the 1990 Hawaiian Open champion, doesn't have a sponsor's exemption to the PGA Tour's first full-field event of the 2001 season.

His only option right now is to earn one of the four Monday qualifying spots Feb. 15 at the Pearl Country Club.

Fortunately, it's at Pearl where Ishii is the director of golf. Here's hoping a little insider information will help him to qualify.

Ishii has played the Sony/Hawaiian Open event every year since 1987, and a few times before that.

"Of course, you'd like to play," Ishii said. "But it's a bigger tournament now. All I can do is try to qualify and make it that way."

Ishii received an invitation to play in the John Bellinger Shoot-Out, which he has played in every year and is the leading money winner. But it's on hold, depending if he qualifies for the Sony Open or not.

One of sponsoring Sony's exemptions went to one-time U.S. Amateur champion Matt Kuchar, another to Hidemichi Tanaka, who played in the recent Presidents Cup.

But the real question, though, is Tiger Woods going to play in the Sony Open?

"He hasn't said no, yet. That's good news," said a Sony official.

IMG, Woods' management company, has inquired about a place to stay if he does play and Yoshiko Morita, widow of former Sony chairman Akio Morita, has offered Tiger the use of her multi-million dollar home next to Waialae's seventh green for the length of his stay.

MERCEDES FIELD

Tiger naturally headlines the field of 33 tournament winners in the Mercedes Championships Jan. 11-14 at Kapalua Resort's Plantation Course on Maui.

Despite Woods' nine victories and four by Phil Mickelson this year, it's the largest PGA Tournament of Champions field since 38 made it in 1988.

The only 2000 winner skipping the event is Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland, who decided to stay at home with his family during the holidays.

The Mercedes field includes 18 of the top 20 players on the 2000 money list. The exceptions are Davis Love III and Steve Flesch, who failed to win a tournament this year.

LAND OF ALOHA

Jack Nicklaus told the Associated Press that he might skip the 2001 Masters and that the only two tournaments he now has on his schedule next year are in Hawaii -- the Senior PGA Tournament of Champions at the Hualalai Resort on the Big Island and the Senior Skins Game at Wailea, Maui.

"I'll see how I do, how my game comes around," Nicklaus said. "If I think I can compete and play halfway decent, I'll play. If I don't think I can compete, I won't play."

KALUAKOI NO KA OI

The place to be on New Year's Eve -- besides where your extortion permit allows you to blow firecrackers -- is the Kaluakoi Golf Course on Molokai.

The golf course is closing at least for two months next Tuesday. So that, along with a Sunday $25 kamaaina fee, will make it a busy venue that day.

For those who haven't played Kaluakoi, it can be one of the windiest courses in the state. I remember David Ishii once using a knockdown 5-iron on its 120-yard par-3 12th when he won the Kaluakoi Open.

Besides 12, the signature 16th and the ocean third are among the best par-3s found at any one course in the islands. May Kaluakoi reopen soon.