Tuesday, January 12, 1999
Golfer of the Year Mark
By Bill Kwon
O'Meara heads the PGA Tour
field at a new Waialae Country
Club layout in the Sony Open
Star-BulletinSo what's new?
New year, new tournament and new look, that's what.
The PGA Tour's first full-field event in 1999 -- the Sony Open in Hawaii -- will be held at the revamped Waialae Country Club starting Thursday.
Waialae promises to be leaner and meaner, so much so that John Huston, who won the last Hawaiian Open there last year with a PGA record 28-under-par 260, can sit back and relax.
No one's going to come close to bettering Huston's record, especially since the course will now play to a par 70 instead of par 72. That's eight strokes right off the top.
Besides, David Duval -- who came close by shooting 26-under to win the Mercedes Championships over the weekend at Kapalua's Plantation Course -- isn't playing.
Neither is Tiger Woods and Fred Couples. But the 144-player field will be the best ever to play in a PGA Tour event at Waialae, according to PGA Tour Commissioner Peter Finchem.
"A top player and a marquee player isn't necessarily the same," he said. "John Daly may be 100th on the money list, but he's an impact player."
The Sony Open does have its marquee players -- British and Masters champion Mark O'Meara, the 1998 player of the year, PGA Championship winner Vijay Singh and Lee Janzen, the reigning U.S. Open champion.
Throw in Huston, Tom Watson, the four-time British Open champion; Jim Furyk, who also won $2 million last year; and Japan's Shigeki Maruyama, who went 5-0 in the International team's victory over the United States in the Presidents Cup last month, no apologies are needed for this week's field.
First place is worth $486,000, the same purse that Duval drove off with in the Mercedes Championships.
The holes
No. 1, Par 4, 488 yards
Converted from par 5 to par 4. Renovated from an old tee, moving it up 45 yards and to the right of the cart path, making the hole now play as a slight dog-leg right. A fairway bunker has been added on the left side 270 yards from the tee.
A new tee has been built in back of Kapakahi Stream, adding 60 yards to the hole, bringing the water on the left and the two fairway bunkers on the right very much into play.
Tee now 10 yards back of the former tee.
Tee lengthened 10 yards to allow multiple days for tee placements.
Original tee, unused since around 1980, rebuilt, adding 45 yards to the length of this double-ditched hole. The first ditch now comes into play because of a 223-yard carry.
Back tee rebuilt in the same location.
No changes.
Few trees trimmed because of a longer (22 yards) tee, bringing ditch into play with a 230-yard carry. Right greenside bunker enlarged, wrapping more around the green.
No changes.
No changes.
New tee, 14 yards farther back and left of the former tee.
Left fairway bunker moved 10 yards farther out and enlarged to be more visible off the tee.
Converted from a par 5 to a par 4. New forward tee built to allow the hole to play to a yardage of 478. Fairway bunker on the right angle cut back to allow more landing area for a tee shot.
New tee adds 20 yards to the dog-leg left hole, requiring a longer tee shot to reach the corner.
No changes.
Back tee lowered couple of feet to make tee shot play longer. New fairway bunker added puts the exisiting bunker on the right to catch longer tee shots and better define the slight, dog-leg left hole.
Back tee lowered, adding to playing length of the oceanside hole.
Back tee lowered and moved several yards back. Bunker added on the right of the fairway through the dog-leg to catch longer tee shots and better define the dog-leg left hole.
