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Thursday, April 20, 2000
Sony Open third stop
By Paul Arnett
on PGA tour
Star-BulletinNext year's $3.3 million Sony Open will be the third official event of the season, the PGA Tour announced yesterday.
Last year, the Mercedes Championships was the opening event, but that changes in 2001. For the first time in PGA Tour history, the season will begin in a foreign country with the World Golf Championships in Melbourne, Australia.
The Mercedes will be played Jan. 11-14 and will be for only the players who won Tour events in 2000. The Sony Open will be held the following week and is the first full-field tournament of 2001.
That will be a busy weekend for local sports fans. Also scheduled for that week are the Hula Bowl on Maui and the Mastercard Senior event on the Big Island.
The upcoming Sony Open will also be televised by CBS Sports. It's the first time CBS has broadcast a PGA Tour event in the island chain. The following year, the Sony Open go back to ESPN.
Sony officials also announced yesterday that a record $559,000 was raised for 46 Hawaii charities and nonprofit organizations.
"Through our flagship event -- the Sony Open in Hawaii golf tournament -- we have taken a major step in assisting the overall community of Hawaii and the specific needs of dedicated organizations through these charitable funds," Friends of Hawaii Charities chairman Anthony Gurrero said.
In two years, the Friends of Hawaii has generated $815,000 for local charitable organizations. This year's fund-raiser was helped by a charity partnership matching grant of $250,000 from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.
