Off the Fringe
Off the Fringe
KAPALUA, Maui >> Tiger Woods is not coming to the Sony Open this week, much to the chagrin of the title sponsors. Tiger won’t be in the
woods at WaialaeHe has been at the Mercedes Championships four consecutive years, but has yet to commit to the Oahu tournament that is taking a backseat to its Maui counterpart in landing major players.
Woods, David Duval and Phil Mickelson are the world's top professionals.
Yet none of them has committed to the Sony Open since the Mercedes moved to Maui, leaving the first field event for the PGA Tour lacking in marquee players.
This week, Woods is heading to the New Zealand Open, where he will receive a guaranteed $1 million appearance fee, something that's frowned upon on tour. Duval is off to Idaho for his yearly snowboarding excursion. Mickelson missed Mercedes for personal reasons.
Of the four major championship winners -- Woods (Masters), Duval (British Open), Retief Goosen (U.S. Open) and David Toms (PGA Championship) -- only Toms is hanging around for another week. And that's because his wife wanted to stay.
On a positive note, 21 of the 32 players taking part in the season opener will be in the Sony field, including Sergio Garcia, Davis Love III, Jesper Parnevik and defending champion Brad Faxon. But without Woods, Duval and Mickelson, it leaves Oahu golf fans feeling left out.
There are many theories as to why the game's top players regularly skip this event. Some don't like the par-70 course, others don't want to remain in windy Hawaii for more than two weeks, still others like the low-key fans of the Mercedes.
Count Woods among them. Unlike Oahu, where security risks are higher, Woods can wander the Plantation Course relatively worry free. He has the longest streak among the pros in Mercedes appearances with seven and said Thursday he can't imagine not starting the PGA Tour on Maui.
"It would be a little bit different," Woods said, then smiled.
"Hopefully, that doesn't happen. When you get here, I think that's when you really appreciate the year you had, because in order to get here, you had to have played well and obviously won an event."
Woods only made 19 appearances on tour in 2001, which means if he's going to play in the island chain, Oahu isn't likely to be it. This is where he wants to plan his Hawaii vacation. The same can be said of several other players who believe Maui gives them the privacy they crave.
SO WHAT'S SONY to do? Unfortunately, there's little tournament officials can do, short of moving the Sony Open to a more accommodating golf course on Oahu. Since that's not likely to happen in the foreseeable future, the Oahu event is going to have to be satisfied with the second-tier of the tour.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. There are many tournaments around the country that would love to host a 144-man field similar to this week's event. In addition to the 21 Mercedes participants, the Sony will have old-guard Fred Couples, Jeff Maggert, Mark O'Meara, Corey Pavin and Scott Simpson wandering the 18 fairways.
True, there isn't a tiger in these woods. But officials are hopeful that some day he will change his mind and make Oahu part of his network.