Schedule: Thursday-Saturday
Schedule: Thursday-Saturday
Par/Yards: 36-36-72/7,107
Field: 43 professionals Format: 54-hole stroke-play with no cuts
TV: Golf Channel, 2-5 p.m.
Purse: $1.8 million/Winner’s share: $300,000
Here are the essentials to know for this week’s PGA Champions Tour event at Hualalai on the Big Island.
A fresh start in paradise
The 33rd annual Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai will once again serve as the season-opening event for the Champion Tour. The 43-player field features major champions from the last five years, other tournament winners in the last two seasons and sponsor invitees.
The champ is back
Defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez made a crucial 20-foot birdy on the 17th hole to move one stroke ahead of Mark O’Meara and capture the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in his first appearance at the event last year. Jimenez made birdies on six of the final nine holes to overtake O’Meara, who was seeking his first win on the Champions Tour since 2010. Fred Couples finished third, followed by Rocco Mediate in fourth.
Can anyone best Bernhard?
Bernhard Langer has won at the Big Island event twice — in 2009 and ‘14 — and has been the most dominant player on the Champions Tour for quite some time. He captured a record seventh Arnold Palmer Award as the Tour’s leading money winner in 2015, as well as a record fifth Jack Nicklaus Award as PGA Tour Champions Player of the Year and a third Charles Schwab Cup points title.
The 58-year-old Langer joined the Champions Tour full time in 2008, and is seeking his 26th win. If he gets it, he’ll move to third on the all-time wins list. Hale Irwin leads with 45 victories followed by Lee Trevino with 29. Langer is currently tied with Gil Morgan at 25 wins.
A story to watch this week will be how the record-setting German deals with a change of putting style. A ban on the anchored putter he previously used went into effect at the start of the year.
All Hale (Irwin)
Hawaii has been good to hall of famer Hale Irwin.
This week at Hualalai will mark the 21st consecutive appearance for Irwin at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship — easily the longest streak by any player. A two-time winner of the event (1997 and 2007), Irwin’s 2007 victory was the last of his 45 career Champions Tour titles, 16 more wins than Lee Trevino, the next-closest player on the all-time victory list. Irwin won 19 of his 45 titles after age 55. In addition to his two wins at Hualalai, Irwin won the old Turtle Bay Championship/Kaanapali Classic six times. He also claimed the 1981 Hawaiian Open on the PGA Tour. Irwin’s three unofficial wins in Hawaii came at the 1999 Senior Skins Game at Mauna Lani and the 2001 and 2002 Senior Skins at Wailea. As a result of that success in the state, Irwin has amassed earnings totaling $4,462,153 in Hawaii.
Just go low
Over the last 10 years, the par-72 Hualalai Golf Course has been the one of the easiest layouts on the Champions Tour. The scores have backed that up. In the last 15 years, the winner of this event has carded three rounds in the 60s and the only player to post a round over par and win the event was Irwin in 1997 when he shot a 1-over-par 73 in the opening round. However, winds were clocked at 35-40 mph in that first round.
Hole No. 10 is rated as the easiest on the course. The Par-5, 556-yard hole uses an elevated tee and allows players to use a downhill attack with a slight turn to the left. Last year, seven eagles and 65 birdies were recorded there, compared to just a single bogey and double-bogey.
Conversely, No. 11 has proved to be the hardest. The Par-4, 416-yard hole forced golfers into 32 bogeys and three doubles last year.
Triumphant debuts
This year’s field includes eight players making their first starts at Hualalai. New faces include Lee Janzen, Marco Dawson, Billy Andrade, Joe Durant, Ian Woosnam, Jerry Smith, Duffy Waldorf and Vijay Singh (right).
Eight players have won this tournament in their first try. That includes last year’s champion Jimenez, as well as John Jacobs (1999), John Bland (1996), George Archer (1990), Dave Hill (1988), Peter Thomson (1985) and Orville Moody (1984).
Almost kama’aina
Singh, Davis Love III and Fred Funk played last week in the PGA Tour’s Sony Open on Oahu. They will all be in the field at Hualalai. Funk tied for 42nd, Singh tied for 50th, and Love failed to advance to the final round.
By the numbers: A legendary field
9: Members of the World Golf Hall of Fame playing at Hualalai Golf Course this weekend. The group includes Fred Couples, Hale Irwin, Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie, Larry Nelson, Tom Watson, Vijay Singh, Mark O’Meara and Tom Kite.
8: Players with wins in this event who will be in action this week — Hale Irwin (1997 and 2007), Loren Roberts (2006), Tom Kite (2002), Langer (2009, ‘14), Fred Funk (2008), Watson (2010), Larry Nelson (2001), and John Cook (2011, ‘13).
7: Charles Schwab Cup champions who will be on the course — Irwin (2002, ’04), Watson (2003, ’05), Jay Haas (2006, ’08), Loren Roberts (2007, ’09), Langer (2010, ’14, ‘15), Tom Lehman (2011, ’12) and Kenny Perry (2013).
32: Major titles accounted for by the field (nine Masters, nine US Open, eight Open Championship, six PGA championship). As a group, they have also combined to win 335 PGA Tour events and 277 more on the Champions Tour.