This newest stop on the Champions Tour is an opportunity for Hawaii to re-establish the Aloha season that once boasted eight professional tournaments in 2006.
Too many events of the PGA, LPGA and senior tours matriculated someplace else, leaving golf fans in the 50th State with only three major tournaments just five years later.
But that started to change in April with the return of the LPGA. The world’s best female golfers walked the fairways and greens of Ko Olina in the inaugural LPGA Lotte Championship. This week’s Pacific Links Hawaii Championship was also added to the mix this spring.
It has an impressive array of golfers, even with the unfortunate withdrawals of Fred Couples (bad back) and Greg Norman (attending funeral for Raymond Floyd’s wife). Several other big names on tour are not in the field because of injuries.
Fortunately, Schwab Cup commander Tom Lehman is not among them. He is the top points man entering this week’s 54-hole tourney that begins today at 9:40 a.m. In all, 10 of the top 15 in the Cup chase are here competing.
If things go well, it could return to Oahu next fall as the Champions Tour looks to add three more tournaments in 2013. Whether the fall date is the best fit in the long term is open for debate. With the Champions Tour kicking off its season on the Big Island in January, it seems natural to have a full-field event on Oahu the following week, as was done in the original Aloha season.
Now, if the senior circuit is looking to expand into the Asian market, maybe have an event in China in the fall, then it follows suit for this tournament to be a part of the players’ travel plans, either on the way there or on the way back.
THE LPGA TOOK a similar approach a half-dozen years ago when that tour’s first two events were held on Oahu. The women were playing in Australia and Asia, and it made sense for this island to be the gathering place for them.
Whatever the reasons, a state that promotes itself as a golfer’s paradise needs to keep the professional events here to help showcase that premise. It would also be a good idea to see if Kauai can be drawn back into the mix.
The senior skins game played on the Big Island and Maui ended due to no sponsor, and Kauai lost the Grand Slam of Golf to Bermuda in 2006.
At the time, Tiger Woods said how much the players enjoyed being on Kauai during Thanksgiving, but the PGA Tour of America moved anyway, leaving it without the game’s major star. Tiger hasn’t played in it since it left Kauai. The current deal with Bermuda ends in October. Maybe Hawaii can make a bid to get it back here where it belongs.
For now, this weekend is a big chance for local golf fans to show some love for the likes of Tom Kite, Mark O’Meara, Corey Pavin, Fred Funk and Scott Simpson. They don’t come by here every day. And if we want the Aloha season to be what it once was, now’s the time to fill the fairways and greens at Kapolei Golf Course.
———
Reach Paul Arnett at <@Tagline -- email1>parnett@staradvertiser. com<@$p> or 529-4786.
