Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
No grinding.
That’s 50-year-old “rookie” Mike Weir’s impression of the Champions Tour heading into his 11th event.
Weir shot in the 60s all four rounds to finish 10 under at the PGA “regular” Tour’s Sony Open in Hawaii. His 2-under 68 Sunday put him tied for 47th.
Now, Weir — along with Sunday playing partner Jim Furyk — head to Hawaii Island for their first go at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.
They are among 42 of the game’s greatest legends entered this year. The 2021 field represents 18 major champions, 323 PGA Tour wins and 268 tour victories.
“It’s different,” said Weir, the 2003 Masters champion, of the 50-and-over circuit. “Only three rounds and the guys shoot low numbers, so you’ve got to have the scoring mentality to get off to a fast start.”
He’s no stranger to the Hualalai layout.
“I’ve been coming over to Kona for probably the last dozen years and just playing with a couple of friends over there,” Weir said. “So I know the course pretty well.”
Furyk turned 50 last May and is also a Champions rookie — and he came in red-hot, winning his first two tournaments on the vets’ tour: the Ally Challenge and the PURE Insurance Championship.
Unlike Weir, the 17-time PGA Tour winner (which includes the 1996 United Airlines Hawaiian Open) said all he knows about his next event is that it’s at a golf course … a nice one, at a nice resort.
“Right now just don’t know what to expect,” he said after his 3-under 67 at Waialae on Sunday that tied him with Weir at 10 under for the event. “Everyone tells me how beautiful Hualalai is, how great the hotel, the tournament itself. I don’t know anything about the golf course. I have an open mind going in and I have the next couple of days on Monday and Tuesday to go see the golf course and try to get to know it a little bit and get ready.”
Furyk said he likes the Champions Tour vibe.
“I have a bunch of old friends that have been out on the Champions Tour for quite a while like (Jeff) Sluman and Billy Andrade. There’s just a bunch of guys I get along with,” he said. “It’s kind of like a little bit of a homecoming and seeing them in the locker room the first couple of events last summer, it was just fun, kind of seeing folks I haven’t seen in a while.
“Everybody talks about the camaraderie on the Champions Tour, and I think that’s there. Everyone realizes they get kind of a second lease on life. … But it’s also very competitive.”
For players like Furyk and Weir who still have enough game for the regular tour and exemptions for the majors, a tournament like Hualalai is just the right kind of event at the right time of the year.
“It’s a thin schedule early in the year,” said Weir, who has enjoyed playing with old friends, including Bernhard Langer. “So it’s nice to get one early and kind of pace yourself for the late spring and summer comes around when a lot of the big tournaments happen. Hualalai is a great event and I’ve heard nothing but great things. Excited to be part of the feeling.”
K.J. Choi, who shot 74 Sunday at Waialae and finished the Sony at 5 under, is also making his Hualalai debut as a Champions Tour member this week.
Miguel Angel Jimenez
will be back to try to defend his 2020 Mitsubishi title,
in which he held off Ernie Els and Fred Couples in a playoff.
72