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JAMM AQUINO / 2013
Mark Wiebe took home the winner’s trophy and a check for $330,000 at the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship last year.
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Around lunch on Tuesday, Mark Wiebe told Champions Tour officials he would not be in the Aloha State to defend his Pacific Links Hawaii Championship title.
He listed an ear infection and a bad shoulder and neck for reasons he couldn’t trek across the Pacific for this week’s stop on the senior circuit. Wiebe beat Corey Pavin in a playoff last year to win the $2.2 million event and pocket the $330,000 first-place check.
This season hasn’t been as kind to the professional golfer, who turned 57 just four days ago.
He has played in 17 events in 2014, has no top-25 finishes and has earned a paltry $60,854. In golf money, that barely covers the travel and hotel expenses.
His best finish was a tie for 28th at the Big Cedar Lodge Legends of Golf. He earned $11,500, his best check of the season.
This week’s 54-hole event begins Friday at the Kapolei Golf Course off Farrington Highway. The tournament features the Champions Tour debut of Davis Love III, who won 20 times on the PGA Tour. The 1997 PGA Championship winner joins 13 other rookies committed to play this week, including Golf Hall of Famer Vijay Singh and two-time U.S. Open winner Lee Janzen.
The Golf Channel will broadcast all three rounds from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. local time.
