The El Niño effect played well on the mainland for those watching the first two PGA Tour events of the calendar year.

More often than not, the normal tradewind pattern in January can bring unwelcome squalls and blustery breezes that professional players hope will go on holiday when they swing into town.

And that’s exactly what happened on Maui for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and the following week on Oahu for the Sony Open in Hawaii. For the past fortnight, the weather was picture-postcard perfect, with the sky as blue as the water below.

These vistas provided by Kapalua’s Plantation Course and Oahu’s Waialae Country Club can’t be overstated. Golf fans on the continent watching on their 60-inch 4K Ultra HD flat-screen TVs can almost feel the cool Bermuda beneath their fingers and the warm sand scrunched up in their toes.

Zach Johnson and his family were enjoying a Friday evening sunset standing on the first tee of the Plantation Course’s signature hole. There should have been a “scenic view” sign posted nearby, it was that spectacular as the distant orange disc slipped below the horizon, Molokai serving as a playing partner.

Johnson’s youngest was threatening to run off down the 500-yard fairway from the tips of the elevated tee. It was a Hawaiian Tourism Authority commercial going unrecorded, but by those at the scene.

This peaceful setting attracts the players as much as the million-dollar first prize — even more. They look at you with envy when realizing you get to stay here after their two-week layover in paradise draws to a close. As the national golf writers like to say upon packing their gear — it’s all downhill from here.

Even better for local fans, this new breed of golfer likes coming here. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson didn’t exactly embrace the local golf scene. Neither has played in the Sony Open since the sponsor change. Mickelson has only walked the Plantation Course a couple of times since the TOC shifted from California to Hawaii in 1999. And Woods stopped coming to Maui long ago.

But with six of the world’s top 10 golfers spending time on the Valley Isle in 2016, including No. 1 Jordan Spieth and No. 2 Jason Day, you get the feeling the world’s best won’t skip these events quite as often.

Spieth already declared he will return to defend his TOC tittle in 2017, even going so far as to say that we could call him and remind him he needed to be here if for some reason he wasn’t in town. Tournament directors love that kind of stuff.

This year’s Sony Open field had some quality golfers as well competing for the title, including Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III and former world No. 1s Luke Donald, Vijay Singh and Adam Scott.

The larger galleries at both events reflected the kind of deep talent found in both fields. Granted, we can’t have an El Niño drift down every year. The scores would be too good. The combined winning totals by Spieth and Sony champ Fabian Gomez were a whopping 50 under par. If the trades are lifting some skirts, that ain’t happening.

Regardless, you can bet some of those folks watching on the Golf Channel in their own frigid climes the past two weeks will join golf fans in the 50th state at both events next year. And maybe bring the likes of Rory McIlroy and his fellow European standouts along for the ride.