They saved the best for last.
After two weeks of predominantly young guns firing shots across the fairways and greens of Maui and Oahu, the golfers whose names need no introduction gather at Hualalai on the Big Island of Hawaii to take part in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship.
There are 11 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame among the 42 players expected to tee it up on Thursday at one of Jack Nicklaus’ places. The Four Seasons resort course is among the favorites on the senior set of the PGA Tour Champions. It’s usually the first event of the year, but in this pandemic-plagued campaign, it’s the halfway point of the wraparound season.
Much like the Sentry Tournament of Champions is for the PGA Tour, this week’s 54-hole event is reserved for the year’s previous winners and for those who have won a major within the last five years. There are also some high-profiled sponsor’s exemptions for this star-studded field.
Fred Couples and Ernie Els are just two of those Hall of Famers who will tour the seaside course. Both were part of a three-way playoff last year that included eventual winner Miguel Angel Jimenez; his second time to claim this prestigious title. Also expected to play is 63-year-old Bernhard Langer, who is the Charles Schwab Cup leader.
He is second only to Hale Irwin — also in the field — in senior tour history with 41 wins. Irwin has 45 and has always enjoyed playing in Hawaii as his bank account will attest. Langer is the only three-time winner of this tournament that is filled with folks hoisting trophies. Langer is also the tournament’s all-time money leader ($1,643,700).
This is the 25th edition at Hualalai with this year’s field representing 18 major champions, 323 PGA Tour wins and another 268 victories for the PGA Tour Champions. Some of them are swinging the sticks so well, they took part in the Sony Open in Hawaii this past weekend with four making the cut.
They are first-timers at Hualalai: Jim Furyk, K.J. Choi and Mike Weir, and 2018 Mitsubishi champion Jerry Kelly. Of that famous foursome, Furyk and Weir had the best finish with a tie for 47th at 10 under for the week. Choi was 71st at 5 under and Kelly was 73rd at even par, 21 strokes off the pace of eventual winner Kevin Na.
Furyk, Kelly and Choi also share the distinction as past winners at Waialae. Furyk won the United Airlines Hawaiian Open in 1996, and Kelly captured the Sony Open in 2002 and Choi came along to do the same in 2008. Three other golfers in this week’s field, Davis Love III and Vijay Singh and Shane Bertsch also teed it up last week on Oahu. All three missed the cut.
“The combination of World Golf Hall of Fame members, past tournament champions and first-time players makes this year’s field a fitting celebration for the Mitsubishi Electric Championship’s 25th anniversary at Hualalai,” tournament director Kelly Fliear said in a press release.
Due to the COVID virus pandemic, there will be no fans allowed on the course. The event will be shown on the Golf Channel starting locally at 2 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. In addition to Choi, Furyk and Weir, there are three other golfers making their first appearances here in Bertsch, Darren Clarke and Brett Quigley. There was a time when Quigley’s uncle, Dana, ruled these Nicklaus-designed fairways, winning twice here in 2003 and 2005.
