More a case of those missing at Hyundai

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2012 Hyundai Tournament of Champions | Preview | 03 Jan 2012

The opening event of the 2012 PGA Tour season, the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, is this week played at its long time at the Plantation Course at Kapalua on Maui in Hawaii.

Twenty eight winners of 34 events on the 45 event 2011 PGA Tour schedule get the chance to tee it up in the US$5.6 million event with US$1.12 million available to the winner.

The talk of the week is as much about who is not in the field as those who are.

Those eligible but not present this week include Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Dustin Johnson, Charl Schwartzel, Phil Mickelson, Darren Clarke, Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer, Brandt Snedeker and Fredrik Jacobson.

World number one and leading money winner on the PGA and European Tours in 2011, Luke Donald, could be forgiven for not playing as he had a demanding finish to the year with the passing of his father, the arrival of his second child and the decision to play the J.B. Were Masters in Australia in the third week of December.

Scott was seen earlier this week supporting his girlfriend, Ana Ivanovic, at the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament just as she had spent time with him at his events in Australia late in 2011.

It must be very disappointing however for a sponsor such as Hyundai to get behind an event which is aimed at bringing together some of the elite of the PGA Tour only to have so many of them decide against playing.

Jonathan Byrd defends the title he won when defeating Robert Garrigus in a playoff, becoming the first American to win the event in ten years when doing so.

Steve Stricker is the highest ranked player in the field ahead of 2011 standout Webb Simpson. Stricker has not won this event previously but did finish runner-up in 2007 and has played well enough in the events he has played in his most recent starts.

Simpson was beaten in the Singles at the Presidents Cup but played a key role in setting up the US victory early in that event. He gets to play this event for the first occasion having won on the PGA Tour for the first time in 2011 but he has played so well and so consistently wherever he has played in recent months that he could be a big factor. Bermuda greens do not seem to bother him as he has often performed well on them.

Bill Haas and Nick Watney were others to have brilliant seasons in 2011 and could well take up where they left off late last year. Haas finished 8th in this event last year and was the FedEx Cup Champion in what was a stunning 2011 season.

Bubba Watson reportedly shot 58 in a recent round of golf at his home course in Arizona indicating he is ready for the task ahead. Watson finished well back in his only start in this event last year however.

Australia had two winners of events on the PGA Tour in 2011 but only Aaron Baddeley will play this week. Baddeley won the Northern Trust Open at Riviera early in 2011. Baddeley had a solid run at the end of the 2011 season but in his only two times to this event he has a best of only 12th.

The event has been particularly good to Australians over recent years, Stuart Appleby winning on three occasions and Geoff Ogilvy twice in the past eight years.

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