The first full field PGA Tour event of 2006 hits the fairways of the Waialae Country Club on Honolulu in Hawaii for the Sony Open in Hawaii. For several players it will be their first taste of USPGA Tour golf while for the rest it will be business as usual as season 2006 kicks off in earnest.

The Waialae Country Club was initially built in 1927 from a design by Seth Raynor, although several groups and individuals, more especially Bob Baldock and Robin Nelson, have had their turn in attempting to put their stamp on the layout since. No changes of note have been made in the last twelve months and so the course will play just over 7000 yards and carries a par of 70. With several of its holes abutting the Pacific Ocean its main defence is its proximity to the ocean and the resultant ever present breezes.

The event has always been played at the Waialae Country Club with its first staging dating back to 1965 when Gay Brewer won over Bob Goalby. It became the Sony Open in 1999 having had Hawaiian Airlines as its main sponsor for several years prior.

Many of the graduates from last year's Nationwide Tour and those from the USPGA Tour School face their first USPGA Tour event as card holders but it will again be the battle at the other end of the spectrum that will capture the attention of the majority. There are many Hawaiian specialists here and in good form.

Vijay Singh beat Ernie Els by a shot here last year and with his back to back runner up placings at the Mercedes Championship in the last two years, he is clearly ready to go one better than he did last week. His final round of 66 last Sunday was the best round of the week by three shots so he is already in great form in 2006. Look to him to be right in the firing line again on Sunday.

Jim Furyk appeared to handle the new Srixon equipment well last week at the Mercedes when finishing third and with a good record here, including a win and runner up placing, then he looks capable of extending what has been a good run of form in the last two months. He of course finished third in Japan, won the Nedbank Challenge, had a reasonable week at the Target Challenge and did well in Maui.

Stuart Appleby might find it tough to back up such a significant win but he did finish runner up here in 2000 and as he has shown across on the island of Maui in recent years he just loves whatever Hawaii can throw at him. He did not play here in 2005 and missed the cut in 2004 after winning the Mercedes.

Adam Scott lines up for his first event of 2006. He finished 20th in 2005 and missed the cut in his only other start here in 2004. He is playing well enough to have lost a playoff to Furyk at the Sun City event in South Africa but it is hard to get excited about his chance of a win.

David Toms did well early on at last week's Mercedes and finished 13th here last year. He has not played this event often but did finish fourth in 2002.

Bart Bryant finished 9th last year in what would turn out to be a breakthrough year for the 45-year-old. He finished 9th last week and any player with that sort of form and who won the Memorial and the Tour Championship in 2005, has to be considered as some sort of chance and at reasonable odds I might add.

Kenny Perry hardly flattered last week and has not played well on the few occasions he has been to Waialae in recent years.

One player who punched above his weight last week at the Mercedes was Lucas Glover, who finished 6th at Kapalua. In a breakthrough year in 2005, Glover won one event and had several other good finishes in Florida suggesting that the type of conditions he will find this week will not bother the 26-year-old. He might be a good each way chance at longer odds.

Two players who are here and are likely to attract quite a bit of attention are Michelle Wie and David Duval but for very different reasons. Wie is playing the event for the third time and is attempting to make the cut for the first time. The local star will attract huge local interest and this time, now that she has turned professional, she is playing for real

Wie missed the cut by just one shot in 2004, after a second round 68, although last year she missed by seven. Duval on the other hand showed at the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan when 7th behind Woods that things might be about to turn around for him. He played well, comparatively, in one or two USPGA Tour events towards the end of the year and if he was able to make the cut here then it might signal even further progress for the 2001 Open Championship winner, who has disappeared from the radar in the last three years,

Of the Australians other than Appleby and Scott there are many who will line up. Peter Lonard did well last week when 10th at the Mercedes in his first appearance there. Lonard finished 12th in this event in his second visit to Hawaii in 2003 and with a solid week behind him last week he might do well.

Aaron Baddeley was beaten in a playoff by Ernie Els here in 2003. At his last tournament start he finished fifth at the Australian Open but that was six weeks ago. Stephen Leaney lines up for the first time despite having played the USPGA Tour for the last two years. For many other Australians however this event will signal the start of a USPGA Tour career that could lead anywhere.

Steve Bowditch is potentially one of the most exciting prospects to come out of Australia for quite some time. He finished fourth on the Nationwide Tour in 2005 following his win in Australia and his runner up placing in New Zealand. He has the game to succeed in the US given his length and his touch on the greens. To some extent Steve Bowditch can be as successful as he wants to be and with his increasing maturity he looks well placed for a good rookie season.

Other Australian Nationwide Tour graduates include David McKenzie, Nathan Green, Greg Chalmers and Mathew Goggin. Goggin and Chalmers have of course played the USPGA Tour previously but for Green and McKenzie this is quite a special week. A cut made this week will represent a good start for them. New Zealander Craig Perks is the only other player from this part of the world to tee up and he has the task of turning around what has been a disastrous run since his amazing win at Sawgrass in 2002.

The tournament has prizemoney of US$5.1 million with a first prize of US$918,000.

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