Curtain raiser

DIVOTS

The 30-odd champions from 2003 US PGA season start of what will as usual be a long season.

The players who have all been winners in the past season will tee off at the $5.3-million Mercedes Championships in Hawaii and leading the parade will be Tiger Woods, who last year skipped this event because of a knee surgery.

Going straight head-to-head with him at the Kapalua Resort will be Ernie Els, who won the event last year by a Wood-esque margin of eight strokes.

LPGA stays with schedule

The LPGA Tour, which brought down its 38-tournament schedule to 32 over the last two years will stick to it.

The main reason for this has been that the LPGA Tour Commissioner, Ty Votaw feels it does not make sense to compete against the NFL playoffs and other major sports in January.

So the first month of the year will be part of the off-season for the Tour.

Last year LPGA had a very successful season, with not just the top women like Annika Sorenstam and Se Ri Pak making news by playing alongside men, but also because the events saw good turnouts in terms of participation of top names.

The tour drew an average of seven of the top 10 and 23 of the top 30 players to each event in 2003.

Classy field

In Asia, the Johnnie Walker Classic, the only tri-sanctioned event between Asian PGA, European PGA and the Australasian PGA, has signed up big names for the event.

The first lot included Ernie Els, British Open champion, Ben Curtis and reigning US PGA champion, Shaun Micheel and six-time Major winner, Nick Faldo.

The £1-million event, has also announced the confirmation of Ryder Cup stars, Thomas Bjorn, Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and Ian Woosnam, besides rising stars like Trevor Immelman, who with Rory Sabbatini won the World Cup for South Africa towards the end of 2003, Adam Scott, Justin Rose and Ian Poulter. The event is scheduled from January 29 to February 1.

- Bogeyman