The 2008 PGA Tour Starts in Kapalua

As many of us in the Midwest and Northeast are buried under a foot or more of snow, the 2008 PGA Tour is kicking off it’s season in sunny Kapalua, Maui January 3-6 with the Mercedes-Benz Championship.

The Plantation Course at the Kapalua Resort in Maui (pictured above) is a 7411-yard, par-73 course, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. The course jigjags through pineapple plantations and lava formations, all the while hugging the craggy Maui coastline. As I write this, the temperate there is 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Mercedes-Benz Championship carries a $5.5 million purse, with $1.1 million going to the winner. Last year’s winner, Vijay Singh, is picked by most golf pundits to repeat this year, although many of golf’s finest players, notably Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, are sitting this week out.

All four rounds of the Mercedes-Benz Tournament are being broadcast on the Golf Channel.

^{(photo credit: Losborne/cc license)}