Thirty-four players entered, one withdrew, one got DQ'd and the rest got paid. Sounds like Wrestle mania forty-seven. I might touch on that on a different day but I'm talking about the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, the PGA Tour's opening party to the season. Memo to all golfers: win this year, and you get the invite back to Maui next year. Now I bet Dustin Johnson would have read that memo. All kidding aside, Dustin looked very well in his season debut and I feel another strong year coming from the young gun.
Speaking of young guns, which dominated the PGA Tour in 2010 with over ten wins by twenty-somethings, look to keep their dominance intact. Although there were only two twenty-somethings that finished in the top ten, they got off to a great start. Do we have a new age group to dominate the tour in 2011? Six of the top ten finishers in Maui are in their 30's. One man in particular continues to be the hottest man on tour carrying over from late last year. That man is Greame McDowell. Scrutinized heavily for switching equipment from Callaway to Srixon, he quieted all critics with a blistering 62 on Sunday, tying the course record. I think those Srixon irons are going to suit him just fine. He'll get over the fact he missed the playoff by one stroke and just continue to throw darts at flag sticks and contend in all the big tournaments.
Fashion statements continue to write their way into the conversation during the telecasts. Ian Poulter opened up his 2011 campaign looking quite dapper in a classy black and pink ensemble. Did you expect anything different from him? Dustin Johnson and Anthony Kim kept it simple, yet sharp in their solid colors. Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker represented the "khaki pants and polo look," quite well. The only thing missing was Brian Gay and his green shoes. He'll appear sooner than later.
So, what did we learn this past weekend? During the first round, we learned that Bubba Watson is still freakishly long, fearless and can still hit driver off the deck from 305 yards to ten feet for eagle. Thank you very much. During the second round, we learned that the shortest drive on tour this year will go to Jason Day after he chunked a drive that only went 107 yards. Thanks to Day, all of the weekend duffers feel better about themselves. During the weekend, we learned that you must birdie almost every other hole at Kapalua to keep yourself in contention. In the end, Jonathan Byrd made more birdies and edged out Robert Garrigus in a playoff to get the first invite back to Maui for 2012. The tour stays on the Hawaiian Islands for the first full field event of 2011, the Sony Open. Aloha!
