The 2011 Champions Tour season starts on Friday (Jan. 21) in paradise, and there are certainly worse places for a golfer to be in January than Hawaii.
But for a tour player, paradise is a matter of perspective. If you’re playing well, 100 degrees and humid in Memphis in July could be far more idyllic than struggling with your game in perfect January conditions in Hawaii.
Three players with strong Colorado connections will try to set a good tone for the 2011 season with a strong performance in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship on the Big Island this weekend. All three — former University of Colorado athlete Hale Irwin, Evergreen’s Craig Stadler and Castle Rock’s Gary Hallberg — have compelling storylines going into the new year for the 50-and-over set.
Stadler (pictured) is one of the biggest question marks entering 2011. This week marks his return to tournament golf after undergoing left hip replacement surgery on Sept. 15. The four-plus months since Stadler last played a tour event is believed to be his longest inactive stretch in more than three decades on the PGA/Champions circuit.
Stadler has won 13 PGA Tour events and eight more on the Champions Tour, but he’s winless since his five-victory season of 2004. His best showings in 2010 were a pair of 10th-place performances. Like Irwin, Stadler received a spot in this 42-player event due to a sponsor exemption.
Hallberg, meanwhile, will be making his debut in this limited-field tournament thanks to winning his first Champions Tour event in October. The way he prevailed in the Ensure Classic was a confidence-builder, as he shot his career-low round — and matched a final-round record for a Champions Tour winner — with an 11-under-par 61. With that, he overtook arguably the top two players on the Champions Tour, Fred Couples and Bernhard Langer, who finished second and third, respectively.
The $262,500 paycheck was the largest of Hallberg’s career, and he became just the fourth player in history to win events on the PGA, Nationwide and Champions Tours.
Then there is Irwin, the oldest player in the field this week in Hawaii (65) and the oldest winner of this tournament (61 years, 7 months). The former CU golfer remains the career victory leader on the Champions Tour with 45, and the last of those wins came in this tournament four years ago. Irwin, who also won this event in 1997, is making his record 16th straight appearance in the tournament, which is limited to winners on the Champions Tour the last two seasons, senior major champions in the last five years, and seven sponsor exemptions.
Irwin has achieved amazing success in Hawaii over the last 30 years. Counting his PGA and Champions Tour career, he has won nine official Tour events in the state, and a dozen overall. Irwin is one of seven World Golf Hall of Famers competing in the Mitsubishi tournament.
One local player who didn’t earn a spot in the Mitsubishi Electric field will end an ironman run this week. Mark Wiebe of Aurora owns the longest active streak of Champions Tour starts, at 52 in a row. He was the only player to compete in all 26 Champions events in 2010, but he’s not eligible for this week’s tournament.
