Tickets for Mercedes Championships on sale
Advertiser Staff
Tickets are on sale for the 2003 Mercedes Championships. The PGA Tour's season-opening event will bring the 2002 tournament champions to Kapalua's Plantation Course Jan. 6-12.
Qualifiers to date include defending champion Sergio Garcia, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Sony Open in Hawai'i winner Jerry Kelly.
Professional practice rounds will be Monday and Tuesday (Jan. 6-7), followed by the Pro-Am Wednesday. The Mercedes runs Thursday through Sunday.
A season pass, good for the entire week, is available at an advance price of $50 through Dec. 23. Daily tickets are also available. Children 16 and under are free when accompanied by a ticket-holding adult.
Tickets can be purchased at all Kapalua golf shops, The Honolua Store, The Logo Shop, all Activity World outlets, the customer service desk at the Lahaina Cannery Mall and the Queen Ka'ahumanu Center information booth.
For phone orders, call Ticketmaster at (877) 804-0472, or visit pgatour.com or ticketmaster.com.
Tickets are also available for the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, Nov. 26-27 at Po'ipu Bay on Kaua'i. They can be purchased by phone (800) PGA-TCKT, or online (pga.com).
Woods, who won this year's first two majors, and British Open champion Els have qualified. It will be Woods' record sixth appearance.
The winner of the PGA Championship will claim the third berth. Former major champions who compete in the current year's major championships are eligible for the alternate berth or berths.
8 Hawai'i public courses in Top 100
Hawai'i has eight courses in the latest Golf Magazine list of the "Top 100 You Can Play." The biennial list of top public courses will be in the magazine's September issue.
The boom in public course development the past five years is reflected with 24 courses making their debut, the most ever. Pebble Beach, in Monterey, Calif., retains the No. 1 position, with the year-old Pacific Dunes (Bandon, Ore.) second. The Black Course at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, N.Y., which recently hosted the U.S. Open, moves up two places to third.
Arizona led all states with 10 courses, followed by California with nine and Hawai'i. The eight local courses are Challenge at Manele, which was 16th; Kapalua Plantation (19); Princeville Prince (20); Mauna Kea (27); Kaua'i Lagoons Kiele (74); Hualalai (77); Ko'olau (82) and Mauna Lani North (86). Hualalai, a semi-private course, is considered "semi-public" by the magazine.
A panel comprised of PGA section directors, regional golf association directors, golf writers and other members of the golf community voted on the list of more than 400 daily-fee, resort, and semi-private courses. Members of the public who had played more than 20 courses on the list were invited to vote through the magazine's Web site (golfonline.com).
Wailea changes clubs for rent
Wailea Golf Club has converted its rental club program to Callaway Hawk Eye VFT woods and Big Bertha Irons, all with graphite shafts.
Cost to rent a set is $45 plus tax per round. With each rental, guests receive a sleeve of Callaway golf balls.
The club has also introduced the Callaway Fitting System, a computerized club-fitting program using Callaway's technology. The program helps each player determine the club specifications best suited for his or her swing.
