31 eligible for Mercedes

Advertiser Staff

Chad Campbell's win at the season-ending Tour Championship makes 31 PGA Tour players eligible for the 2004 Mercedes Championships, which opens the season Jan. 8 to 11 at Kapalua's Plantation.

The winner of the $5.3 million event gets $1,060,000 and a Mercedes-Benz SL500.

Ernie Els is the defending champion. He opened this year with a win on Maui and the following week at the Sony Open in Hawai'i. Els is one of seven multiple winners this year. Tiger Woods won five times and Vijay Singh and Davis Love III four each.

There will be 11 golfers older than 40 at Kapalua.

Bob Levy was named "Volunteer of the Year" in recognition of his commitment to the success of Mercedes. Levy has been marshaling at pro events more than 20 years, starting with the Aku Cup and including PGA, LPGA and Champions Tour events.

Tickets for the 2004 Mercedes are available at Ticketmaster (1-866-GOLFTIX or ticketmaster.com), through the tour Web site (pgatour.com) or on Maui.

HSWGA mini-tournament

The Hawaii State Women's Golf Association is sponsoring a mini-tournament Jan. 26, 2004 at the Olomana Golf Links, using a stableford format. The field is limited to the first 60 players.

An application can be downloaded at www.hswga.org or call 589-2046 for more information.

The HSWGA also named its new officers for 2004: Kathy Ordway, president; Grace Wilson, vice president; Bev Kim, recording secretary; Marilyn Chinen, corresponding secretary; Sharon Kong, treasurer.