If you listen to Kapalua's Mark Rolfing — and several million do since he is a network golf commentator — Hawai'i needs to get a grip on its golf niche.

In his "State of the Game" talk at the Friends of Hawai'i Charities Tee-Off Breakfast last week, Rolfing called the Hawai'i schedule "fragile." He challenged the group, which is the non-profit entity for the Sony Open in Hawai'i, SBS Open at Turtle Bay, Fields Open and Turtle Bay Championship, to form a coalition to push for Hawai'i's needs.

What the state needs from the PGA and LPGA tours, according to Rolfing, is better fields and help finding a title sponsor for the Champions Tour event on the North Shore, among other things. He wants the tours to understand the unique aspects of Hawai'i events, which he estimates cost 25 to 30 percent more and have far fewer potential sponsors than on the Mainland.

He wants someone to answer for the schedule change that kicked the dates for the Wendy's Champions Skins Game from February to the same weekend as the Sony Open in Hawai'i.

"That's unbelievable to me ...," Rolfing said. "It's ridiculous. I know it's not good for Peter Jacobsen. It will be tough for him to tee off at Waialae and Wailea on the same day."

Rolfing is worried about the sustainability of the "Aloha Season," a marketing relationship between the Hawai'i Tourism Authority and the PGA Tour that includes this month's Grand Slam of Golf on Kaua'i, the first two events of the year for the PGA (Mercedes-Benz Championship and Sony Open) and Champions (Mastercard and Turtle Bay) tours, and senior skins. It has also come to involve the LPGA's first two full-field events — SBS Open at Turtle Bay and Fields Open at Ko Olina.

Rolfing believes a coalition is needed to assure the future of the events. He is already worried that the PGA Tour does not seem concerned that the Grand Slam is on shaky ground.

"The push should start with the host organizations and whatever group of influential people we can get," Rolfing said. "It's a matter of taking the initiative. ... It's important for the groups to come together and assure sustainability. We have more clout collectively than individually."

He wants the tours to understand that Hawai'i, for all the aloha it has extended, has serious concerns and a "sense of ownership and pride."

Tiger Woods might be first on his tour to-do list. Sony is committed through 2010. The prize money has doubled, to $5.2 million in 2007, since it started in 1999. Woods, the most compelling force in the game, has never made an appearance.

"If we go zero-for-Tiger Woods in 12 years it's a bad sign," Rolfing said. "It's not the golf course, and the impact of the (small) practice area is minimal. I think Tiger will be here in the next few years, but it should be a priority for us to let the tour know it's important."

Rolfing is also concerned about the quality of the Mercedes fields the past few years. He blames it on the proliferation of multiple and first-time winners, and what he describes as an atmosphere that makes it "acceptable to skip an event."

Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Luke Donald, Fred Couples and John Daly won't be at Kapalua in January. Phil Mickelson regularly passes on it. And if they don't come to Maui, they rarely make it to Sony. Els, who has won both, spoke about that at length when he was in contention two weeks ago, basically rating winning second to qualifying for his annual Hawai'i vacation.

Rolfing proposes giving players a two-year exemption to the winners-only Mercedes, same as the Champions Tour. That could add 15 to 20 players. Part of his reasoning is that those who win tour events are exempt for the next two years.

He also thinks the tours should feel free to force players to commit to specific events — particularly the season-opening events — as payback for allowing them to play on other tours on conflicting weeks, commonly called giving them a "release."

Rolfing would also like the PGA to consider a few LPGA rules, primarily the "1-in-4" that requires the Top 90 to play in every event at least once over the course of four years. The women's tour gives its exempt players a maximum of two releases a year, and there is a maximum of four players who can get a release each week.

Rolfing also took issue with the quality of the Champions and LPGA tour fields.

He characterized Hawai'i's Michelle Wie and Annika Sorenstam as the only two female players compelling enough to attract big crowds, and wondered why LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens wasn't worried that neither opened the season at Turtle Bay this year. Wie, Rolfing said, would have played if the LPGA had been more flexible with its exemptions.

He would like to see more Greg Norman, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer at senior events, and believes he is hardly alone. He questions whether the highly touted "next generation" of Mark O'Meara, Nick Price, Seve Ballesteros, Fred Funk and Bernhard Langer will play enough, and wonders if the tour can offer incentives.

"It's important for us," Rolfing said, "to educate them (the tours) that we should get better fields."

The Grand Slam will be Nov. 21 and 22 at Po'ipu Bay. Woods, who won the British Open and PGA Championship, will be joined by U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, Major Champions points leader Jim Furyk and Mike Weir. Mickelson, The Masters champion, turned down his slot and was replaced by Weir.

NOTES

Farrington student Ese Emosi will be featured on ABC's "Every Moment Counts" network special Dec. 24. Emosi is part of Spirit of Aloha Outreaches' Culinary Academy, an alternative education program. Paul Onishi is the program director.

The next four dates for the Sony Open in Hawai'i are Jan. 11 to 14, 2007; Jan. 10 to 13, 2008; Jan. 15 to 18, 2009; and, Jan. 14 to 17, 2010.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.