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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Calcavecchia hiking up his preparation

By Doug Ferguson
Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Vijay Singh

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MERCEDES-BENZ CHAMPIONSHIP

Site: Kapalua, Maui

Schedule: Tomorrow-Sunday.

Course: Kapalua Resort, The Plantation Course (7,411 yards, par 73).

Purse: $5.5 million. Winner's share: $1.1 million.

TV: Golf Channel (1 to 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, Saturday and Sunday)

Last year: Vijay Singh won the season-opening tournament for his 30th PGA Tour victory and 18th since he turned 40, breaking the record held by Sam Snead. The 43-year-old Singh beat Adam Scott by two strokes after finishing a combined four shots behind Stuart Appleby the previous three years at Kapalua.

Notes: Tiger Woods, the 1997 and 2000 winner, and Phil Mickelson, the 1998 champion, are skipping the tournament. Padraig Harrington and Adam Scott are also taking the week off. ... Ernie Els set the PGA Tour record for relation to par in a 72-hole event in his 2003 victory, finishing at 31 under. ... Appleby (2004-06) and Gene Littler (1955-57) are the only players to win the winners-only tournament three straight years. ... Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore designed The Plantation Course on a pineapple plantation in the windswept foothills of the West Maui Mountains. ... The Sony Open in Hawai'i is next week at Waialae, followed by the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

LEARN MORE:

www.pgatour.com

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KAPALUA, Maui — Mark Calcavecchia was halfway up a mountain in Arizona when he stopped to text Tiger Woods.

"Hiking a mountain. May die."

Within minutes, he got a reply from Woods.

"You must be on the Plantation Course."

The 47-year-old Calcavecchia was only preparing for the Plantation Course at Kapalua, site of the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship. He isn't known for a strict workout routine — or any workout routine, for that matter — but Calcavecchia decided to prepare for the rugged terrain of West Maui by climbing the South Mountain in Phoenix.

"I hiked it three times last week, just to brace myself for up here a little bit," he said.

Part of that was from experience. The last time Calcavecchia played at Kapalua, he showed up with rust and rubbery legs and spent four days walking up and down the hilly fairways. When he got to the California desert for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, he hurt so much that he had an MRI on his right knee to make sure he had not injured something.

"Walking this course took a toll on me, so I wanted to be a little bit better prepared," he said.

The climb was about 45 minutes and comes with a view of downtown Phoenix and a race track. And then comes the hike down, which Calcavecchia said was no picnic, either.

"I've slipped a few times, and you can kind of hurt yourself if you're not careful," he said.

How that preparation pays off is yet to be determined. Players are allowed to ride in carts through today's pro-am until the tournament begins tomorrow.

This wasn't the first time Calcavecchia exchanged a text with Woods around this time of the season. Two years ago, when Woods skipped the season-opener for the first time when not injured, Calcavecchia's text thanked him for staying home.

"More cash for us," he said.

LATE START FOR MICKELSON

Three tournaments will be in the books before Phil Mickelson makes his debut on the PGA Tour this year, the longest he has ever waited to start since he turned pro.

Mickelson will be skipping the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic for the first time since 2001, and there is sure to be speculation that Lefty is not happy with the change of courses at a tournament where he has won twice.

He has not played since winning the HSBC Champions in China in early November.

"Taking more than two months off sounds like a long time, but I'll have to be fresh and ready to go when the 2008 season starts because I'll play five in a row starting in San Diego," Mickelson said on his Web site.

A spokesman confirmed he will not play until the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines.

FAXON TO MISS SONY

Brad Faxon missed the final four months of 2007 after having surgery on his right foot to remove bunions.

But instead of starting the year next week at the Sony Open, he's back on the disabled list.

After playing in the Merrill Lynch Shootout and two pro-am rounds at the Target World Challenge, Faxon learned he had anterior cruciate ligament damage in his right knee, the same one that was operated on at the end of 2005.

"This time there was meniscus damage as well," Faxon said in an e-mail.

He is to see the doctor for a checkup on Friday, and likely will not be able to start his season until the spring.

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