When it tees up Jan. 8-11, 2009, again as the PGA Tour opener, things could be different, The Maui News reported. Daniel Chopra, who beat Steve Stricker in a four-hole playoff moments before nightfall Sunday, will be back in 2009 as the first winner of the 2008 season. Chopra came here No. 120 on the Official World Golf Rankings list and he leaves 61st.

There is a possibility he could be joined here by more than just other winners from this season.

Tournament chairman Gary Planos said that discussions should take place "in the near future'' with the PGA Tour to revamp the way players get invitations to Kapalua, which now is only by winning in the previous season. The most likely tweak to the entrance requirement would be to allow past champions of the Mercedes into the event if they do not win in the previous year.

No. 1-ranked Tiger Woods, No. 2 Phil Mickelson, No. 7 Adam Scott and No. 8 Padraig Harrington all skipped Kapalua this year, although they were eligible to play here. Woods stayed away for the third consecutive season and Mickelson did so for the seventh year in a row.

"I don't think this thing needs a lot of tweaking,'' Planos said to The Maui News. "Allowing past champions would add a pretty strong veteran group of players to the field. I would like to see whatever changes to be easily understood and not confusing. The format is clearly simple now – champions only. Champions only and past champions of the event seems to make sense.''

Planos said that Kapalua Maui Charities, the company that runs the event, the PGA Tour and officials from Mercedes-Benz USA have a wrap-up meeting after every event played here, usually by March. That would be when discussions about a change to the entry format would be discussed.

This season, the week of the tournament began on Dec. 31, making it tough to draw the likes of Woods. Next season, because Jan. 1 falls on a Thursday and as part of a four-year contract for the event that runs through 2010, the tournament proper will be played Jan. 8-11. The 2010 event will be played Jan. 7-10.

Planos would like to nail down similar dates for future events, to avoid competition with the holiday season.

"We are going to be involved in discussion with the tour to see what would be better dates and maybe a tweak or two to the format to maybe ensure that some of these favorites and past champions will be in our field more often,'' Planos said.

Those changes, "could happen as soon as next year, but please remember they just putted out (in 2008).''

Stricker moved up from fifth to third in the world golf rankings with his play here, while Jim Furyk fell from third to fourth. K.J. Choi (ninth), Vijay Singh (10th), Rory Sabbatini (11th), Angel Cabrera (14th), Zach Johnson (15th), Henrik Stenson (16th), and Aaron Baddeley (17th) all played here last week, giving Kapalua nine golfers ranked in the top 20.

Allowing past champions into this event would have made Ernie Els (fifth), Sergio Garcia (12th) and Stuart Appleby (36th), a three-time champion here, eligible last week. It would also insure that if Woods, Furyk, or any other big name who has won this event, happened to go a season without a win, they could be here anyway.

Chopra, who is of Swedish and Indian decent, was the seventh consecutive champion here who is not American, dating back to Furyk's victory in 2001. The final pair on Saturday here was the Canadian tandem of Mike Weir and Stephen Ames.

"I think it is becoming a really international game – look at the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour,'' Planos said. "More and more people from around the world are competing, so the advent of having non-Americans win this event, it is surprising but not shocking.''

With the windy and rainy weather that plagued Maui in the month of December, and more of it the week of the event, Planos was pleased with a total attendance around 16,000. That is down slightly from the 17,414 who attended last year, but Sunday was by far the largest attendance day.

"I think we had one of the more exciting Sundays that we have had at Kapalua,'' Planos said. "It was a picture-perfect day with some great play by a lot of players, there were a lot of birdies out there and all of them were firing on all cylinders.''

The course drew praise from nearly every golfer in the field, especially considering the weather that Kapalua dealt with. Planos gave high praise to senior superintendent Juan Gutierrez and Plantation superintendent Oswaldo Cardenas for having the course in shape.

"It was in the best shape it has ever been in and that was echoed by all the players,'' Planos said. "To have the golf courses hold up at this level with the weather we have had for the last month is a pretty good statement.''

Planos is also not ready to say that Woods has scratched Kapalua off his list after he was here for the first seven of these events before missing the last three. He had knee surgery to miss in 2006, he had a child on the way last year and this year there were hopes he would be here.

"I think we have a good chance next year for Tiger; I'm going to be an optimist,'' Planos said. "I think as the dates move away from the holidays, I think we will have a much better chance, year in and year out, with him.''

Planos said that work on the next Mercedes never ends for Kapalua – "If there is any question whether we work on this thing year round, in particular, we call every champion every week to congratulate them,'' he said – but this year is even more hectic with the addition of the Kapalua LPGA Classic, which will take place at the Bay Course in October.

Planos has the same Tournament Chairman title for the LPGA event as he does for the Mercedes event and he is currently spearheading a title-sponsor search for the $1.5 million event, something he hopes to be able to announce soon.

"There's a lot of work ahead,'' Planos said. "We want the same feeling for the Kapalua LPGA Classic as we have for the Mercedes-Benz Championship.''

MERCEDES-BENZ CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS

1999–David Duval

2000–Tiger Woods

2001–Jim Furyk

2002–Sergio Garcia

2003–Ernie Els

2004–Stuart Appleby

2005–Stuart Appleby

2006–Stuart Appleby

2007–Vijay Singh

2008–Daniel Chopra