The PGA Tour pros finally left after a month's stay in Hawai'i with Fred Funk playing all four events, although he probably wished he could have skipped his final round in the Turtle Bay Championship.

He shot a 9-over 81 for his worst round on the Champions Tour. And what a difference a year — and gusting winds — can make for his golf game and ego. Funk's 54-hole total was 221, which was a whopping 28 strokes higher than the tour record 193 he set under more benign conditions at the Palmer Course last year. But don't feel bad. He left banking a half-million dollars, not a bad haul for a working vacation.

Some thoughts about the men's tours before we await the ladies from the LPGA:

Contrary to what the PGA Tour and Hawai'i tourism officials might claim, the golf season really doesn't begin here. For a majority of golf fans, the season only starts when Tiger Woods, the unchallenged No. 1 golfer in the world, first tees it up. And that was at the Buick Invitational last week in San Diego.

Even PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem, a no-show at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship and the Sony Open in Hawai'i, showed up at Torrey Pines. That has to tell you something.

The Sony Open, though, has the distinction of being the first event to employ the new PGA Tour cut policy.

Briefly stated, and it's difficult to do in 25 words or less, it says that whenever the top 70 and ties includes more than 78 players, the nearest number to 70 makes the cut. The others still get credit for making the cut, and they receive official, last-place money and FedEx Cup points. But they don't get to play the weekend.

It affected 18 players in the Sony Open and the biggest gripe came from John Daly. Another golfer in Daly's spot at the Sony was D.J. Trahan, who went on to win the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic the following week. Then again, everything happens for a reason. Perhaps Trahan might not have been up to par for the five-day Hope tournament had he stuck around for the weekend at Waialae.

The next 36-hole cut came at last week's Buick Invitational, and 19 players made the cut there only to be told to go home.

The new policy was approved by the Player Advisory Council by a 75 percent margin last November after grumbling about 5 1/2-hour rounds and two-tee starts. It was adopted a week after the highest number of players (89) made the cut last year at Disney.

A number of the pros in the Sony Open spoke out against the new policy.

Steve Stricker told Associated Press golf writer Doug Ferguson: "It just seems like it doesn't benefit any of the players. It seems like our tour is about giving opportunity, and here's one they're taking away."

Stephen Ames came up with an interesting what-if scenario: "I'd like to see if, by chance, Mr. Woods happened to be in that mix, and he has to go home, how the sponsors would feel. The No. 1 player, the star of the PGA Tour, and he has to go home?"

It's obvious that the new cut policy will need some tweaking. Perhaps, as it has been suggested, the cut should be top 60 and ties or the nearest number to 70 no matter how many players are involved.

Meanwhile, the Champions Tour doesn't have any cuts for its regular tournaments but it has problems of its own. It's just getting too crowded. You can't blame anyone for trying to get in line on the senior tour because it's like an automated money machine.

One thing for sure, though, it needs to tweak its policy regarding the Qualifying School or discard it completely and go back to its former practice. Right now, the top 30 qualifiers and ties are only eligible for Monday qualifying before each full-field event, which is hardly a guarantee you'll get to play at all.

Just ask Rick Rhoden, who was the 2007 Q-School medalist. All that got him is a chance to Monday qualify.

Or ask Dick Mast, a conditional player on the Champions Tour, how difficult it is.

Mast barely made it to Monday's qualifier at Turtle Bay after a couple of missed flights from his Lynchburg, Va., home.

"I've qualified a lot of times. I'd like to eliminate that some time, like this year," Mast said. He'd like to see the Champions Tour revert to its old way of giving exempt spots to the leading Qualifying School finishers.

"Fortunately, I don't have to go to Q-School because I'm a life member. But I'd rather see them go to Q-School and, if you get a spot, play all year. I think all the players would like that. Have four (Monday qualifying) spots instead of nine.

"This way now it's tough because you can't make a schedule. You've got to come out 10 days early and then you have to rush to the next tournament. You can't prepare. You play a tournament, you want to rest one day for the next one. But you can't, you're getting ready for the next qualifier."

Finishing in the top 10 in a tournament is the key, according to Mast. "Get a top 10 and you don't have to qualify for the next tournament. If you get a top 10 two out of four tournaments, now you've got a good year. I've got to win one. That would better yet."

The Champions Tour will likely return to its former Q-School policy for next year, according to one official, with the number of exempt spots to be determined.

Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.