Champion Ogilvy happy to return to Kapalua for season's opener

WHILE SPECULATION on when Tiger Woods will return to competition remains a hot topic in the golfing world, the 2010 PGA Tour gets under way this week with the SBS Championship at Kapalua.

The elite, €4million event brings together the winners from the previous season, giving each the chance to get a jump-start on their rivals before next week’s Sony Open, the first full-field tournament of the year.

For champion Geoff Ogilvy of Australia, simply being able to compete at the picturesque Kapalua Resort on the Hawaiian island of Maui is a bonus.

“It’s a great place to come for the first week of January,” the 2006 US Open champion said after winning last year’s title by a commanding six shots. “My family loves it and the course is perfect. Everyone loves it here.

“I think it’s a fantastic thing.”

Every competitor in the winners-only field is guaranteed a cheque at the end of the week, and most of them arrive in Hawaii well ahead of the tournament to relax on a family holiday.

The hilly Plantation Course boasts the widest fairways on tour, ideal for golfers eager to shake off rust after a brief end-of-season break, and the warm weather is a major plus with plunging temperatures affecting much of the US mainland.

“It’s certainly a bonus being here,” British Open champion Stewart Cink said. “You get to play in warm weather in the sunshine and wind in a beautiful location, well away from the cold of most parts of the US mainland.

“And it’s great to get a jump-start on the season,” added the six-times PGA Tour winner.

Asked if the idyllic surrounds and laid-back atmosphere provided an unwelcome distraction, Cink replied: “No, we’re here to play tournament golf and this is a lot better than just practising at home.”

The 28-strong field at Kapalua includes all of last year’s major winners. Apart from Cink, US Masters champion Angel Cabrera, US Open winner Lucas Glover and PGA champion Yang Yong-eun are also taking part.

Two notable absentees, however, are world number one Woods and second-ranked Phil Mickelson, each double winners of the season-opening event.

Although both were multiple champions on the 2009 tour, Woods has not competed at Kapalua since 2005 and Mickelson has skipped the tournament for the last nine years.

“Obviously the tournament would love some of the bigger guys to play, but I don’t think they would go regardless of (where it was held),” Ogilvy said.

“They don’t have any issue of getting on their own plane and going anywhere they want to. I don’t think it’s a matter of location why some of those guys might not play. I just think they don’t want to play the first week of January.”

Woods has given no hint as to when he might return to competition. He usually plays his first event on the tour at Torrey Pines in late January, but that now seems highly unlikely.

Exposed by the tawdry revelations about his double life, Woods is almost certain to lie low for as long as possible.

He could return to the circuit for the March 11th-14th WGC-CA Championship in Miami, but many pundits are banking on him delaying his comeback until the US Masters in April.