Starting the season in Hawaii usually means a player is coming off a good year on the PGA Tour.
Most of the winners congregate on Maui to kick off the new campaign in the Mercedes-Benz Championship, then stick around the islands for the Sony Open on Oahu. This point was driven home to Steve Stricker by his eight-year-old daughter.
Bobbi was a toddler when Stricker last qualified for Kapalua in 2002, but the memories must have been lasting.
``She won a tournament at our club (in Wisconsin), it was either three holes or six holes,'' Stricker said toward the end of his season. ``She comes home all excited and says, `Daddy, I won, I won! We're going to Hawaii.'''
Stricker had to break the news that he's the one who has to win for the trip to Hawaii. He did everything but that in a remarkable turnaround this year. Starting the season with limited status, able to play only four times the first four months of the year, Stricker rode a third-place finish in Houston and a tie for sixth in the U.S. Open to finish 36th on the money list.
He showed up at Tiger Woods' year-end tournament in California to play in the pro-am and prepare for 2007. After giving it some thought, Stricker decided to make his debut at the Sony Open.
``I'm going a week early to get ready,'' Stricker said, adding that Bobbi probably won't know the difference.
The PGA Tour embarks on what it calls a ``new era in golf'' next week in Hawaii, and no matter how much the schedule changes, there are sure to be some entertaining moments like these throughout the year:
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Dean Wilson was in the first group Thursday at Doral and was the early leader with a 66. He spoke about the morning conditions, when the conditions are calm and quiet.
``I like to play when there's no one around, and you just go out and do your thing and get it done,'' Wilson said.
He knows the other side, having played with Annika Sorenstam the first two rounds at Colonial in 2003, more fans than he had ever seen. When someone jokingly said Doral must have been as peaceful as Colonial, Wilson returned the volley.
``Colonial on Saturday,'' he said.
Sorenstam, of course, missed the cut at Colonial and the place emptied out on the weekend.
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It didn't take long for David Howell to realize that no matter what he did, something would go dreadfully wrong in the third round of the Memorial. He kept getting ridiculous lies after marginal shots, taking three double bogeys in four holes and eventually shot 83.
On the sixth, another good shot that took a bad hop and led to bogey. Even Jim (Bones) Mackay, the caddie for Phil Mickelson, could not believe Howell's bad luck.
``Have you ever seen anything like this before?'' someone asked him.
Bones shook his head, then paused.
``Yeah, but just watch,'' Mackay said with a grin. ``He'll birdie every hole in the Ryder Cup.''
Four months later, Howell chipped in and holed a 50-foot putt while making four straight birdies to finish off a singles victory over Brett Wetterich in the Ryder Cup.
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Morgan Pressel has a major leak in her tear ducts, whether she's happy or sad. She was disgusted after a three-putt double bogey from five feet on her final hole of the first round in the U.S. Women's Open, knocking her out of a tie for the lead. A reporter went to the side of the ninth green, waiting to see the size of the meltdown.
Standing next to the gate where players exit was Beth Murrison, the industrious USGA media official. She was holding a large box of tissue.
``Are you waiting for Morgan?'' she was asked.
``No,'' Murrison said, confused by the question. ``My allergies are killing me.''
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Caddies were assigned specific badges at the PGA Championship with large letters indicating where they were allowed to go, such as the range (R) and the locker-room (L). They even had a ``Q'' on the badge. That stands for ``quick quotes,'' an area outside the scoring area for brief interviews.
``What does 'Q' stand for?'' one of the caddies asked.
Told it was where the interviews took place, another one chimed in, ``Fluff got that for us.''
That would be Mike (Fluff) Cowan, the former caddie for Tiger Woods who some believe was fired for giving too many interviews.
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Tiger Woods has a security detail with him at every tournament that cares only about keeping his world in order. They are not experts on how tournaments are run _ or who runs them _ which became clear at the American Express Championship outside London.
Woods led by eight shots and had only a few holes remaining in the final round when play was stopped by storms for the second time. The remaining daylight was vanishing, the storm appeared to be gone. Woods and Adam Scott were in a van, eager to resume.
``Let's go, I'm ready to play,'' Woods said to no one in particular.
That was Code Red to the security detail. Unbeknownst to Woods, one of them stepped out of the van and got on the radio with an urgent message to the rules office: Tiger Woods said he wants to start playing.
This didn't sit well with the rules officials in the office, both of them barking back, ``Tiger Woods does not run this tournament! We will decide when play will resume!''
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Not many players grind as hard as Juli Inkster, even when it doesn't seem to matter.
The majors were over. She had no chance to win the money list or any of the LPGA Tour awards. She already is in the World Golf Hall of Fame. But at the Samsung World Championship in October, the 46-year-old Inkster worked so hard on the range at Bighorn that she peeled back bandages to show blisters.
What gives?
``I'm working toward next year,'' she said. ``I'm trying to get back to where I was last winter.''
Yes, Juli, but the LPGA season doesn't start until late February.
``I know, I know,'' she said. ``I'm just . . . it's just that . . . look, I don't want to tee it up and not think I can win. I'm a grinder. I don't know any other way.''
The next morning, she was the first on the range with her husband, Brian, standing behind her. Knowing she had the next month off, Inkster hit a pure shot and looked back at her husband, the head pro at Los Altos Country Club in California.
``I'm going to play awesome,'' she said, stopping to hit another shot, ``next week against the guys at the club.''
They both laughed.
Then she went out and shot 65.
