It’s been a long few weeks since the Target World Challenge when the big dogs last teed it up. The Mercedes Championships should soothe the nervous twitches some of us have after this break as the event kicks off the PGA Tour season in Hawaii at the Plantation Course at Kapalua, Maui.
Qualification for the event can only come by winning an official PGA Tour event the previous year. With Vijay Singh dominating the tour win column last year, the Mercedes field is limited to just 32 players out of a possible 48 tournament winners; however, only 31 will be in attendance as Phil Mickelson has once again decided to skip the season-opener.
Some interesting notes to get us going, thanks to pgatour.com:
- Tiger Woods has qualified for his ninth consecutive Mercedes Championships, the most of any player in the field. He does not have the longest consecutive streak, though, as he missed the 2003 tournament due to knee surgery. Retief Goosen and Vijay Singh are the leaders in consecutive events, as the 2005 tournament will be their fourth straight. Phil Mickelson qualified for his 11th Mercedes Championships but opted not to play in the event in 2002, 2003 or this year.
- There are eight major championship winners in the 2005 Mercedes Championships field, with a total of 21 combined wins in the majors. Woods leads the group with eight followed by Ernie Els and Singh with three each. John Daly and Goosen have two apiece, while David Toms, Mike Weir and Todd Hamilton have each won one major.
- There are five players who have totaled over $1 million in career earnings at the Mercedes Championships, led by Els with $1,667,997. The others: Woods ($1,461,500), Jim Furyk ($1,377,800), Singh ($1,306,975) and defending champion Stuart Appleby ($1,208,155).
- Since 1953, 10 winners of the Mercedes Championships have finished the season in the No. 1 spot on the money list. Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson lead in that category, with three wins and a trio of No. 1 finishes. The only person to win and finish atop the money list since the tournament moved to the early portion of the schedule is Woods in 1997 and 2000.
Excited yet? I am.
It’s worth noting that Phil Mickelson didn’t qualify in 2004.
Erik J Barzeski…
Phil did qualify in 2004. By winning the Bob Hope in Jan ’04 and THE MASTERS in Apr ’04
“Phil Mickelson qualified for his 11th Mercedes Championships but opted not to play in the event in 2002, 2003 or this year.”
What Erik meant was that Phil didn’t qualify for the 2004 Mercedes Championships because he did not have a tour win during the 2003 season. Good catch, Erik.
So even though pgatour.com says that Phil opted not to play in 2003, he really didn’t have a choice. 🙂
I am not a blonde, I am not a blonde…
Thanks for that.
A curtsey and wink in Erik’s direction.