RETIEF GOOSEN is looking for a big improvement on his season-opening performance when he tees it up at the Sony Open in Honolulu today.
The South African two-time US Open champion had what most people would consider an encouraging start to the 2010 campaign when he tied for sixth place at last week’s 28-player SBS Championship at Kapalua on Maui five shots adrift of tournament winner Geoff Ogilvy.
Yet as he moves across the Hawaiian islands to Oahu for this week’s first full-field tournament of the USPGA Tour season at Waialae Country Club, a downbeat Goosen is expecting to shake off a lot more close-season rust.
“I just need to work on my ball striking for this week,” Goosen said. “I’m not comfortable at all (with my game). If I had to go with a (mark) I’d give myself an F, that’s how I feel over the ball.
“That’s what holiday does to you when you haven’t hit a ball for three or four weeks, so hopefully this week I’ll start hitting it a bit better.
“I had my chances (last week) but so did everybody else so I can’t complain. I didn’t hit the ball well at all but the putting was actually quite good. They were tricky greens but I made a lot of putts.”
Reigning British Open champion Stewart Cink finished a shot further back than Goosen in ninth place at Kapalua.
Both he and Goosen will hope they can this week emulate eight of the last 11 players to win at Waialae Country Club having played the week before in the season opener with the American saying he was grateful to have been given a head start on the majority of this week’s field by playing last week’s event for 2009 tournament winners only.
“That was a great way to start the year, in a tournament like that with a limited field and no cut,” Cink said. “So hopefully I can build on some of the good things I did there and wipe out some of the bad.”
Twenty of last week’s field have stayed in Hawaii for this week’s Sony Open, including the three other major champions of 2009, Angel Cabrera, Lucas Glover and Y E Yang. Both Ogilvy and England’s Paul Casey have departed en route to the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship next week but Casey’s compatriots Justin Rose, Luke Donald and Brian Davis will be at Waialae to start their US campaigns.
Nationwide Tour graduate Henrik Bjornstad of Norway and Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik and Daniel Chopra provide further European interest while world number three Steve Stricker of the US is the highest ranked player in the field.
After failing to win anywhere in the world last year, Ernie Els has decided to focus his playing schedule on the US PGA Tour for the next six months, starting with the Sony Open.
South African Els is a double champion at the palm-fringed Waialae Country Club and has long cherished Hawaii as a happy hunting ground to kick-start his season. “Waialae Country Club is a golf course I’ve played many, many times over the years and with that familiarity comes a fair amount of comfort,” Els said.
American Zach Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, defends the title he won by two shots at Waialae last year.
Sony Open
Course:Waialae GC, Oahu.
Length:7,044 yards. Par: 70.
Prizemoney:€3.7 million, €682,249 for the winner.
Field:144.
Defending champion:Zach Johnson won by two shot.
Layout:Although flat and shortish with many chances to make birdies the greens, however, do provide a tough test to all.
On TV:Live on Sky Sports with coverage starting at midnight.
Weather:Mostly sunny but with the threat of showers. Although the rain is forecast for the afternoons it will be very windy.
