Golf : Sergio Garcia and Carl Pettersson are the two Europeans hoping to take advantage this week of the absence of seven of the world's top 10 players from the opening event of the new US Tour season.
The Mercedes Championship in Kapalua Plantation GC, Hawaii, which starts today, is restricted to winners of 2005 tournaments, but Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen have decided to extend their winter breaks - as has world number 17 Padraig Harrington, who won twice in the US last year. And Ernie Els, Adam Scott, Colin Montgomerie and Chris DiMarco did not qualify.
The field is only 28-strong, and Garcia, the second highest-ranked player left in behind Vijay Singh, will be hoping to repeat his 2002 victory.
That was the first appearance in the event for the Spaniard, who turns 26 next Monday, and he fired a closing 64 to catch David Toms, then birdied the first hole of the play-off.
Pettersson is among the debutants this time, the 28-year-old Swede having captured his first US Tour title at the Chrysler Championship in October.
A week later Pettersson just missed out on finishing the season with back-to-back victories, but neither event earned him any Ryder Cup points because he was not a member of the European Tour.
Now he is again, but, instead of starting 2006 second in the qualifying race behind Montgomerie, he has to start from scratch and that lengthens the odds on him earning a debut at the K Club in September.
Garcia is third in the standings, but even if he falls out of a top 10 automatic spot the world number six is virtually guaranteed a wild card.
Reigning US Open champion Michael Campbell is also in the Mercedes line-up, but the New Zealander is continuing as a member of the European circuit with the US Tour restricting him to just 10 of their events because he quit in mid-season three years ago.
Campbell is far from happy about that and let his feelings be known in November.
Wales's 2002 Ryder Cup hero Phillip Price, who lost his US Tour card at the end of last year, has followed Justin Rose, Alex Cejka and Pettersson in rejoining the European tour.
But Greg Owen and Fredrik Jacobson have decided to focus their attentions on the American circuit knowing that it rules them out of Ryder Cup contention.
Australia's Stuart Appleby has his sights set on joining Gene Littler in the record books with a third successive victory. Appleby, who held off a furious late charge by Singh to triumph at Kapalua in 2004 by a shot, became the event's first back-to-back winner in 22 years last January with a closing six-under-par 67.
"I think every player comes here and thinks: 'Wow, this is fantastic'," the 34-year-old Australian said after his 2005 triumph.
American Littler won the tournament at Desert Inn Country Club in Las Vegas from 1955 to 1957 when the event was known as the Tournament of Champions.
The 28-strong field will face a revamped, par-73 Plantation Course. All the greens have been replaced since last year, with renovated contours on the putting surfaces at the fourth, eighth and 15th. New bunkers have been installed on the 15th and 16th.
Tee-times
(US unless stated, times local, 10 hours behind Irish)
11.10 - Carl Pettersson (Swe), Heath Slocum. 11.20 - Wes Short jr, Lucas Glover. 11.30 - Robert Gamez, KJ Choi (Kor). 11.40 - Mark Calcavecchia, Jason Gore. 11.50 - Brad Faxon, Olin Browne. 12.00 - Ben Crane, Vaughn Taylor. 12.10 - Sean O'Hair, Jason Bohn. 12.20 - Michael Campbell (Nzl), Jim Furyk. 12.30 - Bart Bryant, Sergio Garcia (Spa). 12.40 - Tim Petrovic, Ted Purdy. 12.50 - Fred Funk, Peter Lonard (Aus). 13.00 - Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Kenny Perry. 13.10 - Justin Leonard, David Toms. 13.20 - Stuart Appleby (Aus), Vijay Singh (Fij) .
