Hyundai Tournament Underway at Kapalua

Adam Scott tees off at No. 1 today in the first round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Photo from Golf Channel.

By Rodney S. Yap

The marquee pairing of defending champion Dustin Johnson and Adam Scott teed off today at 12:50 p.m., marking the official start of the 2014 Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

The Plantation Course was mostly cloudy this morning with occasional showers. The forecast for the afternoon was scattered showers with the possibility of locally heavy rainfall.

All 30 players were on the course at 1 p.m. today. Kevin Streelman was at 5-under-par through five holes, with two eagles and a birdie. Patrick Reed was at 3-under-par through eight holes.

Johnson showed no ill effects from a neck injury that forced him to miss Thursday’s pro-am. Johnson reportedly tweaked his neck when he “slept weird on it” and hasn’t played at Kapalua since Tuesday.
“I went and got some medicine, I started taking them last night, so it’s definitely helped,” said Johnson on Thursday. “The aggravation has gone down severely, and Coach (Chris) Noss, my trainer has been working on it, and it’s feeling a lot better right now.”

Johnson got a head start on the PGA Tour’s 2013-14 wrap-around season when he won the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champion in November. He has now won at least one tournament in each of the last seven seasons.

On Thursday, the 33-year-old Scott was named Male Player of the Year by the Golf Writers Association of America, edging Tiger Woods by five votes. Meanwhile, Kenny Perry was picked as the GWAA’s Senior Player of the Year and Inbee Park was named Female Player of the Year. Both Perry and Park gathered 91% of the 220 voters to take their honors.
Last year, Scott became the first Aussie to win the Masters, then added a FedExCup playoff victory at The Barclays. His two PGA Tour wins lagged behind the five won by Woods, which earned Woods PGA Tour Player of the Year honors with his colleagues and the PGA of America.

But the GWAA, which has honored Woods 10 times in the past as its Player of the Year, goes outside the boundaries of the PGA Tour and takes into consideration global play. Apparently the Aussie’s brilliant stretch Down Under in November and December swayed voters; Scott won the Australian PGA and the Australian Masters, teamed with Jason Day to win the team portion of the World Cup of Golf and was second in the Australian Open.

                        HYUNDAI TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS 2014