Blog: XM Radio's Fred Albers

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Aloha.

The PGA TOUR season is underway, and it took four extra holes for Daniel Chopra to defeat Steve Stricker and win the 2008 Mercedes-Benz Championship. Before we push on to Oahu for the Sony Open in Hawaii, I decided to offer some notes from Maui.

FIGURE IT OUT: Each week we interview players on the PGA TOUR Network and ask each of them to describe a hole for our listeners. On Wednesday I asked Chopra to pick any hole to discuss, and he said, "I don't think I know how to play any one of them right now." I talked with him again on Saturday night, and Chopra said, "I have the course figured out now."

I guess he was right.

Zach Johnson (WireImage)

MOTOR HOMES: Zach Johnson is still a down-to-earth kind of guy, but I caught him eyeing one of the beautiful new Mercedes on display at the par-3 No. 11. I playfully asked him, "Does a Masters champion still drive a motorhome?"

Zach replied, "I sure do. That's a nice looking car but my wife prefers the coach. It's the best way for us to travel as a family from tournament to tournament." While many players jet from city to city in private planes, there is still something very grounded about Johnson.

THERE SHE BLOWS: We tried to describe how pretty the island of Maui is in person, and the unique setting used for the Mercedes-Benz Championship in particular, but you would need a poet to do the island setting justice.

Each day we would see whales breaching just offshore, followed by their spectacular splash. When you can see the splash from ten miles away, you know it's a huge animal.

MOLOKAI: Ten miles from Maui is the island of Molokai, which is vividly seen from the Plantation Course at Kapalua from several holes. It was a special view for me, because while I was a school boy in St. Louis, "Damien The Leper" was required reading. It detailed the life of Father Damien, a Jesuit priest who ministered to a colony of lepers on Molokai. Father Damien eventually contracted the disease himself and died. There is still no cure for leprosy and there are still lepers on Molokai. I read the book in 1970 and was thrilled to see the island 38 years later.

NICE VIEW: Jim Furyk owns a magnificent home between the 3rd and 18th fairways on the Plantation Course, but told me he only spent eight days in the house last year and will spend about the same amount of time there in 2008. When I told him the broadcast crew from the PGA TOUR Network would be happy to stay there and watch the place for him, Furyk simply smiled and walked away with no response.

I don't think he trusts Michael Collins.

I'm looking forward to continuing our PGA TOUR Network coverage from Honolulu, and throughout the year on XM 146.