Players to Watch: MasterCard Championship

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PGATOUR.com has picked five players to watch from the elite field at the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai this week. If you need five reasons to tune in, it should be because...

...Who doesn't love a Cinderella story?

Of all the rookies who debuted in 2007 -- Mark O'Meara, Nick Price, Nick Faldo, Jeff Sluman, John Cook and Bernhard Langer, to name a few -- who would have thought that Mark Wiebe would be the first to capture a title? But win he did in his first career Champions Tour start, and with that victory Wiebe earned a spot in this week's tournament at Hualalai Golf Club. Wouldn't that be something if Wiebe, a two-time PGA TOUR winner, beat the major champions and big-name players gathered in Hawaii this week? As Wiebe and fellow surprise winners R.W. Eaks and Lonnie Nielson proved last year, anything can happen on the Champions Tour.

...Jet lag won't be a factor in his case

Fred Funk started his Hawaii vacay a bit earlier than the rest of the guys in the field. And he's already earned a cool $185,571 in his two weeks on the islands for the PGA TOUR's Mercedes-Benz Championship and the Sony Open in Hawaii. Funk, a two-tour straddler in 2008, will rejoin his fellow 50-and-over crew this week and try to pick up his third Champions Tour win. And don't think that the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic is the only place you'll find golfing celebrities this week. Funk was spotted on the course with highly decorated singer Vince Gill at the Wednesday pro-am.

...Playing hooky is overrated

Think you've been working a lot? Bob Gilder hasn't missed an event on the Champions Tour since 2004. That's 93 straight appearances, which doesn't come close to Dana Quigley's record of 264 consecutive tournaments but is impressive nonetheless. Gilder didn't capture a title last season but has quietly been chugging along on the Champions Tour, racking up $742,000 in 2007 after four top-10 finishes and 15 top-25s. Don't be surprised if this consistent 58-year-old has a few wins left in him.

...He's proof that age doesn't matter

Will Hale Irwin ever get old? He turns 63 this year, but Irwin's golf game hasn't seemed to notice. He is the defending champion at the tournament after beating the rest of the field by five shots at the 2007 MasterCard Championship at Hualalai. The World Golf Hall of Fame member has won eight times in Hawaii and is affiliated with the Hokuli'a course in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, so suffice it to say he will likely do pretty well this week. What's the scariest thing for the rest of the field? Irwin shot 62 in the second round of the tournament last year and will probably be shooting better than his age for many years to come.

...Laughter is the best medicine

While his friend George Lopez is cracking jokes on the fairways of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Lee Trevino will be entertaining fans with his own witty repartee at the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai. We only saw Trevino seven times on the Champions Tour last year, but fans at the unofficial Del Webb Father/Son Challenge in 2007 were treated to an appearance and weren't left disappointed. When folks signed up seeking his autograph, Trevino's quick retorts to fan questions evoked several laughs. The 68-year-old hasn't had a serious shot at victory in an official Champions Tour event in a handful of seasons, but the "Merry Mex" can still entertain us.