What We're Wondering: Turtle Bay Championship

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The first full-field event of the Champions Tour season kicks off on the Palmer Course at the Turtle Bay Resort on Friday. Naturally, a few questions have sprung to mind regarding the advent of the regular season, last week's event and some of the biggest names on the Champions Tour. Let's see if we can find some answers.

Do you think Fred Funk is tired of Hawaii yet?

Not a chance. He's been stationed there since the Mercedes-Benz Championship, where Funk was guaranteed to make some moolah in the winners-only, small-field event on the PGA TOUR. Funk picked up $185, 571 after a tie for 25th there and a tie for 10th at the Sony Open in Hawaii, the next week's TOUR stop. Not to mention, the 51-year-old is ranked 29th in FedExCup points. In comparison, D.J. Trahan, No. 3 in the points standings and last week's TOUR winner, is 27 years old (a little over half Funk's age).

Then the former Maryland Terrapin stayed in Hawaii to partake in the first two events with his Champions Tour pals and, to the dismay of the rest of the field, won event No. 1. With his victory at the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai, Funk now leads the Charles Schwab Cup standings. As if that weren't enough, he gets to defend his title this week at the Turtle Bay Championship, where Funk won last year by a Champions Tour record-setting 11 strokes. Funk is going to have a hard time saying "Aloha" to the islands.

Will last year's "bridesmaids" earn a Champions Tour victory this season?

Several players didn't get their time to shine in 2007. Believe it or not, Tom Kite hasn't won since 2006, though he did pick up three seconds and three third-place finishes in 2007. Great things were expected of Eduardo Romero after his major victory in 2006, but the closest he got to the winner's circle in 2007 were two second-place finishes. And there's the perennial bridesmaid-but-never-a-bride, Ben Crenshaw, who finished in the top three twice in 2007 but is winless in 111 Champions Tour starts. However, there is one guy who's probably glad things worked out how they did last year. Denis Watson finished a distant second to Fred Funk at the Turtle Bay Championship in 2007 but eventually captured two titles, including a major championship, during the year and was voted Rookie of the Year by his peers.

What is it about the Turtle Bay Championship that brings out the best in former winners?

There's no one quite like Hale Irwin. The man won this tournament from 2000-2005, for goodness sake. But, in this case, there are actually two other multiple winners like Irwin at the Turtle Bay Championship. Don Bies earned consecutive titles in 1988 and 1989, while Bob Charles had back-to-back wins in 1995-96. If Fred Funk continues his hot streak, he'd be No. 4. Don't count out Irwin just yet, though. A win this week would be his 10th in the Aloha State.

Will a first-timer get lucky this week?

There are nine newcomers to the Turtle Bay Championship, including Scott Hoch, Mark Wiebe, Jeff Sluman, Bernhard Langer, Fulton Allem and John Cook. Six players, including last year's champion, Funk, and the prior year's, Loren Roberts, have won on their first try. Others include Orville Moody in 1987, Don Bies in 1988, Jim Colbert in 1991 and Bruce Fleisher in 1999. If forced to pick a newbie to win this week, my money's on Langer, who tied for third in last week's event.

Who designed the current venue (as if the name "Palmer Course" didn't make it obvious)?

Alright, this was actually a ploy to point out some fun facts about The Palmer Course at Turtle Bay, which sits on the North Shore of Oahu. Built upon marshland, the area is also a sanctuary for endangered bird species, specifically four of Hawaii's common waterbirds. Several holes on the Palmer Course, designed by Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay, played a key role for the U.S. Army in Hawaii during World War II. Nos. 15-18 served as a landing strip for B-17s and B-24s during the war, while Nos. 5, 6 and 13 housed military personnel. A railroad also ran across the land and helped move huge amounts of sand during the war.

Where has Leonard Thompson been lately?

For the first time since the JELD-WEN Tradition in mid-August, Leonard Thompson will be back amongst the Champions Tour regulars. The three-time winner on both the Champions Tour and PGA TOUR had rotator cuff surgery on his left shoulder on Sept. 4, 2007 and spent the remainder of the year working to rehab his injury. The former Wake Forest Demon Deacon was a teammate of Joe Inman and Lanny Wadkins while attending college in Winston Salem, N.C.