Lehman blog: Excited to start year at Hualalai

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Tom Lehman will open his first full season on the Champions Tour at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

Tom Lehman joined the Champions Tour in April last year at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf event in Savannah, GA. He teamed with Bernhard Langer to win the official better-ball event and, in the process, not only became 13th player in history to win in his debut but he also joined Ron Streck and Keith Fergus as only the third players to win a tournament on the PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour. The 1996 British Open champion has high hopes for this year and will start his year at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai. PGATOUR.com recently caught up with him to talk about his off-season and prospects for this year.

I'm really looking forward to playing in 2010. Last year, I started my season with tendonitis in my elbow and really struggled early in the year. However, with the exception of the British Open at Turnberry, my play got better as the year went along. I think I missed only one cut on the PGA TOUR after the end of February.

My off-season was comprised of huge amounts of family time. With my father passing away in late October, I spent a lot of time with my family. In some ways, this was perhaps the worst of holiday seasons and in some ways, it was really good because I was together with my family so much.

I did manage to take my weary 50-year-old bones down to Argentina in early December, and I ended up winning the Argentina Masters by five shots. That was a nice way to finish the year. I spent eight-nine days in Buenos Aires, and it's truly an amazing city, a really cool place. I would recommend Buenos Aires to anyone who's in the mood for an adventure. It's one of my favorite places in the world but I think, based on what other players have told me, I'm getting ready to go to perhaps "the" best place in the world -- the Four Seasons at Hualalai.

When Bernhard Langer and I won the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, I remember having a 4-foot putt on the second playoff hole to win. All I could think about standing over that 4-footer was if I make this putt, I get to go to the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, and if I miss it, my wife is going to kill me. I was fortunate to make it and I had almost a "I'm going to Disney World" moment.

I've heard from everyone, and it's rare you get 100 percent agreement on anything, that Hualalai is an amazing place. I can't wait to get there because I'm told they really roll out the red carpet for you. My expectations for the 2010 season are quite high. I believe I have the game to be a real factor in every tournament I play in even though the level of competition is quite high. The win in Argentina gives my quite a bit of confidence heading into this year. I had a big lead going into the last round and played extremely well on Sunday. It tells me all the things I've been working on are the right things, and they are paying off.

Right now, I'm fairly healthy with the exception of a minor problem with my right knee. Last year, I played quite a bit of golf so the break has been good and I will definitely be fresh when I get to Hawaii. In the past, I've usually gotten to Hawaii with my game in fairly good shape. Even though I never won the Sony Open, I had some good finishes over the years at Waialae and I think it's because I've always been a good wind player.