Sports

An uncommon theme at the Sony Open… Tradewinds. The last few years, it’s been nothing but Kona winds causing the par 70 course to play tricks on the contenders, even the locals have had trouble. But not this weekend, tradewinds are back and here to stay.

So where is Tadd Fujikawa? Well, not bad, not great. On what would most likely be the cusp of elimination, he’ll need a solid 2nd day to make it to the weekend. Shooting a 2 over 72, seven behind the 6 leaders all making it into the clubhouse at 5 under par. He’s in with the likes of Stuart Appleby and Justin Rose, all tied for 84th place.

Making it through nine at even par, the front nine (Tadd started on the back nine) cause trouble as it did with most starting out on the front nine. Fujikawa will tee off around mid-day and will likely be followed by a large crowd of people as they try and catch a glimpse of the young PGA pro playing on his home turf at.

Well, the first full tournament of 2010 (SBS championship only had a 28 player field) is underway on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The Sony Open at Waialae Country Club has already tee’d off the likes of Corey Pavin and Jesper Parnevik. A nice westerly breeze will be accompanying the players this morning, although changing from south to north throughout the day. A welcomed change from the more common Kona winds that the players have seen in recent years.

Coming up at 8:40 will be Tadd Fujikawa. Make sure to check back often, we’ll have updates throughout the day…. Wait, this just in, Jesper Parnevik is 3 over through 1 hole of play. You can catch the full leaderboard here.

The Sony Open has been a popular destination for young local talent to prove themselves against some of the best golfers in the world.  Most notably of late has been Michelle Wie and her controversial sponsor exemption entries.  Never making the cut but always drawing a crowd, these exemptions finally dwindled in recent years.  One possible reason, another local young favorite, Tadd Fujikawa.

Tadd Fujikawa, who turned pro back in 2007 will be playing against the likes of Ernie Els, Luke Donald, Davis Love III, Steve Stricker, Stuart Appleby, and fresh off his win at the SBS on Maui, Geoff Ogilvy. The full tournament tee times and leaderboard and be found here.

The event starts Thursday and last through the weekend at Waialae Country Club just outside of Waikiki. First tee time is 7:10 am. Information about tickets can be found here.

Be sure to check back throughout the tournament at our Sony Open Section for the leaderboard, day recaps, photos, and more.

The results are in from Maui and the first stop on the PGA tour of the 2010 season.  Geoff Ogilvy does it again and jumps out to an early lead in the FedEx standings as he takes down the 28 player field on Sunday (full results below).  Ogilvy edged out Rory Sabbatini to finish the weekend at 21 under par at the Kapalua Resort on Maui.

Sabbatini, who wasn’t even in contention at the start of the day made a run for it, and made it close.  Sabbatini shot a 10 under par on Sunday nearly catching Ogilvy off guard as he slowly climbed the leaderboard.  Next up for the PGA tour is a stop on Oahu for the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club on the South Shore near Waikiki.

The PGA tour for 2010 has officially started and all the action has started in Hawaii on the island of Maui at the SBS Championship. Defending champ Geoff Oglivy is stuck in the middle of the 28 person pack.

The weather has been great, slight overcast, with small south (Kona) winds. The leader from the day at seven under is Lucas Glover followed by five others at 6 under including Martin Laird and Nick Watney.  See the full leaderboard below.

The SBS Championship on Maui starts this week as the PGA tour 2010 will get underway. Notables not in the tour are Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

However, the schedule does include notables like Zach Johnson, Geoff Oglivy, and Steve Stricker. Below is the full tee times and pairings for the Championship. All times are in Hawaiian Standard Time (HST) which is 5 hours behind Eastern Standard Time (EST).

It’s the first tournament back in the new year for the PGA tour and it starts on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Previously known as the Mercedes Championship the title sponsor has since changed to SBS. The tournament is played at Kapalua courses and is looking to be a great field as the contestants play in paradise.

Defending champion Geoff Ogilvy returns and is slated as the top contender while Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson all declined invitations. Also in the lineup are Steve Stricker, Ryan Moore, and Zach Johnson. All will look to dethrone Ogilvy in this new year and start the FedEx standings out strong.

The tournament will go from Thursday to Sunday, as usual, dates January 7th through the 10th. The winner of the tournament will get $1.2 million while the rest of the field will have to split the remaining $4 million. Not a bad chunk of change as last place gets $70,000.

The full tournament includes only 28 people. You can check Kapalua’s SBS site.

We’ll keep you updated here with results and tournament information as it becomes available.

It was a small day on the north shore of Oahu, but the swell was dropping and the rest of the week looked like it was gonna be junk, so the contest directors did what needed to be done. They held the contest.

The quarters, the semis, and the finals, all held on a day when getting barreled wasn’t gonna win you the contest. You needed aerials to make it count, and Taj Burrow did just that. The only barrel of the finals scored Kelly a measly 3.93 whereas the aerials for Taj Burrow scored him a 7.00 and a 5.83 and a win in the final jewel of the Vans Triple Crown and $90,000.

Winning the overall three contest prize was Australian Joel Parkinson who was eliminated on Saturday which also eliminated him from an ASP world championship title which would go to Mick Fanning, a fellow aussie surfer and friend. In fact, this image to the right is Joel Parkinson falling on his final wave which would have had him cliniching the ASP.

It’s been a great 6 weeks on the North shore of Oahu with the Vans Triple Crown, womens triple crown, the eddie, a couple of other free surf comps and more.  Congrats to all the surfers.

Parko wins the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing and Kelly Slater and Taj Burrow are going to be in the Pipe Masters finals at 1 PM Hawaii standard time which comes out to 3 PM pacific time.

Check out the finals live over at the triple crown website. Small surf is going to make for an interesting battle. While you’re waiting you can check out photos from saturdays Pipe Masters action as well as Mick Fanning’s World Title pictures.

There are only 8 surfers left competing for the coveted Pipeline Masters trophy.  Today, we’ll find out who will hold it over their head, and we will also find out who will win the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.

Still left in competitino is Dean Morrison, CJ and Damien Hobgood, Flynn Novak, Bede Durbidge, Taj Burrow, Hobgood, Dane Reynolds, and six time pipe champion Kelly Slater.  It should be a great final, whoever makes it in.  Just 7 heats left.

The contest will start at 9 am HST and you can watch all the action live at the pipe masters website.