This Week

February 9-15

PGA
Hawaiian Open, Waialae Country Club, Honolulu Fred Couples
committed last week, but he's not one of 10 past champs in the
field

Senior
GTE Classic, TPC of Tampa Bay, Lutz, Fla. All the top players
are going except Hale Irwin--off to his daughter's wedding
reception

LPGA
Los Angeles Women's Championship, Oakmont Country Club, Glendale
Sixty-five of the top 68 money winners from last season are
scheduled to compete

Europe
Alfred Dunhill South Africa PGA, Houghton Golf Club,
Johannesburg Ernie Els, who won his country's Open last week,
looks like the favorite here

PGA Tour
THE HAWAIIAN GETS AN UPGRADE

Say aloha to the old United Airlines Hawaiian Open, where the
purse is new ($1.8 million, up 50% from last year) and almost
everything else changes after this week. United is ending its
association with the tournament after eight years, and Sony will
take over with a four-year deal beginning in 1999. That's
appropriate. The Hawaiian has always looked a little bit
Japanese (anybody else remember Kikuo "the Hat" Arai?), and this
year will feature two of the three brothers Ozaki, Joe and Jet,
if not several of their countrymen. In Monday's open qualifying
round, Japanese players accounted for more than half of the
144-man field competing for four spots. The new Hawaiian Open
will move higher on the 1999 schedule, from February to January,
right after the Mercedes Championships at Kapalua. Tournament
organizers are hoping their proximity to the prestigious
Mercedes--on the map and the calendar--will bring some Hawaiian
punch to a traditionally weak field. Until now the Hawaiian's
prime distinction was being the first Tour event ever won by a
player using an orange ball (Wayne Levi, '82).
--ABC, SATURDAY, 3:30 PM, SUNDAY, 3 PM

Senior Tour
A GRAHAM PLAN FOR TAMPA

With David Graham, Lou Graham (no relation to David) and Graham
Marsh on the Senior tour, it's easy to get confused. Who's next,
Jean-Claude Van Graham? Just remember: David Graham is the poor
fellow who lost the Presidents Cup captaincy in 1996 when his
players rebelled. David also won last year's GTE Classic,
shooting a final-round 65 to beat Bob Dickson by three, and he
won this season's first full-field event, the Royal Caribbean
Classic, in a record-breaking 10-hole playoff two weeks ago. Is
Graham still golden? This week's field, which features Jim
Colbert, Ray Floyd, Gil Morgan, Larry Nelson, Arnold Palmer,
Chi-Chi Rodriguez and Lee Trevino, is short on marshmallows, so
Graham will have his work cut out for him if he wants to win
s'more. Last year's purse was $900,000; this time around it's
$1.1 million.
--ESPN, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, 5:30 PM

LPGA
THE BIG GUNS GET GOING

When we last saw Annika Sorenstam, she was at a felt-topped
table in Las Vegas with her hands on an obscenely large pile of
money. Sorenstam, posing at the Desert Inn Golf Course with
funny money and real crystal, had just won the 1997 Tour
Championship, the money title ($1.2 million) and LPGA player of
the year honors, which beats an empty wallet, a hangover and a
souvenir poker chip--the standard spoils of America's
playground. The queen of red numbers makes her first '98
appearance this week at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale,
Calif., as does Australian ace Karrie Webb, the only other
player in LPGA history to top $1 million in single-season
earnings. Laura Davies, Nancy Lopez and local favorites Helen
Alfredsson and Emilee Klein are also scheduled to compete in one
of the strongest nonmajor fields in years. Terry-Jo Myers, one
of five moms to win on tour last year, defends.