Pro Tournaments Get Back into the Swing of Things this Week


The PGA and European tours return to action this week after an extended holiday layoff. The PGA Tour had two events - the Hero World Challenge in early December and the Franklin Templeton Shootout a week later - and will start its third straight limited-field tournament Friday with the winners-only Hyundai Tournament of Champions at the par-73 Plantation Course at Kapalua in Hawaii.

On January 15, the Tour will stage its first full-field event - the Sony Open in Honolulu - since the OHL Classic at Mayakoba in mid-November.

The $5.7 million Hyundai Tournament of Champions will feature an elite field comprised only of winners during the 2014 calendar year. Players who won last year and are eligible include:

Zach Johnson - Hyundai Tournament of Champions
Jimmy Walker - Sony Open in Hawaii, AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
Patrick Reed - 2014 Humana Challenge, WGC-Cadillac Championship
Kevin Stadler - Waste Management Phoenix Open
Scott Stallings - Farmers Insurance Open
Bubba Watson - Northern Trust Open, Masters, WGC-HSBC Champions
Russell Henley - Honda Classic
Chesson Hadley - Puerto Rico Open
John Senden - Valspar Championship
Matt Every - Arnold Palmer Invitational
Steven Bowditch - Valero Texas Open
Matt Jones - Shell Houston Open
Matt Kuchar - RBC Heritage
Seung-Yul Noh - Zurich Classic of New Orleans
Jason Day - WGC-Cadillac Match Play
* Martin Kaymer - Players Championship, U.S. Open
J.B. Holmes - Wells Fargo Championship
* Adam Scott - Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial
Brendon Todd - AT&T Byron Nelson Championship
Hideki Matsuyama - Memorial Tournament
Ben Crane - FedEx St. Jude Classic
Kevin Streelman - Travelers Championship
Angel Cabrera - Greenbrier Classic
Brian Harman - John Deere Classic
* Rory McIlroy - Open Championship, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, PGA Championship
Tim Clark - RBC Canadian Open
* Justin Rose - Quicken Loans National
Geoff Ogilvy - Barracuda Championship
Camilo Villegas - Wyndham Championship
Hunter Mahan - The Barclays
Chris Kirk - Deutsche Bank Championship
Billy Horschel - BMW Championship, Tour Championship
Sang-Moon Bae - Frys.com Open
Ben Martin - Shriners Hospitals for Children Open
Robert Streb - McGladrey Classic
Ryan Moore - CIMB Classic
Nick Taylor - Sanderson Farms Classic
Charley Hoffman - OHL Classic at Mayakoba

As noted by the * players above, three of the four major champions in 2014 aren't entered this week. However, there will be 12 first-time starters in the Tournament of Champions. The dozen include Streb, Bowditch, Every, Hadley, Harman, Jones, Martin, Matsuyama, Noh, Stadler, Taylor and Todd.

Meanwhile, on Thursday the European Tour's South African Open gets underway at Glendower Golf Club near Johannesburg. In addition to defending champion, Morten Orum Madsen of Denmark, on hand will be former champions Ernie Els (a three-time winner), Otto Heine, James Kingston and Richard Sterne, all of South Africa.

Other notables include 2011 Masters' champion Charl Schwartzel; the winner of the previous European Tour event - the Alfred Dunhill Championship in mid-December, Branden Grace; and a pair of contributors to victorious European Ryder Cup teams, Edoardo Molinari and Paul Lawrie.

Four Americans - Charlie Bolling, Daniel Woltman, John Hahn and Daniel Im - are also in the field at Glendower.

For more information about and live scoring from the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, visit http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/hyundai-tournament-of-champions.html. For further details about the South African Open, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015000/index.html.