US Tour: Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, the world's top three players, have the chance to establish an early psychological advantage for this year's majors at the PGA Tour's season-opening Mercedes Championships in Hawaii.
World number one Singh, who won nine times on the 2004 Tour, will tee off in today's first round as slight favourite but Woods and Els are upbeat about their own form going into the elite limited-field tournament at the Kapalua Resort.
Although Woods has not won a major since the 2002 US Open, he ended last year with victories in his final two strokeplay events and believes his revamped swing is now ready for battle.
"At the Target (World Challenge), I drove it long and straight for most of the week," said Woods, referring to his final tournament of last year. "It was such a nice feeling to just let it go.
"I reaped some rewards at the end of the year for my hard work and that was very satisfying. Hopefully, my good play will carry over to 2005."
World number three Els, winner at the Plantation Course in Kapalua in 2003, is also raring to go after holidaying with his family in his native South Africa.
"I had a good time off and I'm really looking forward to it," the 35-year-old said. "The last couple of years I've played well in Hawaii. But there's a whole bunch of players (who could win this week).
"Vijay is the man at the moment. Tiger has had a really good off-season. And you've got to mention Retief (Goosen). He might have a great year, I feel."
Singh, however, will be the player to watch. "I just want to go out there and see if I can play like I did last year, not really focus so much on winning golf tournaments or the money list or my position in the world ranking," said Singh.
Australia's Stuart Appleby, who held off a late charge by Singh to win at Kapalua last year by a shot, is back to defend his crown in the tournament that features all the title winners from the previous PGA Tour season.
A notable absentee from the field of 31 is US Masters champion Phil Mickelson, twice a previous winner of the event. Mickelson also missed the tournament in 2003, and was not eligible to play last year.
