KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) – The largest winners-only field ever assembled at Kapalua can make it seem as though getting to paradise isn’t as difficult as it used to be.
Try telling that to Dustin Johnson, who will not be starting a new year on Maui for only the second time since he joined the PGA Tour in 2008. The locals have grown accustomed to Johnson sauntering into the Honolua Store at dawn to order his egg whites and brown rice.
Winning is hard, even for the best.
Equally difficult is predicting how a new year will unfold.
Strange as it would have seemed a year ago that Johnson would not be part of the 39-man field at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, consider who is here. Phil Mickelson, who 14 times over the last two decades turned down his invitation to the winners-only event, at age 51 found 8 million reasons to play.