Happy New Year? Well, maybe not. It hasn't been glad tidings so far in local golf for 2006.

First, there's the good possibility that the PGA Grand Slam of Golf won't return next year, ending a 12-year run at the Po'ipu Bay Golf Course on Kaua'i.

Now comes the news that Tiger Woods has pulled out of the season-opening Mercedes Championships at Kapalua, Maui, next month.

It means that local fans might go the whole year without getting the privilege of seeing Tiger in action. You know he never plays in the Sony Open in Hawai'i.

Say it ain't so, Tiger. But he has.

"I haven't had an offseason and I need one," he told The Associated Press in saying why he's passing up the 2005 winners-only event at Kapalua.

Not having the best golfer in the world in the field is a body blow to the Mercedes Championships. It's terribly bad, but it didn't make the event quite as"star-depraved" as the AP story put it.

It's a typo, of course. It meant to say star-deprived.

But with Woods back home in Florida, Phil Mickelson playing with his kids in California, Retief Goosen spending all of January in South Africa and Ernie Els not eligible because he didn't win this year, the 2006 Mercedes Championships definitely has lost some of its glamour.

"It is not good news," said Maui's Mark Rolfing, golf analyst for NBC and the Golf Channel.

"I hope it's just an aberration. I know Tiger played a lot of golf after the Tour Championship — the Dunlop, PGA Grand Slam, Skins Game and Target World Challenge.

"But the PGA season opener should begin with a bang. The opening of the season should be as important as the end of the season. In baseball, the only thing bigger than the World Series is Opening Day."

Still, it's golf's opening day and Gary Planos, Kapalua Resort's vice president, can't help but play the positive spin doctor.

"I wish Tiger was coming. But we still have a great field and being on ESPN for 13 1/2 hours, and with Golf Channel also here, we'll have great exposure on national television just the same," Planos said.

"It's just one of those years. It's the first year we've had an issue of this kind. There's always a risk in this business. But we'll continue to run the best tournament we can and the (Plantation) golf course will be the best it has ever been with all the improvements we've made this year."

With 28 tournament winners competing, the field isn't exactly chopped liver.

There's Vijay Singh, a four-time winner this year and the highest-ranking player in the field. Two-time defending champion Stuart Appleby returns in a bid to become the tournament's first three-peat winner since Gene Littler (1955-57).

As he was at the PGA Grand Slam last month, U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell should be a gallery favorite, as well as previous Mercedes winners Jim Furyk (2001) and Sergio Garcia (2002).

Then there's the people's favorite, Jason Gore, who earned a ticket to Kapalua by winning the 84 Lumber Classic.

As for me, it'll be a chance to say "hello, long-time-no-see" to former Ko Olina touring pro Robert Gamez, who won the Valero Texas Open for his first victory since 1990. It ended a 15 1/2-year drought which was the longest stretch between victories (394 events) in PGA Tour history.

"We're still going to have a great field, so we're excited. You have to keep it positive, and we have reason to be positive," Planos said.