The government pays farmers not to grow crops and, now, the PGA Tour has begun to pay its players not to play?

Welcome to the start of the 2008 golf season where the first full-field event of the year, the Sony Open in Hawai'i, already has people shaking their heads and some golfers with smoke coming out of theirs.

Eighty-seven players made the 36-hole cut of even-par 140 after yesterday's second round, but you'll only see 69 of them when the third round unfolds today at Waialae Country Club.

So, if you are cheered to see John Daly, Angel Cabrera or John Huston made the cut, then rejoice. Just don't expect to see them anywhere but the practice range today. It also probably wouldn't be a good idea to ask them why unless you want an earful.

They were among the 18 players who all hit the cut on the nose at 140 but won't be lifting a club in competition today. In the curious world of golf '08, they made the cut, but they don't get to play.

For this they can thank — though that is probably not the prevailing sentiment at the moment — the PGA Tour Policy Board for the change.

"I don't understand the rule. I think it's crazy," Daly fumed to The Golf Channel after it was explained to him yesterday. "It's a stupid rule, I'm sorry."

It says that although the top 70 finishers — and ties — make the overall cut, should that number include more than 78 professionals, the field will be sliced to the nearest figure to 70 (in the case of Sony 69), plus amateurs.

The rule was announced Nov. 12, according to a PGA Tour spokesman, but somehow went unnoticed by some golfers. Or, perhaps, they thought it was a bad joke. It is, of course, but that hasn't kept it from being adopted and implemented, aimed at reducing weekend fields, speeding play and allowing more rhythm for championship play. In this case, it has certainly done that, effectively chopping nine twosomes from this tournament. But that's not all.

The exiled 18 will still get paychecks — thought to be in the $8,000 to $10,000 range apiece — and FedEx Cup points. They just won't have what they earned and what they are here for: A chance to better their standings and game with two more days of play. Instead, they'll be left to wonder what they might have done come Saturday and Sunday. And, so will we.

Indeed, history tells us there have been players like Brad Faxon at the 2005 Buick Open, who have made the cut by the skin of their teeth on Friday but who ended being handed winner's paychecks on fairly tale Sundays. Not a lot of them, but enough to show that it is possible. Enough so that you have to mourn the opportunity that such drama has been yanked from them and lost to the fans here.

Expedience it is. Progress this isn't.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.