Rising costs and an economic downturn have led to tough times in golf, especially when it comes to finding sponsors for local tournaments.

In a cost-cutting move, Hawaiian Telcom dropped its sponsorship of the Hall of Fame Championship at the Kapalua Plantation Course after Mauna Kea Resort pulled out as sponsor of the Aloha Section Stroke Play Championship and the Waikoloa Open went MIA on the golf schedule since 2004 to end a 30-year run.

So it's welcome news and a small step in the right direction that the off-and-on-again Maui Open — first played in 1952 at the Maui Country Club — is on again, returning this weekend after a five-year absence. It was also absent from the local golf scene for five years from 1979 to 1983.

"That's good. It's been a while," said Brian Sasada, who won the last Maui Open in 2002 at his Makena South home course. The Maui pro never thought he'd ever get to defend his title. He finally will get that opportunity at the Kahili Golf Course.

Also glad to see the Maui Open back on the docket is Jim Haugh, executive director of the Aloha Section PGA. "Loss of sponsors is not an exciting proposal. With the economy the way it is, things are difficult this year," Haugh said.

Haugh and the ASPGA tournament committee of Michael Castillo, John Lynch and Brad Bowen are trying to shape a better schedule in 2009, including the return of the Hall of Fame Championship at Kapalua. There's also talk of consolidating some existing events along the lines of a FedEx Cup format.

Restoring the Maui Open is one of those small steps back, according to Bowen, Kahili's head golf professional. With his course, once known as Sandalwood, back in great playing condition after undergoing extensive renovations in 2004, Bowen thought it was time to host a tournament.

All the greens were resurfaced with TifEagle grass, the irrigation system was upgraded and the newly redesigned 18th hole offers a great amphitheater view for spectators. "Our superintendent Russ Dooge did a great job," Bowen said.

Bowen is well aware of the history of the Maui Open and its importance to the Valley Island golf scene. So he approached former committee members of the Maui Open but found little interest on their part for his idea of making it an ASPGA event. "I felt we needed a tournament and I took it upon myself to make it a pro-championship event," Bowen said.

This year's Kahili Maui Open is a 36-hole event with a pro-am scheduled for tomorrow. But Bowen hopes to make it 54 holes once again next year, perhaps with a title sponsor as well. The best he could do to get it jump-started this year was securing 18 tee sponsors to cover expenses for the $15,000 prize money.

Forty-four pros are entered along with 28 amateurs, including two Maui young guns, Robert Greenleaf and Shaun Felechner, who played in the Junior Ryder Cup in Ireland after playing in the 2002 Maui Open as a high school sophomore. (How time flies. Felechner has just graduated from college).

Sponsors naturally want more bang for their bucks and you can't blame them. "They're always asking why aren't you getting more participation," Haugh said.

It's a Catch-22 situation because the expense of flying to tournaments can be prohibitive for many of the local pros.

"The winner gets $3,000 (in the Maui Open). But if you're out of the top 5, you can't cover your expenses," Bowen said. "I've got to imagine travel costs gotta hurt. It cost me $190 to go to the Kona Open. It's one of the issues we're trying to work on."

"The biggest thing is travel costs. It's pay out of your pocket to play," concurs Haugh, who says one of the Aloha Section's goals is to cut down on travel expenses for its members. One way is to find air, hotel and car rental partners, he said. "We don't have that right now."

"The flights are getting a little more expensive for us. Everything is going up but the purse is not going up as everything else," said Sasada.

If anybody knows, first hand, how expensive interisland travel can be, just ask Sasada. He flew from Maui for the Prince Resorts Hawaii State Open at the Hawaii Prince Golf Club last November only to have his golf clubs, bag and all, stolen outside a car rental office at the Honolulu airport.

He played with borrowed clubs and then had to buy a new set. "I miss my old irons. They're not the same," Sasada said.

At least he doesn't have to fly this weekend.

Speaking of history: The Moanalua Golf Club will celebrate its 110th anniversary with a luau Sunday at the Moanalua Golf Course. Samuel Damon built an 18-hole course on his vast Moanalua estate in 1898, a little more than a decade after golf was first introduced in America. Moanalua, Hawai'i's oldest golf course, was shortened to nine holes in 1901.