Golf's senior season begins here again in 2010, with the 23rd Wendy's Champions Skins Game returning to Ka'anapali and the official Champions Tour season kicking off on the Big Island with the Mitsubishi Electric Championship.

Fred Couples will make his informal seniors (50-older) debut at Skins, Jan. 16 and 17 on Maui. He joins Hall of Famers Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Gary Player, Ben Crenshaw and Nick Price, along with Fuzzy Zoeller and Loren Roberts.

The $770,000 made-for-TV exhibition is the same weekend as the Sony Open in Hawai'i.

Crenshaw and Zoeller will attempt to become the first to defend a title since the format changed to an alternate-shot team competition in 2005.

There will be nine holes each day and ESPN will televise the event on a tape-delayed basis Feb. 27 and 28.

Nicklaus and Watson, the 2007 champions, will pair for the fifth consecutive time, while Couples will join Price, and Roberts and Player make up a team.

The format offers $30,000 on each of the first six holes, $40,000 for the middle six holes, $50,000 for Nos. 13 to 17 and $100,000 for the 18th. Money carries over if no team wins the hole outright and players donate 10 percent of their earnings to charity.

The Mitsubishi Electric Championship is the first of 26 official Champions Tour events, worth $51.5 million. It officially opens the senior season, Jan. 22 to 24 at Hualälai on the Big Island. The tour's first full-field event is three weeks later in Florida.

The 2010 season goes to 15 states and three countries — the Dominican Republic, Scotland and, for the first time, South Korea.

The 2010 rookie class includes Couples, Paul Azinger, Corey Pavin, Mark Calcavecchia and Kenny Perry.