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I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be attending the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club from January 13 to 16. There should be a lot of eyes on that tournament as Michelle Wie has a sponsors exemption to play there. Last year, she came within 1 stroke of making the cut and I think the main story line will be whether or not she can better her performance or not.

Ernie Els is two time defending champion at the event. Tiger Woods usually decides to skip the event even though he plays the Mercedes Championship on Maui just a few days before.

In any case, I will be there equipped with my digital camera and I hope to come back here with a lot of first hand personal observations and some pictures from the practice rounds. Nothing big but hopefully, I can make it interesting.

If you have anything you would like me to get information on, let me know here and I will try my best.

*UPDATE* Pictures of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday's action are now posted in the Gallery Here are a few images. Click on the thumbnails for full versions.

Well I suppose if your stuck living in Hawaii, it's nice that they take a tournament there once in a while to keep you folks entertained. Lots of pics.... easy on the ducks.

I have a 128 megabyte storage card for my digital camera so I can sure fit a lot of pictures on there. I only hope the battery doesn't run out.

Oh yeah, I'll be sure to try and frame as many ducks as I can in the pictures. I hope the photography class I took years ago will help bring out the inner photographer.

If Tiger plays the Sony, may I suggest that it might be prudent to leave your camera in your pocket anywhere within--say, 200 yards of Stevie? Even if it is during a practice round!

"Stuck" I don't think is the appropriate choice of words.

You might want to holler at the editor of the About.com golf site (link's in my sig) .... he posted in the forums over there a couple weeks ago looking for anyone who was going to the Sony, hoping to get some pics of Wie et.al. Who knows, maybe you could "published" so to speak!

Hence the doc. Although, experiencing the seasonal changes here in SE Mich. this time of year does have its advantages....um...no need for sunscreen when venturing outdoors... oh & I haven't missed a fairway or green in nearly a month.

I'm practically a neighbor of yours wazmankg and this time of year, I "miss" those fairways and greens.....more and more everyday!

Well, I don't think Tiger will play the Sony but this already came to mind. My camera is digital so it doesn't click, it beeps but I will set it to silent when I bring it to Waialae.

I visited Waialae Country Club where they had professional practice rounds in the morning and a Pro Am tournament at noon. I'm starting to post some of the pictures in the Gallery right now but here are my impressions.

I spent quite a bit of time on the practice greens and range. Charles Howell III had the Callaway X-Tour irons that were mentioned quite a bit here. He also used a Fusion 454 driver. Michelle tried this driver out and an r7 with an Aldila NV shaft but settled on her r7 with Fuji Tour Spec shaft. I also got to see a bag full of the new Titleist 905 drivers that should be out later this year in retail. There were also a couple of people using the Callaway 460 Comp driver that Vijay used at the Mercedes.

Ian Poulter had some crazy looking pants on today. It came to my mind because I believe there was a thread here entitled "Ian Poulters trousers." I've lived in Hawaii for entire lifetime and I've never seen pants like that before.

Michelle Wie was on the practice range trying various r7 drivers. David Leadbetter stood behind her and watched her hit balls. Michelle had Stewart Cink as her partner for the Pro Am. They teed off on #10 and I followed them for four holes. Here's my account of it.

#10 (Par 4, 353 yards): Cink hit driver off tee on this short par 4. It went left into the rough but he was only about 50 yards from the hole. Michelle played a wood (I think, a 3 wood) off of the tee and it went into the right rough. Michelle's second shot was short of the green while Cink stuck his 2nd shot. Michelle hit a pretty bad chip and 2 putted for bogey while Cink made birdie. (Cink -1, Michelle +1)

#11 (Par 3, 196 yards): Cink and Michelle both stuck their tee shots from within a few feet of the hole. They both made their birdie putts. (Cink -2, Michelle E)

#12 (Par 4, 446 yards): Cink hit a great tee shot into the middle of the fairway. Michelle hit a draw that ended up on the left side of the fairway or in the rough. Her 2nd shot fell short left of the green but in a good position. Cink hit a fade that missed the green and was a yard from going into the bunker. Michelle holed out her chip for birdie while Cink hit a flop close to the hole and saved par. (Cink -2, Michelle -1)

#13 (Par 4, 478 yards): Cink and Michelle both hit their drives into the middle of the fairway. Michelle was first to hit as she was for all of the driving holes and hit a beautiful shot to the green. Cink hit his shot fat and was about 40 yards short. Jesper Parnevik played this hole before and bogeyed after his second shot was short of the green. Cink got up and down for par while Michelle three putted for bogey. This hole is long and should be a tough one.

Will Smith was in the Pro Am in Jesper Parneviks group. Adam Sandler was also there but he's playing in the Pro/Junior golf challenge on Wednesday.

I caught an interview with Steve Flesch. Here are a couple of his comments (not verbatim).

- Didn't get to play the course yet but he heard it's playing soft from the rains. He likes that because the course is more target golf and it doesn't give a bigger advantage to the longer hitters.
- Michelle playing in the Sony Open is exciting. Last year, he didn't make the cut and she beat him by a couple of strokes. Hopefully this year, he'll beat her by at least a stroke.

I uploaded the pictures in the wrong order. It would go in a better sequence if you start from the last page and go backward.

Excellent reporting and terrific photos!

I didn't bother rating the individual pictures, but the quality was very good. However, pictures of people's backs aren't very illuminating. I know that taking pictures of people playing golf isn't easy, since they very often don't cooperate by being in the right position for an outstanding picture--and a photo of a player's back is better than no photo at all--but faces do make pictures a lot more interesting.

I loved the Flesch headcover scoop! Playing TM while using a Cleveland headcover? Will your report result in his loss of Cleveland cash?

Were Poulter's pants a camouflage design of some sort? That's what the photos appeared to show.

And, is Michelle looking a bit sturdier this year in real life? The photographs of her seemed to me to show a stronger looking player.

Again, great reporting, victory! :nodsmiley

I agree with valeogut, wonderful job all around. Great reporting and the photos were cool, getting to see a few things we don't typically get to see from AP photographers. I look forward to seeing and hearing more about the event this week from you.

Great job Victory.... some very nice shots. Poulter's pants look like some sort of Army Camo deal. After watching him at the Ryder Cup, my wife said anything he wants to wear is ok by her.

Excellent, Victory! Recharge those batteries and keep snappin away.