GOLF EXTRA

Mercedes Championships

* Site: Kapalua, Hawaii.

* Schedule: Today-Sunday.

* Course: Kapalua Resort, Plantation Course (7,263 yards, par 73).

* Purse: $3.5 million. Winner’s share: $630,000 and a 2001 Mercedes-Benz SL500 Sport.

* Television: ESPN (Today-Saturday, 4:30-7 p.m.; Sunday, 5-7 p.m.).

* Last year: Tiger Woods beat Ernie Els on the second hole of a playoff for the fifth of Woods’ six straight PGA Tour victories. Woods matched Els’ eagle on the 72nd hole and won with a 40-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole. Woods also beat Tom Lehman in a playoff in the 1997 event at La Costa in Carlsbad.

* Last week: Steve Stricker won the Match Play Championship in Melbourne, Australia, beating Sweden’s Pierre Fulke, 2 and 1, in the 36-hole final. Stricker, the 26th alternate in the 64-man field, earned $1 million in the World Golf Championship event.

* Notes: Woods is opening the season in the winners-only event after a four-week break. In his last start, he teamed with David Duval to win the World Cup in Argentina. Woods won two other off-season events--the Johnnie Walker in Thailand and PGA Grand Slam in Hawaii. He won nine PGA Tour titles last year, the most since Sam Snead had 11 in 1950, and had a scoring average of 68.17 to break Byron Nelson’s 1945 record of 68.33. The former Stanford star has 24 tour victories and a record $20,503,450 in earnings. He has made a tour-high 59 consecutive cuts. . . . Els is coming off a fourth-place finish in Melbourne. The South African earned a golf-record $2 million for his December victory in Sun City, South Africa. . . . Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke is the only eligible player skipping the event. The 33-man field is the largest since 1988. . . . Paul Azinger will defend his Sony Open title next week at Waialae.

* On the Net: https://www.pgatour.com

*

Touchstone Energy Tucson Open

* Site: Tucson

* Schedule: Today-Sunday.

* Course: Omni Tucson National Resort (7,148 yards, par 72) and The Gallery Golf Club (7,360 yards, par 72).

* Purse: $3 million. Winner’s share: $540,000.

* Television: PAX (Friday, 10 a.m.-noon) and CNBC (Saturday-Sunday, 3-5 p.m.).

* Last year: Jim Carter won his first PGA Tour title, closing with a six-under-par 66 for a two-stroke victory over Tom Scherrer, Chris DiMarco and France’s Jean Van de Velde.

* Notes: Fred Couples tops the field along with John Daly, Lee Janzen, Casey Martin, Steve Flesch, Germany’s Bernhard Langer, Australia’s Steve Elkington and Sweden’s Per-Ulrik Johansson. Japan’s Toru Taniguchi, third last week in the Match Play Championship, also is entered. . . . Flesch was 13th on the 2000 money list with $2,025,781, second only to Davis Love III among non-winners. Love was ninth at $2,337,765. . . . Tommy Tolles shot 61-63 last weekend to win the Beck’s Open in Fort Myers, Fla. . . . Johnny Miller, the only four-time champion, set the Tucson National record with a 61 in the final round of his 1975 victory. He won three straight titles from 1974-76. . . . The final two rounds will be played at Tucson National.

* On the Net: https://www.pgatour.com

LPGA

YourLife Vitamins LPGA Classic

* Site: Orlando, Fla.

* Schedule: Friday-Sunday.

* Course: Grand Cypress Resort, North/South Course (6,220 yards, par 72).

* Purse: $1 million. Winner’s share: $150,000.

* Television: ESPN (Friday, noon-3 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.; Sunday, 2-4 p.m.).

* Last year: Inaugural event.

* Last event: Dottie Pepper won the Arch Wireless Championship on Nov. 19, beating Australia’s Rachel Hetherington by three strokes at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla.

* Notes: Karrie Webb led the tour last year with seven victories, including the Nabisco Championship and U.S. Women’s Open. The Australian star teamed with Hetherington in early December to win the World Cup in Malaysia. . . . South Korean star Se Ri Pak also is in the field along with Pepper, Kelly Robbins, Meg Mallon, England’s Laura Davies and Canada’s Lorie Kane. . . . The Subaru Memorial of Naples is next week.

* On the Net: https://www.lpga.com