2010 schedule: Swinging across six time zones

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When it comes to sports travel, few athletes rack up more frequent flier points than professional golfers. With the release of the 2010 PGA TOUR schedule, here's a brief look at some of the various "swings" the TOUR pros will play next year.
MORE ON 2010 SCHEDULE: Some changes and new courses | Press release | Official 2010 TOUR schedule

Island hopping

Starting the season in style ... in Hawaii

JAN. 4-10: SBS Championship, Kapalua, Hawaii JAN. 11-17: Sony Open in Hawaii, Honolulu THE SKINNY: Since 1999 when the then-Mercedes Championship moved from its previous venue at La Costa in Carlsbad, Calif. to The Plantation Course at Kapalua in Maui, the PGA TOUR season has opened in Hawaii. With the first full-field event of the season, the Sony Open in Hawaii, scheduled for the following week, it was a natural move, allowing those players who qualified for both events to spend two weeks on the islands. SBS takes over for Mercedes-Benz as the new sponsor of the season-opening, champions-only event in 2010, but the course hosting the tournament remains the same. The Plantation Course has been kind to international players in recent years; in fact, the last eight winners of the SBS Championship have been foreign-born players, including Australia's Geoff Ogilvy last year. The last American-born winner was Jim Furyk in 2001. Americans have fared slightly better recently at Waialae Country Club, with Zach Johnson the third U.S. player to win in the last seven years. Waialae has hosted the event since 1965. While other courses have grown bigger over the years, Waialae has actually shrunk. In 1965 when Gay Brewer won in a playoff, it played to 7,234 yards; last year, the course measured 7,044 yards. One of the big benefits to winning the Sony Open is that it guarantees the champion a spot in both Hawaiian events the next year. "Starting your year in these two destinations," Johnson said after winning at Waialae last year, "is pretty awesome."

West Coast Swing

From the desert to the coast ... and back

JAN. 18-24: Bob Hope Classic, Palm Desert, Calif. JAN. 25-31: Century Club of San Diego Invitational, La Jolla, Calif. FEB. 1-7: Northern Trust Open, Pacific Palisades, Calif. FEB. 8-14: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Pebble Beach, Calif. FEB. 15-21: WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, Marana, Ariz. FEB. 22-28: FBR Open, Scottsdale, Ariz. THE SKINNY: Once the players return to the mainland, they have the chance to settle in on the West Coast for six weeks. But don't get too comfortable -- what makes the West Coast Swing so unique is that the courses offer a variety of conditions, from the ocean vista of Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines to the desert locales in Palm Desert and Arizona. And it also offers a variety of play -- a five-round tournament and a match-play event, along with the usual 72-hole stroke-play events. The Bob Hope Classic is the only stroke-play event on TOUR that's played over five rounds, and to win, you better go low -- 11 players have reached the 30-under mark at the event. In 1999, David Duval shot a 59 on the PGA West's Palmer Course, the last player on TOUR -- and third in history -- to shoot 59. After playing in the desert, the schedule then moves to back to the coast for the next three weeks, all at historic and celebrated courses -- Torrey Pines, Riviera and Pebble Beach. Just like in 2008 when Torrey Pines hosted its annual TOUR event as well as the U.S. Open later in the year, the top players will get a chance to play Pebble Beach twice, since it hosts the U.S. Open in 2010. The Century Club of San Diego Invitational and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am use multiple courses; the Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Shore Course) is in the Pebble Beach rotation for the first time since 1977. With the Bob Hope Classic also using multiple courses, a player could conceivable play 12 different courses in the six-week span. The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am will hope to avoid the weather problems that it faced last year, when rain eventually wiped out the final round (Dustin Johnson won the 54-hole event). Those players who don't qualify for the limited-field World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship can travel to Mexico for the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun. This year, the West Coast Swing will end with the FBR Open. That's a change from previous years when the FBR Open was played in late January/early February. Moving the tournament's date back a month allows players who participated in the Accenture Match Play Championship to make the easy drive up I-10 to Scottsdale.

Florida Swing

Plenty of sunshine ... and a chance to see Arnie

MARCH 1-7: The Honda Classic, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. MARCH 8-14: WGC-CA Championship, Doral, Fla. MARCH 15-21: Transitions Championship, Tampa, Fla. MARCH 22-28: Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, Orlando, Fla. MAY 3-9: THE PLAYERS Championship, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. THE SKINNY: There are five tournaments in the Sunshine State, but only four are now part of the Florida Swing. That's because THE PLAYERS Championship, which is the PGA TOUR's signature event, was moved to May in 2007 to give the schedule a marquee tournament each month beginning with the Masters in April. The kickoff to the Florida Swing is The Honda Classic, which is being played at PGA National for the third straight year. The tournament began at the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic back in 1972 and counts Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller as its only multiple champs. In the we-should-have-seen-it-coming category, Y.E. Yang won last year -- five months before he stared down Tiger Woods and won the PGA Championship. Those lucky enough to make the elite field for the World Golf Championships-CA Championship, which is played at TPC Blue Monster at Doral, will only have a 90-minute commute to this Miami suburb. Phil Mickelson is the defending champion after outlasting Nick Watney to win his first and only World Golf Championships title. Not to be outdone, though, Tiger Woods has won this tournament six times on as many courses -- including the Blue Monster -- in four different countries. The CA Championship has now found a home at Doral, and Woods also won the last two Ford Championships there before the World Golf Championships moved in. Those players who don't qualify for the limited-field CA Championship can travel to Puerto Rico for the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular. The Transitions Championship is a relative newcomer to the PGA TOUR schedule. It debuted in 2000 and has been played on the challenging Copperhead course at the Westin Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor on the Gulf Coast ever since. Retief Goosen became the tournament's first two-time winner last year when he rolled in a testy 5-footer for par on the 72nd hole to beat Brett Quigley and Charles Howell III by a stroke. The victory ended a four-year victory drought for Goosen. Not surprisingly, the finale to the Florida Swing is also one of its most popular with the players and the fans. The host is ever-present at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard contested at his Bay Hill Club since 1979. The tournament actually dates back to 1966 when it was played at another Orlando club, Rio Pinar, where Palmer happened to win in 1971. Other generations have taken over, but no one besides Palmer "owns" Bay Hill more than Woods, who is the two-time defending champion and a six-time winner overall. He rolled in a 15-footer on the final hole in 2009 to complete a five-stroke comeback and win for the first time since an eight-month layoff due to ACL reconstruction in his left knee. "It feels good to be back in contention, to feel the rush," Woods said. "It's been awhile, but God, it felt good."

Texas Swing

Depending on the weather, players can really heat up in the Lone Star State

MARCH 29-APRIL 4: Shell Houston Open, Houston, Texas MAY 10-16: Valero Texas Open, San Antonio, Texas MAY 17-23: HP Byron Nelson Championship, Irving, Texas MAY 24-30: Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, Fort Worth, Texas THE SKINNY: OK, first things first -- like THE PLAYERS Championship in Florida, the Shell Houston Open isn't tied to the other three events in Texas on the calendar, so it's not technically part of the Texas Swing. But with its spot right before the Masters, however, the event at Redstone Golf Club has become very important for players to fine-tune their games before the season's first major. As for the other three Texas events, they come in bam-bam-bam fashion in May following THE PLAYERS Championship. The Valero Texas Open had been part of the Fall Series until moving to May a year ago, the first time it had been played in the spring since 1969. The tournament in San Antonio has a long history on TOUR; the inaugural event was played in 1922, when Bob MacDonald won at Brackenridge Park. After spending the last 15 years at LaCantera, the Valero Texas Open will be played at a new course, TPC San Antonio. That's probably good news for the rest of the field and bad news for Zach Johnson, who obviously is fond of LaCantera, having won the Valero Texas Open the past two years. The North Texas two-step of the HP Byron Nelson Championship and the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial gives players a chance to set up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for two weeks. It also gives them a chance to celebrate the accomplishments of two of the game's legendary players, Byron Nelson in Dallas and Ben Hogan in Fort Worth. Each event honors the memory of those two late Hall of Famers When Rory Sabbatini won at Las Colinas last year, he became the 14th player to win both DFW events during his career. Others who have completed the "DFW Double" are Ben Crenshaw, Roberto De Vicenzo, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Bruce Devlin, Jack Nicklaus, Lanny Wadkins, Tom Watson, Bruce Lietzke, Nick Price, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Julius Boros. None of those players, however, managed to do it in the same year. In terms of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, this will be an important stretch. When Johnson won in San Antonio, he moved to the top of the FedExCup points standings. When Steve Stricker won in Fort Worth, he moved to second place in the standings.