With One Round To Go, Element Has An Insurmountable Lead At Kapalua

At the beginning of the week, 30 golfers arrived in Hawaii wearing the baubles of 2012 USA PGA Tour champions. One of them, it was expected, would emerge victorious after 72 holes of heated competition. Since all had proven their mettle down the stretch in a tour event last season, no competitor was discarded. By Sunday night, what was anticipated to be a nervous night for a 54-hole leader was instead an anticlimactic coronation of an unexpected champion.

At the beginning of the week, no one projected that a force of nature, one of the four basic elements, would hold the tournament firmly in its grasp. Not fire, nor water, nor earth, but wind. Wind demoralized the PGA Tour’s champions, wind weakened the resolve of PGA Tour officials, wind grasped the champions trophy firmly in its zephyrs and raised it aloft.

True it is that a tournament might still be decided on Tuesday and true it is that a human champion might be suggested. For those in the know, the first qualifier for the 2014 Tournament of Champions blew out of town on Sunday evening with all the laurels.